[LIFTING TIP] CRRASSHHH!
A DISCUSSION ON CORRECTION OF THIS PARTICULAR WEIGHTLIFTING PROBLEM
By Michael Conroy USA Weightlifting Coaching & Education Director
Whenever I am approached with ques-
tions concerning “Bar Crashing” I’m im- mediately reminded of the two coaches who first told me how they corrected this common problem, and thought it was appropriate to start this discussion with their comments. Jim Schmitz has been president of USA
Weightlifting and was Competition Man- ager for Weightlifting at the 1984 Olympic Games. Three times, he was the Olympic coach for weightlifting; 1980 and 1988 as head coach and in 1992 as assistant. So of- ten has Jim served on the Olympic Games coaching staff that when I used to visit his team, The Sports Palace in San Francisco, either to train or compete, his athletes used to re- fer to Jim as T.O.C. (The Olympic Coach). He has coached numerous World Team and Olympic Team members, including 1984 silver medalist Mario Mar- tinez, as well as national champions. The
Sports
Palace won five consecu- tive national team titles in the 1980s. Jim stated the following
in his Coaching Manual: Failure to meet the bar (bar crashes on the lifter) “The coach must stress timing. The lifter must pull with his arms after he finish- es his extension to maintain contact with the bar and control the speed of the de- scent. Remind the lifter he does not have to drop immediately to the low squat, but only to the level of the bar.” Coach Schmidt continues: “This error
usually occurs when the athlete does not rotate his elbows rapidly. Work on cleans from the hang and the Going Under the Bar Exercise. Also, the coach can verbally stress whipping the elbows around the bar quickly.”
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USAWEIGHTLIFTING.ORG
Jim Schmitz’s Going Under The Bar Exercise This exercise teaches the athlete the timing
necessary to complete the pull and to catch the bar in a low squat. Very light weights are used in the exercise with the emphasis on speed.
STARTING POSITION 1. Place the feet in the starting position for the pull
2. Take the proper grip on the bar 3. Stand erect with the bar
THE MOVEMENT 1. Two (2) shoulder shrugs, slow. Concen- trate on the contraction of the trapezius muscles.
Lyn Jones, AUS, has a
long history in both the U.S. and Australia as a coach and administrator. He is the coach of record, along with Mike Gattone, of Olympic Gold Medal Winner, Tara Nott Cunningham, and was her competition coach at the 2000 Sydney Games. “There are three causes
of the barbell crashing onto an athlete. The athlete has an incomplete pull (some-
times referred to as ‘cutting the pull’), the athlete loses his/her lever by going up onto the toes too soon and, finally, the athlete
2. On the third shrug, fast, quickly lift the elbows and go onto the toes.
3. Shift the feet to the low squat position. 4. Rotate the elbows under the bar, catch it on the chest, and ride into the low squat.
KEY WORDS: 1. SHRUG 2. EXTEND 3. SNAP THE BODY UNDER THE BAR 4. FIND THE ‘ZERO POINT’ 5. MEET THE BAR 6. KEEP THE BAR CLOSE
The exercise should be done for 5 sets of 3 reps.
throws his/her head backwards causing the barbell to ‘loop’, destroying the timing and causing the barbell to ‘crash’ onto the lifter’s shoulders.
Correcting this error can be done
by three remedial exercises: Power cleans, from both the hang posi-
tion and from blocks, with lighter weights with the emphasis on rotating the elbows up and through and completing the pull and shrug with straight arms. Have the athlete pay attention to his/her staying ‘flatfooted’ as long as possible and remind the athlete to keep his/her head still. The straight arm pull, staying flat-footed and keeping the head still can also be practiced by per- forming clean pulls from three posi- tions;
the hang,
the floor and from the blocks. Finally, the athlete should perform RDLs to both
strengthen
the lower back and again, to re-enforce staying flat-footed.”
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