Topic: A few questions from a beginner.

[iron sharpens iron]

Hi,

I have a background in weightlifting for football, and I've decided to take up the sport of weightlifting seriously.  There is a local club near my home, but at my current gym I do not have professional help, or even people to discuss routines and techniques with as everybody just seems happy to do the same exercises, set and reps with the same weight every week in a vain attempt to 'look big and strong'...

My raw strength isn't bad (dead 210kg, squat 170kg, bench 125kg press 80kg) but my initial aims are to develop these somewhat especially shoulder pressing and learn proper technique in the snatch and Clean&Jerk, which at the moment is very inconsistent for the snatch.  After 3 weeks of full snatch work I have got a smooth 60kg, but then some days 45kg has been difficult because of poor form (not impressive to some of you I'm sure but I was delighted!)

Any way I probably have too many questions - but I'd like to know if any one could recommend a good system to work with for a newbie?  I have searched a few online and I'm following a 3day a week programme, with all base exercises and pulls (very demanding!) but I'd like opinions...

Also is the bench press important for Olympic weightlifters?  as some programmes don't use it, but should you do it intermittently for base conditioning?

Thanks for any input.

[Albert B. Gonzalez]

as far as the bench press goes it could be detremental to your development of your clean and jerk and snatch.besides whats so cool about lying on a bench and pushing up half the weight 2.5 feet what some people can snatch over their heads! i know how you feel for what seemed like a long time i thought i had a good system but until you get some help from a certified professional you could be just reinforcing some bad habits and potentionally injuring yourself.no amount of mirrors, video recordings,literature,photographs, standby opinions will improve your lifting like a qualified lifting coach. join a club

[Justin Ott]

Just to answer a few of your questions:

Benching is not important for Oly lifting in fact it is counterproductive due to fatigue, flexibility, time, etc. you only have so much energy and so many hours in a day, dont waste any on bench if you want to oly lift.

Same goes for shoulder pressing, not really applicable to oly lifting as the jerk comes more from leg power in the dip and drive. standing press or push press is an assistance excercise that you could do in conjuction with a proper routine.

When starting out you should be focusing mostly on doing the classical lifts (snatch,C&J) under the watchful eye of a coach. Also do some pulls and squats. But no bench press or bicep curls if your serious about O-lifting, there is too much that needs to be done that is directly applicable to O-lifting.

I am certainly no expert, im just giving a bit of advice, I have only been O-lifting for 1.5 yrs.

[Tom Sherwood]

Get started with the club ASAP.
Some people can improve to a certain extent from being self taught, But at the end of the day its better to start off on the right foot with a qualified coach. 

[iron sharpens iron]

Ok thanks for the input!  I've stopped the curls any way as I never have the energy to do isolation stuff after the main movements.

[Aussie]

Albert, truer words have never been spoken!! I"ve been training in a club for a few months now & have learned a ton more than when I was self taught. Granted, I taught myself a lot of good habits (like the hook grip, check that out.....), while teaching myself some pretty bad haibts, such as when having the weight on my shoulders I found myself bobbing up & down in preperation for the weight. This is an illegal move.

I've learned a ton about the snatch too.
I guess the basic premise of weightlifting is the heavier the weight, the faster you need to get under it. For me, a 52.5kg snatch is about my max. When I'm weighing the same & snatching 90, I"ll have to move a damn lot faster, since it'll hit the ground quciker if i don't control it.

what do you other fella's think about doing some incline bench press work?

Find a coach, get some support.  Have fun. Love life.

[Matt Edwards]

Not to contradict what others are saying about benching/pressing, I managed to obtain LSU's programming (where Kendrick goes) and they incorporate both benching and pressing.

[Chuck Lopez]

Just to answer a few of your questions:

Benching is not important for Oly lifting in fact it is counterproductive due to fatigue, flexibility, time, etc. you only have so much energy and so many hours in a day, dont waste any on bench if you want to oly lift.

Same goes for shoulder pressing, not really applicable to oly lifting as the jerk comes more from leg power in the dip and drive. standing press or push press is an assistance excercise that you could do in conjuction with a proper routine.

When starting out you should be focusing mostly on doing the classical lifts (snatch,C&J) under the watchful eye of a coach. Also do some pulls and squats. But no bench press or bicep curls if your serious about O-lifting, there is too much that needs to be done that is directly applicable to O-lifting.

I am certainly no expert, im just giving a bit of advice, I have only been O-lifting for 1.5 yrs.

you should be strong in every part of your body, that means upper body too, professional weightlifters do bench pressing, strict pressing and push pressing

chigishev can bench press 225kg

almir velacheck can push press 187.5 for a double

kolecki could bench 180kg

berestov could press 150kg

curls keep your elbows injury free

this idea that oly lifters should only do the lifts squats and pulls is outdated