Olympic Weightlifting Course (7/3/2010)

Over the weekend Crossfit London held a phenomenally successful olympic weightlifting class. It was led by Commonwealth goldmedalist Giles Greenwood from the Bethnal Green weightlifting club, and assisted by Andrew Stemler and Foz Rahman.Andrew kick off the class with a quick warm up with several variations of squats. From overhead squats with PVC pipes to a short tabata squat session. Giles then showed us how to perform the squat snatch by breaking it down to 4 simple steps.

Warming up

The break down for squat snatches;

1) Lift from floor to mid thigh height - Keep a strong back (lumbar arch), Look up, Chest big and wide, Shoulders over the bar, KEEP YOUR BUTT LOW (my biggest problem), Push from mid foot.

Giles showing us the lift for the Squat Snatch

2) Double Knee Bend - From the mid thigh with a strong lumbar arch and a stuck out chest, looking forward, using your hips alone, bounce the bar off your mid thigh.

Me practicing the Double Knee Bend

3) Snatch Pull - Using the momentum from the double knee bend, pull the bar to shoulder height keeping a strong form on your lumber arch, chest and heads up. Your end position should be on your toes, straight legs, lumbar arch, chest out, looking forward and the bar at shoulder height.

Sean working the Snatch Pull

4) Squat snatch - From the snatch pull, drop to your squat and pull the bar overhead into a full squat snatch.

Check me out working the Squat Snatch!!!

This prove to be most difficult for me as this whole time, my power snatch has been missing the 3rd phase. I go straight from the the 2nd phase to the 4th phase. So I need more practice to not miss out the pull phase. Could possibly give me the opportunity to snatch a heavier weight.

After some practice we took a break. Then went into learning the Clean and Jerk. The jerk was different for me as we learned how to split jerk. We also used a squat clean before going into the jerk.

1) Power Clean - Exactly the same as the squat snatch.

Giles showing us the Power Clean

Urma working the Power Cleans

Rising to the standing position

2) Split Jerk - From the standing position, bend your knees for the dip. Push with your legs and arms. Get your arms straight up and push your head through the hole (arms and bar). The back leg on your toes front leg balancing weight through mid foot.

Rita showing us how to Jerk the bar

Things to remember;

a) Lift em' elbows!!! This gives you a good rack position for the bar on your shoulders.
b) Strong LUMBAR ARCH!!!
c) Look forward
d) Chest Out

I did much better for the Clean and Jerk. I found it much easier to learn. Just got to remember that at the bottom of the squat clean I have to lean back a bit more (i.e. stronger lumbar arch)

Overall the day was fantastic. A great 35 pounds and 4 hours spent. Well worth the money and time. Met loads of people and hopefully turn into great friends.

Just so you know, the Cross-fitters present were;

1) Crossfit London
2) Crossfit Swansea
3) Crossfit Malaysia!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

True to its word, this class is built on a basic knowledge of the snatch and it was supercharged with the ‘double knee bend’, as a taught technique. A great three hours was enjoyed by all, with noticeable improvements in all who attended.

Awesome people striving to be Fitter, Faster & Stronger