We started weight room orientation with the track team this week. The point of the orientation is to learn some new terminology and go through the progressions of different lifts. This way when practice starts everyone will be on the same page and at least have a small base. The three main terminology words we discussed included snatch grip, clean grip, and power position. The snatch grip is a wider grip on the barbell and when standing the bar should rest close to the waist. The clean grip is about shoulder width and when standing, the bar should rest on the middle of the quadriceps. The power position is how your body should be when you catch the bar, for example, on the power clean. It is similar to a defensive position in basketball except the hands are at your chest with your elbows close to your sides.
The two main lifting progressions we went through were the power clean and the power snatch. For both lifts we started with what we call the jump, shrug, and drop. They take their grip, either the clean or snatch, then simply pull from the floor up to their waist, shrug their shoulders, then drop the bar. After this we do a hang clean or hang snatch. Both lifts start with the bar right above the knee, again with the different grip, followed by simply performing the lift. Once they have completed both of these the go to the power clean and power snatch. This means the bar starts on the floor and is caught in a power position.
By doing the orientation, coaches can get a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of different athletes. If an athlete needs to focus on a beginning stage of a lift that is fine, everyone will not progress at the same speed. Once the lifting form is near perfect, athletes can begin to add weight. By perfecting their form early, athletes should see far fewer injuries.
