Post by Sareen on Nov 24, 2007 10:19:04 GMT -5
BY Dr Fred Hatfield..........
While in the Soviet union back in '83, I met Marchuk -- the guy who broke Alexeev's C&J record. He was a very strong dude! We got to talking. I was 242 at the time. He looked at me, at my legs, at my "supposed" WR of 1008 in the squat and said, "NYET! NOT POSSIBLE!" So I bet him a quart of vodka that I could beat him -- all 350 pounds of him.
He accepted. His coach secretly came up to me and said, "In Russia, we call powerlifting the "fake" lifts. We call it that because you use supersuits, big belts and giant knee wraps. Can you still beat Marchuk?" I said, "Yep!" He said, "If you do, Marchuk will be sh*t forever! In this gym he is king. If he's beaten at ANYTHING he will be sh*t!"
Then, two days later we went head to head. He barely struggled up with an 800 pound squat -- not bad for a sans wrap sans suit lift, no? So I did it, being out of shape, I figured what the hell! I'd save this poor fat slob's career by not beating him. I did it too -- sans belt, sans suit.
See, it takes a highly trained and gifted ATHLETE to excel at ANY sport. Marchuk was a master at the clean & jerk. An athlete in every sense of the word. He and I parted company with Marchuk -- and his coach -- having a new-found respect for powerlifting. They do not call powerlifting the "fake" lifts in Russia any more.
It amazes me to hear lifters squabble over something as spurious as whether Olympic lifting or powerlifting is better or worse than the other, or whether there is merit in athletes from other sports performing the respective lifts from either. The answer is clearly that both have much to offer because each is radically different from the other.
All one has to do is read the research literature to understand that there are different forms of strength. There's speed-strength (a combo of starting strength and explosive strength). Then there's both aerobic and anaerobic strength endurance. Then there's limit strength. Powerlifting, for the first time in history, was devised to test one's limit strength. No other sport does.
But let's get into Olympic lifting, and try to discern whether there's something there for athletes from other sports to benefit from.
Pound for pound, Olympic weightlifters have a greater level of speed-strength than any other class of athletes in all of sport. This fact was made very clear during a massive scientific expedition carried out on the athletes at the Mexico City Olympics in 1964.
Sports scientists found that Olympic lifters were able to both vertical jump higher than any class of athletes (including the high jumpers), and run a 25 yard dash faster than any class of athletes (including the sprinters).
Well, OK. So some of it came from genetics. But you can rest assured that much too came from the specialized training they undergo in that sport. Among other things, their training revolves around two specialized lifts, the "snatch" and "clean & jerk."
These two lifts and their applicability to sports training is the focal point of this article. First, though, so we're all on the same page, remember what speed-strength is. It is a combination of two distinct attributes: 1) your ability to "turn on" as many motor units as possible instantaneously (starting strength), and 2) your ability to leave those motor units firing once you've turned them on (explosive strength).
In the snatch, the weight is pulled from the floor to an overhead position in one explosive motion. In contrast, the clean & jerk is a two part lift where the weight is pulled from the floor, staying "clean" of the body (that's where the phrase came from back in the old days; nowadays, it's OK to brush the thighs on the way up), to a position where it is resting on the shoulders.
The lifter then thrusts ("jerks") the weight overhead, using his legs in the upward thrust, and (after taking his feet off the floor) his arms in the downward thrust of his body to lockout.
The peculiar positions through which the lifter passes as these lifts are accomplished -- and the specialized methods of training required -- offer much in the way of "carryover" into practically every explosive type sport there is.
While in the Soviet union back in '83, I met Marchuk -- the guy who broke Alexeev's C&J record. He was a very strong dude! We got to talking. I was 242 at the time. He looked at me, at my legs, at my "supposed" WR of 1008 in the squat and said, "NYET! NOT POSSIBLE!" So I bet him a quart of vodka that I could beat him -- all 350 pounds of him.
He accepted. His coach secretly came up to me and said, "In Russia, we call powerlifting the "fake" lifts. We call it that because you use supersuits, big belts and giant knee wraps. Can you still beat Marchuk?" I said, "Yep!" He said, "If you do, Marchuk will be sh*t forever! In this gym he is king. If he's beaten at ANYTHING he will be sh*t!"
Then, two days later we went head to head. He barely struggled up with an 800 pound squat -- not bad for a sans wrap sans suit lift, no? So I did it, being out of shape, I figured what the hell! I'd save this poor fat slob's career by not beating him. I did it too -- sans belt, sans suit.
See, it takes a highly trained and gifted ATHLETE to excel at ANY sport. Marchuk was a master at the clean & jerk. An athlete in every sense of the word. He and I parted company with Marchuk -- and his coach -- having a new-found respect for powerlifting. They do not call powerlifting the "fake" lifts in Russia any more.
It amazes me to hear lifters squabble over something as spurious as whether Olympic lifting or powerlifting is better or worse than the other, or whether there is merit in athletes from other sports performing the respective lifts from either. The answer is clearly that both have much to offer because each is radically different from the other.
All one has to do is read the research literature to understand that there are different forms of strength. There's speed-strength (a combo of starting strength and explosive strength). Then there's both aerobic and anaerobic strength endurance. Then there's limit strength. Powerlifting, for the first time in history, was devised to test one's limit strength. No other sport does.
But let's get into Olympic lifting, and try to discern whether there's something there for athletes from other sports to benefit from.
Pound for pound, Olympic weightlifters have a greater level of speed-strength than any other class of athletes in all of sport. This fact was made very clear during a massive scientific expedition carried out on the athletes at the Mexico City Olympics in 1964.
Sports scientists found that Olympic lifters were able to both vertical jump higher than any class of athletes (including the high jumpers), and run a 25 yard dash faster than any class of athletes (including the sprinters).
Well, OK. So some of it came from genetics. But you can rest assured that much too came from the specialized training they undergo in that sport. Among other things, their training revolves around two specialized lifts, the "snatch" and "clean & jerk."
These two lifts and their applicability to sports training is the focal point of this article. First, though, so we're all on the same page, remember what speed-strength is. It is a combination of two distinct attributes: 1) your ability to "turn on" as many motor units as possible instantaneously (starting strength), and 2) your ability to leave those motor units firing once you've turned them on (explosive strength).
In the snatch, the weight is pulled from the floor to an overhead position in one explosive motion. In contrast, the clean & jerk is a two part lift where the weight is pulled from the floor, staying "clean" of the body (that's where the phrase came from back in the old days; nowadays, it's OK to brush the thighs on the way up), to a position where it is resting on the shoulders.
The lifter then thrusts ("jerks") the weight overhead, using his legs in the upward thrust, and (after taking his feet off the floor) his arms in the downward thrust of his body to lockout.
The peculiar positions through which the lifter passes as these lifts are accomplished -- and the specialized methods of training required -- offer much in the way of "carryover" into practically every explosive type sport there is.