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Lets hear some of the hardest things to teach beginners, now i’m not talking discipline/work ethic type stuff, Im thinking movements and exercises.

I’ll start and say the snatch is hardest usually because most beginners are just not flexible enough overhead.

When you talk about a “beginner” I would think teaching them a simple squat is challenging. 
Most people/beginners have imbalances which we as trainer must try to correct.
Learning how to do a squat properly is the first step before implementing any olympic lifts ….

I do not consider my self a beginner and I am still hesitant to do a snatch lift.
 
If I incorporate a snatch into my workout, I have to feel fully recovered, energized, and no tightness or stiffness in my muscles or joint. In my opinion the snatch is the hardest lift to do. 
 
This is an example of a snatch if you don’t know what it is..
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch#v=N_RWv4k-O-I&feature=related

Thats a good point.
Most of the raw beginners that come through our facility have never done any lifting of any sort, consequently we do a lot of basic testing to make sure they can achieve the full range of motion for the Olympic lifts.
With that said we teach ALL of our athletes to Snatch and Clean and jerk.

i have had trouble teaching squats with some people because of flexibility problems, but i’ll have to go with cleans as one of the absolute hardest things to teach a beginner. there are so many moving parts, and its not a natural or intuitive motion, so you have to break it down into individual motions and build it up. it is extremely time consuming and requires a lot of patience.

As a nutritionist, I find the hardest thing to teach people is to get over the idea that fat doesn’t make you fat. People have become so engrained with the idea that fat is bad and it is hard to switch the focus off of fat and onto carbs.

You ever tried to teach someone how to shotput?! Now THAT’s hard. IT may look easy, but it is a lot more technical than you would think.

What strengths are required to shot put successfully?

Im sure David could answer this better but I’ll give it a shot.

The interesting thing about shot put or the throws in general is that for very low level throwers improvements in strength have an imidiate and direct effect on their performance, however as an athlete progresses to more advanced levels he or she gets less direct and in some cases negative results from increasing strength in some exercises.
With that said most of the basic exercises used are simple compound movements such as;
Back squat
Bench press
Power clean
and to a lesser degree
Power snatch
Deadlift
push press

Granted throwers do many other exercises and types of training to fix imbalances and develop special strength.

Very interesting, why would increasing strength cause negative effects on a thrower??  Is it because of reduced range of motion due to muscle growth, or possible injuries and body imbalances???

In short, as the technical efficiency of the throwers improves they rely much more on their hips and lower extremities and less on their upper bodies.
There may some issues with the throwers developing a limited range of motion or excessive tightness from to much work on maximal strength.

The snatch is certainly very difficult to learn and the inflexibility
overhead can be awkward for anyone initially and only gets more
challenging the heavier you go so learn to deal with that frustration
patiently. But fortunately like anything else you will be more
comfortable with the lift the more you do it. Aside from inflexible
shoulders I find the most common mistake I see most beginners make is
the inability to hold a tight (flat) back. Once they understand this
position everything else can be learned much more safely and
efficiently. What are some other common initial mistakes you see
beginners make?

Very true Donny
Something that I see all the time is the inability for beginners and novice athletes to push thier hips back on almost ANY movement, like a squat or clean. I think this comes primarily from kids sitting a lot they develop tight hips and inactive gluteals it goes hand in hand with being able to keep a flat back.

Being unable to activate your hips and ass I would agree is another very common mistake I see. Being able to get your hips through is very important not only in weightlifting but will help your relationship status as well. Another common mistake I see is pulling with the arms way to soon and not relying on your strongest muscles. Eliminate the arm pull completely if you can from the get go. People want to use these muscles because they can see them in the mirror and relate strength with what they can see. But the truly strongest men and women realize their greatest strength resides in the muscles they can’t see. So relax your arms and go nuts.

Wow true beginners are alot easier than teaching gym rats who have been lifting improperly all their lives. But Yes I agree the snatch or the squat would be the hardest for a newbie.
Thanks
Butch

yeah, bad habits are hard to overturn, that’s for sure.

with olympic lifts i actually find it hard to get guys to hit the bar with their thighs and hips. it’s an action that they aren’t used to and it hurts at first. it’s essential to hit hard to initiate the movement and accelerate the bar upwards without pulling with your arms, and if you can’t get that step down you won’t be able to up the weight as quickly. i do find problems with the flexibility as well though.

Its interesting that the action your talking about should be a naturally occuring action in most cases, unfortunatly a lot of people just don’t have the coordination to do it right off the bat.

I have helped numerous beginners and as far as form, teaching how to squat or deadlift with proper form I found to be the toughest.  On deads, people want to use more back and basically no legs.

I noticed that most people have a hard time arching their back, pushing their butt back, and lifting their chest…  It affects so many exercises…. deadlifts, squats, lunges. Straight arm push downs, bent over row ect…..
They always round their backs, make their knees go over their toes, and push their pelvis forward … It’s frustrating!!!
 
 I usually have them practice sitting and getting up from a chair…
 

 I have done that in the past myself.  Sometimes it helps, sometimes I just have to do different exercises because they don’t get it.

Max,


The hardest thing to teach is ANYTHING to someone who already thinks they know it all!


The second hardest thing to teach is ANYTHING to someone who is too emotionally involved in what weight is on the bar on any particular day.


Give me someone who leaves their ego at the door and believes that I know what I am doing, and I can teach them anything.