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The risks of Olympic
lifting.
To
set the record straight, both Vern Gambetta and I are not against the idea of
Olympic lifting as a means of strength and power development in the non-Olympic
lifting athlete. I just believe that sometimes Strength and Conditioning
Coaches overuse the Clean and Jerk (or Power Clean) and the Snatch as a basis
for the strength and conditioning programs without understanding the inherent
risks involved in such technical movements.
All
training modalities come with some inherent risk. Speed and agility work can
pull hamstrings, high intensity mixed interval training can lead to overuse
tendinopathies, bench/dip/shoulder press can all lead to a host of shoulder
problems etc... However, often what a good Strength and Conditioning coach can
do is ascertain which movements are inherently "self-limiting". What
this means is that if the movement/lift goes wrong, they still have a chance of
pulling out without hurting themselves. A great example is barbell bench press
versus dumbbell bench press. When using a barbell if things go wrong in the
lift the athlete does not have a lot of wriggle room to avoid either dropping
the weight on themselves or wrenching their shoulder joint. With dumbbell bench
press, if things go wrong the athlete can simply drop the dumbbells off to the
side.
This
holds true for Olympic lifting also, particularly the Snatch as it is not
"self-limiting". If things go wrong in a Snatch, often the shoulder,
neck and back will cop a hammering. Just have a look at any site that promotes
"gym fails" on Facebook and you will understand what I am on about.
Not a lot of wriggle room if a Snatch goes wrong.
In
my experience in rugby, I have seen a host of "Olympic lift" injuries
in my time dealing with rugby players. These include injuries such as ruptured
Achilles tendon, torn meniscus (too deep on the catch with the clean), a ton of
lumbar spine disc injuries, traction injuries to the brachial lexus, wrenched
cervical spines and a bunch of wrist impingements. Missing 2 weeks to 6 months
of rugby due to a lift gone wrong can be a very frustrating and annoying issue
for the coaching staff.
Risk
vs Reward
Therefore,
this brings us to the crux of this issue - risk vs reward. What is the inherent
benefit in including such technically proficient lifts into a training program
if the risk of injury is potentially higher than with another
"self-limiting" lift? Is a lumbar disc herniation worth the potential
benefit of doing a heavy power clean? Could they get the same benefit of doing
a jump squat movement instead? The Strength and Conditioning coach would need a
solid basis of argument to include such movements into a program of a
non-Olympic lifting athlete. I am sure countless physiotherapists and doctors
who read this newsletter may philosophically agree with me on this point. As a former Strength and Conditioning coach i have always used the Risk vs Reward formula to determine whether a specific lift should used i a programme. I am always telling my athletes you don't want to get to strong. When you use the Risk vs reward formula you quickly realise that in some case's it just not worth it.