This article details the most commonly seen mistakes and how to fix them by Crossfitters and novice Olympic Lifters.
Let me first introduce myself. I was born and raised in Bozeman, Montana. I became interested in the sport of Olympic weightlifting at an early age, after seeing Niam Suleymanoglu, arguably the greatest weightlifter ever, win the Olympic Games on television. That inspired me to start training. I found a coach locally and began training for competitive weightlifting.
After studying under some of the best Olympic weightlifting coaches in the country including Steve Gough, Mike Karchut, Mike Burgener and many others, I began reading the extensive literature on the subject by Eastern European authors.
In the summer of 2007, I was given the opportunity to learn and train under the best coach in the world, Mr. Ivan Abadjiev, the man who coached Niam Suleymanoglu in the Olympic Games. That experience has given me a lifetime of knowledge and much insight into the sport of weightlifting.
I have spent a fair amount of time around Crossfitters and other athletes who use the Olympic lifts in training and this has given me much experience in spotting and correcting technical flaws.
I would like to begin by stating the top mistakes that I see being made by Crossfitters doing the Olympic lifts.
#1. Low elbows in the cleans
This is surely the most common error I see Crossfitters making, to have low elbows in the clean. A weight of 135 lbs. may not bother your wrists when doing this but if you continue on up to a maximum weight, there may be some serious issues, like getting your wrists jammed between your knee and the bar. If that happens, you can say goodbye to anything that involves your hand for a good month and half.
The fix
We need to start learning how to roll the bar back onto the finger tips during the rack (catching the bar on our shoulders) and increase the speed of our elbows as we rack the bar; this will force the bar to land on our shoulders as opposed to us trying to catch it with our hands.
#2. Picking the feet up and slamming them down again, “donkey kicking”
This is a more serious problem than just lifting the feet up and stomping them down; it shows you immediately that you are not putting force into lifting the bar, and if that happens you’re not making an efficient lift.
I’m not saying that your feet shouldn’t make any sounds. What I’m saying is that you need to focus more on generating force that causes the bar to go up rather than force that makes you go. Re-read that sentence if you need to as it is very important, the goal is to lift the bar, not you!
The fix
We need to learn to stay over the bar slightly longer than we are. Why? Because if we are still over the bar (meaning the shoulder joint is directly over or slightly in front of the bar), when it is above the knee in the clean, and at mid thigh in the snatch, we will be using the muscles of the low back, gluts, and hamstrings to initiate the explosion. This will result in jumping upward and our feet coming off the ground as a side effect rather than the feet being lifted off on purpose.
#3. Not brushing the bar
This is really an extension of the previous point but it is slightly different. Many times you see people trying to lift the bar in one continuous motion from ground to shoulder or overhead without the bar coming in contact with their bodies along the way. The reason why this is ineffective is that we need to propel the barbell upward with a slight brush off the thighs; this propulsion gives us time to get under the bar and fix it in the rack quickly (remember those low elbows).
The fix
Open up the hips more, use the gluts at the top of the pull and finish with a sharp extension of the body. This combined with staying over the bar is a dynamite combination to get a lot of power out of your hips.
Remember that the Olympic lifts are dynamic and to master them takes coordination, time, and hard work. They are some of the most effective movements for building strength and size as well! A proper coach is always recommended; so find one in your area and you will be very happy you did so.
Max Aita – An accomplished and active Olympic style weightlifter from Montana, Max is a strength coach at the California Strength Academy. After studying under Ivan Abadzhiev, the famous Bulgarian strength coach, Max secured the job at the California Strength Academy and currently runs the athletic training program at the academy working with athletes from prep to pro. Max can be reached at mazaita@californiastrength.com