universal-fundamentals
Before starting on the competition lifts themselves it's important to understand a couple of universals of technique that apply to all lifts, and these can be practiced/taught around learning to squat effectively.
The better a weightlifter can execute these fundamentals, the better the more complex movements will feel, the other lifts can be thought of as building on top of the basic bodyweight squat as a foundation.
The purpose of this section is to equip the lifter or the coach with two fundamental ideas in weightlifting that can be used to teach and refine technique with high priority within training sessions.
Posture
The idea of posture as it relates to weightlifting is the way that one sets up their torso so that force can be efficiently transferred through it as a rigid lever. We can use the muscles on either side of the spine from front to back to reinforce its natural position.
The body systems that affect the spine's position in a tri-directional fashion are the relationship of the ribs, the pelvis, and the spine itself. What we want to achieve for most of the movement of the snatch and clean and jerk is to line these structures up in a way that holds and looks like a rigid straight torso.
To achieve this, we can think of the two most extreme movements we can make with the above structures, flexion at the spine with the pelvis tilted posteriorly and extension at the spine with the pelvis tilted anteriorly. If we combine these positions, the muscles on either side of the spine in the sagittal plane (broadly the abdominals and spine erectors) will be contracting in a somewhat equal fashion, holding the spine in the aforementioned straight line.
How I teach this in simple terms:
- Tuck your pelvis underneath as far as you can and draw your rib cage down, flexing your spine hard.
- Tense the abs hard, a ‘martial arts’ contraction, like someone is going to punch you in the stomach.
then
- While maintaining the hard tense of the abs, open your chest, extending your spine until it feels like your torso is pulled into a straight line.
What should be seen visually is the hips are now in a neutral position, and the spine is in a slightly extended position, but it will likely look more rigid than before.
You can now bundle this into the total idea of ‘posture’:
Ribs + pelvis together, tense abs → open chest until the spine is straight.
For the Olympic lifts and their main strength accessory movements, you should also draw in a big breath and hold this from before each repetition begins until after it's completed. This breath helps pressurise the torso, adding to its rigidity and therefore its ability to be used as a conduit for force.
So now we can bundle the breath in, to the larger idea of posture above, because we can assume both will be needed to perform lifts at their best.
‘Posture’ = Ribs + pelvis together, tense abs → open chest until the spine is straight → suck in a big breath, and hold until the end of the rep.
Setting the posture like above can be used in most main movements; snatches cleans, jerks pulls, and squats. The overall idea of this, is using the muscles around the spine to contract and set a ‘rigid neutral posture’.
One notable exception might be the barbell bench press.
Balance
The idea of balance as it relates to weightlifting is our method of applying force into the floor while not allowing the bar and body (which makes up a system) to topple forward or backward. Any loss of balance in those broad directions can cause many problems, including missed lifts, misapplication of force into the bar, falling over, and failing to catch the bar effectively in a deep squat.
We can both define and teach the main point of balance in the Olympic lifts and close accessories as being in the middle of the foot (the bisection), roughly at the point where the shin connects to the foot. this area is where we want to actively push down into the floor. When conducting a bodyweight squat, we don't want to be tipping forward onto the balls/toes of the feet, nor the heels.
What is commonly seen when lifters start squatting, is an inversion of the feet and a subsequent valgus or inwards collapsing of the knees. I generally recommended keeping pressure toward the outer rim of the feet. This will help keep the feet as flat and balanced as possible, in both the anterior/posterior and lateral/medial directions - facilitating the correct stacking of the upper leg bones roughly on top of the lower legs/feet and creating space for the hips to drop down more in the squat.
We can now bundle these two motions into the idea of correct foot ‘balance’ and can be used in most main movements, most of the time; snatches cleans, jerks pulls, and squats.
‘Balance’ = Push down on the middle + outer rim of the feet.
The idea of balance will also factor in later in some movements as keeping the bar close to the body or stacked in the correct location overhead will promote a balanced position in which the most force can be transmitted into the bar and the body can be in strong rigid positions to increase the tendency towards successful lifts.
The Basic Bodyweight Squat.
Both lifts in weightlifting are built upon the basic squat, here's how to perform it.
Take a stance just out side of the width of the hips when looking straight down, then raise your arms in a slightly upwards diagonal line above your shoulders.
Set your posture and balance as above and the sit straight down, pushing equally with your hips and your knees.
Go as low as you can while maintaining posture and balance in the feet.
if you are finding you are losing balance before your the top of the crease of your hips have decent below the top of the knee, widen your stance slightly and try again. The limit to widening this stance will depend on flexibility, anatomy and comfort of the hips.
Stand up straight again from this point, without at any point ceasing tension from your hips and knees.