Crossfit Local Chapel Hill: Olympic Lifting Variations

Olympic Lifting Variations 

 by Coach Chad

Still confused about the olympic lifts? He jerked WHAT and you saw her SNATCH? I just hope they CLEANed up afterwards! Being serious though, this stuff isn’t that hard. You just have to understand a few basic concepts her at Crossfit Local in Chapel Hill:

There are three basic olympic lifts:

1. Snatch – Taking the bar from the ground to overhead in one motion.
2. Clean – Taking the bar from the ground to the shoulders in one motion.
3. Jerk – Taking the bar from the shoulders to overhead in one motion.

During an olympic lifting meet, competitors are tested on their 1-rep max snatch (the more technical of the two) and their 1-rep max clean & jerk (usually the heavier of the two).
In order to train a certain portion of each lift or to sure up a weakness, we can introduce further variations of each lift. The following pertain to both the snatch and clean:

1. Full – The bar starts on the floor and the athlete must perform a full squat in the receiving position. This is also known as the squat snatch/clean.
2. Hang – This refers to the STARTING position. The bar is hanging with the arms straight and typically stays above the knees.
3. Power – This refers to the FINISHING position. The bar is received high enough that a full squat is not necessary.
4. Hang Power – This means that the bar starts hanging close to the waist and finishes without a full squat; a combination of the previous two.

The jerk also has a few variations:

1. Push/Power – The bar is received overhead with the feet underneath the hips/shoulders in a partial squat.
2. Split – The bar is received overhead with the feet in a partial lunge.
3. Squat – An uncommon variation due to the extremely shoulder flexibility required.

Hopefully that helps you better understand the different variations. For those of you who are visual learners, check out this video from CrossFit Birmingham.

What’s your excuse? Join the 29 others on CF Local’s Open Team already!

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