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Keywords: cardiorespiratory physiology; motor learning; sports performance; muscle physiology; biomechanics
summary
Weightlifting exercises and methods are essential for the strength and conditioning professional. This article reviews the underlying physiology and biomechanies of these exercises and training methods.
Weightlifters are arguably the most powerful athletes. As such, the training methods and modalities used in weightlifting are often looked at for the training of other athletes in sports in which strength, speed, and power contribute to elite athletic performance. In addition to the musculoskeletal and mechanical adaptations, cardiorespiratory, motor behavior, and psychological adaptations also result from weightlifting training. The purpose of this article is to provide a rationale for the inclusion of weightlifting training in the training of athletes by briefly reviewing the areas of proposed benefit. This article provides a condensed review of important concepts and applications of weightlifting.
Nomenclature
Weightlifting is defined as the sport in which athletes attempt to lift the most weight in the snatch and the clean and jerk. Strength and conditioning professionals should be clear to differentiate between weightlifting and weight or resistance training, which is the broad category of exercise against resistance (38). The term Olympic lifting, although commonly used, is inappropriate for most athletes, as this should be reserved for the elite individuals who compete in weightlifting at the Olympics games (38). Similarly, the term weightlifter refers distinctly to individuals training and competing in weightlifting.
About the Sport
In competition, the weightlifter has 3 attempts in the snatch followed by 3 attempts in the clean and jerk. The heaviest successful attempt in each event is added together to create the total (28). The snatch is often described as the more technical event and is characterized by greater speed, while the clean and jerk requires more brute strength, and is characterized by greater force production. Thus, success in weightlifting is a combination of technical excellence and physiological adaptation.
In competition, the order of lifting is primarily determined by the barbell load, which is always increasing (28). Following each lift, a lifter will have a minimum of 2 minutes and a maximum of approximately 20-30 minutes before the next attempt. If the lifter takes 2 successive attempts, he or she is given 2 minutes to begin the next attempt...