OLYMPIC EXERCISES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE FOR HEALTH

Olympic or weightlifting exercises have greatly increased their fame from a few years ago until now in gyms, especially those dedicated to crossfit. In this post we are going to show you what these movements are and the benefits they produce. 

What are the Olympic exercises?

We can differentiate three types of Olympic exercises: snatch, clean and jerk, although the latter is usually linked to clean (clean and jerk).

• Clean: it consists of lifting the bar, by means of an explosive movement, from the floor until it is supported on the shoulders and pectorals, with the wrists very close to the body and the elbows bent forward.

Weightlifting Österreichische Bundesliga 2017 by Isiwal by CC BY-SA 4.0  

• Jerk: it consists of raising the bar above the head with the elbows stretched from the final position of the clean, by means of an explosive movement. At the same time we perform a knee flexion in split to help raise the bar, and then return to the initial position they had feet and legs.

Clean and Jerk by Isiwal by CC BY-SA 4.0

• Snatch: it consists of raising the bar from the floor to above the head with the arms stretched by means of an explosive movement in a single time, as opposed to the clean that is carried out in two.

Snatch by Sandro_Halank by CC BY-SA 4.0

It is very important to execute correctly the technique of these movements to avoid pain or injury, so it is essential to make a correct progression of exercises to get to perform them, which we will see in the following posts on the blog.

The benefits of including these exercises in your training (if you master the technique, as we have said before) are very varied, in addition to the benefits of strength training itself, provided that we use the exercises correctly, as well as the loads we apply. 

Olympic exercises help to improve fitness in a variety of ways.

On the one hand, these exercises improve intramuscular and intermuscular coordination, as they are multi-articular and multi-muscular, that is, they involve different muscle groups and joints, being very important that they work in a coordinated way to perform the technique correctly, avoiding injuries.

On the other hand, these exercises help us to develop eccentric strength. They help us to produce it, as well as to absorb the force and decelerate a weight, which cannot be provided by other exercises that are performed in the gym.

In addition, they are exercises very indicated for the improvement of the power of the sportsman. Explosive movements have been shown to be the best for developing power effectively and quickly.

Finally, although it is not usually given importance, including Olympic lifts in training can be fun for athletes, as they provide variety to sessions in which they usually perform typical exercises such as squats or press benches.

REFERENCES

Suárez Román, I. (2008). Fundamentos Generales De La Técnica Y Metodología De La Enseñanza De Los Ejercicios Con Pesas Y Sus Indicadores De La Carga. Fedehalter. Revista Digital de La Federación Española de Halterofilia., 4, 5–11. Retrieved from http://www.fedehalter.org/fotos/revista/revista4.pdf

Boyle, M. (2014). El entrenamiento funcional aplicado a los deportes.

Quiroga Díaz, J. E. (2008). La técnica de los ejercicios de fuerza. Sport Training Magazine, 38–43.