Should High School Athletes Perform the Olympic Lifts?
I do not use, and will not use Olympic lifts in any of my programing with my high school athletes. This by no means is a slight on any of the Olympic Lifts. These movements have been proven to take an athletes power and strength to the next level. Yet, they should be left for college and professional athletes.
Yes, Hang Cleans and Snatches will increase explosive power, but these are highly technical movements that require certain prerequisites. Athletes ranging from the ages of fifteen to eighteen do not yet possess the fundamentals necessary to perform these exercises.
I cringe every time one of my athletes tells me they are performing Clean and Jerks in the school weight room, when I know we haven’t even ironed out a solid body weight squat yet. This isn’t because the athlete isn’t athletic enough to properly perform a squat, but it has to do, again, with their age.
Athletes at this age are still growing, causing their movement patterns to be slightly awkward and clumsy on the account of their recent growth they haven’t yet adjusted to. We must also take into consideration most of the young athletes are just beginning their journey in the weight room. They lack the body awareness and muscle memorization to make the correct adjustment to an exercise unless they have constant supervision; which in a team setting is not always possible.
Building a Foundation
As a strength coach I focus my attention on instructing the basic lifts and movements with this age group; squats, deadlifts, jumping, and landing. We focus on form, core strength, and performing the movement through the full range of motion (sometimes correcting mobility/stability issues).
These exercises will provide the athlete with a great foundation to progress upon. For example, once the athlete is able to properly perform a body weight squat, we will then add load. When she progresses past that, we can begin box jumps.
Knowing how to correctly squat will directly affect the athlete’s ability to efficiently perform a box jump, benefiting the athlete much more in the long run. Not to mention reducing the risk of injury. I never want injury occurring in my weight room.
But can we build more explosive athletes without the Olympic Lifts?
Heck yea we can!
Contrast Training
I have spoken, and demonstrated contrast training in one of our videos on our YouTube Channel with Top Flight Fitness. This is where we perform a loaded exercise immediately followed by an explosive movement. In the video I have Lexie perform a kettlbell front squat for 12 reps followed by resistance band squat jumps for 8–10 reps. This should be applied to the upper body as well.
The method, not only prevents the body from becoming accustomed to moving slow during maximal effort training, but it causes increased force production. What is happening here is the muscle creates more force due to the previous contraction from the strength exercise.
The greatest explanation I have heard of this method was from Yuri Verkhoshanksy, the researcher credited with inventing plyometric training.
He explains it this way, “it’s like lifting a half-can of water when you think it’s full.”
Coach Mike Euliano NSCA CPT, NASM CPT, NASM FNS
