If you're sick of the BS that most influencers spew, grab a copy of my book, it'll show you how to ACTUALLY maximize your progress in the gym. 200+ pages of useful exercises and advice as well as multiple full training templates that'll change the way you look at training. Check it out: www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat
I figured out pretty quickly that weightlifting requires pretty much all of your focus and training economy if you want to get good at it. So instead I just roleplay as a weightlifting fanboy and always squat/pull first when I lift. Muscle snatch, high pulls, push press and power cleans are close enough for me, and I still get to focus on my true love, bodybuilding.
Olympic lifting isn’t for everyone (I personally don’t do it), as a lot of it is performance specific for explosive strength & power generation, but I have nothing but respect for those who train this way. Definitely not easy, but can have big benefits if done properly & for the right reasons. A crossover collaboration between you & Alec would be interesting to see 💪
Really hoping this happens, I learned a shit ton from both Alec and Geoff, from exercises, to mindset to lifting humor! Would be gassed to see them do a podcast or a collab one day🦾
I like doing clean and press because it trains a lot of muscles at the same time. I can add pull ups and dips, or even just muscle ups and i have a really quick full body workout. It has a lot of bang for your buck.
I started OL after my first year of training as it looked cool and I was inspired by The Hybrid Performance Method for combining strength sports. It took me a year to get acceptable technique on the lifts (granted I was self taught). I will say this, even though the lifts aren’t very stimulating for Hypertrophy, I believed it aided greatly in my muscle growth and developing more explosive power allowed me to lift heavier in my other movements which meant more volume. Not too mention it boosted my athletic performance. Triple extension with a heavy load on a snatch makes a broad jump or sprinting much easier.
They're very useful for life even though they're not going to grow someone who's already getting hypertrophy from other training. The mobility, power, speed and ability to absorb force are good life skills. At the weight at which they're useful for athletes who don't contest these lifts, snatches and jerks are safely lowered thusly: front rack or chest, thighs, controlled eccentric to floor. No need to drop them.
Great video! Thanks for your detailed breakdown of front vs back squats on quora as well.Learnt a lot from it. You do love your squats, that's for sure.
I'm learning Olympic weightlifting but I do not recommend it for fitness unless you have a sports performance coach that knows how to teach it easily and it really applies to your sport. Basically for these lifts you are supposed to practice them for weeks before you can even do 1 rep correctly. It is definitely not an athletic training device its a SPORT. Imagine if somone asked how to get buff and you told them to become a gymnast. while gymnasts are musclar there are much better ways to achieve it without learning the sport.
Appreciate your parallell reasoning in comparing to gymnastics, a great point! Man, i admire the hell out of both Olympic lifters and gymnasts, they are kind of like superheroes in what a human is able to do with his/her body. Also, they are more or less perfectly built in my opinion.But, to put down that amount of time to reach that kind of build...
At my gym ( barbell-centric, power/weightlifting club in Stockholm,SW) in my early 20's, i was mentored by an much older Olympic lifter, i still to this day remember the contempt he had for the powerlifters at the gym.He said that some of them would more or less require a wheel barrow to roll them up to the bench press and dump them there to lift the bar a few inches, that's how useless they were according to him. They would often be short and extremely stocky with T-rex arms. :) When it comes to the athleticism of Olympic weightlifting compared to Powerlifting, i kind of see his point.
Last May because of the pandemic I had to make a home gym. The cost difference between standard plates and barbells and olympic plates and barbells was huge here in Japan. This means Olympic lifts are of the table and I won't be able to deadlift beyond 220kg. However, even if I could have gone the olympic option on plates and barbells, my home gym couldn't allow me to drop heavy weights on the floor. Getting kicked out of a gym is one thing, getting kicked out of your residence is a whole lot worse!
Dude, literally today, I was thinking If GVS would ever make a video about weightlifting. Freaky. And yeah, thanks to Alec, I have reached the same conclusion. High pulls, push presses and kettlebell swings are the way to go, if your goal is power.
There's a video of Lu Xiaojun saying he doesn't bench because he'd get too big and lose mobility for Olympic tlifting. This tells you quite a lot. 1· that Olympic lifting is at odds with size at certain level. Can't be good at both. And 2 · size is strenght and strength is size, olympic lifters know this so that's why they avoid certain exercises
For sure. And while I think he was quite modest about his overhead press/bench strength, it's overall pretty clear that high level weightlifting is a VERY specific skill.
I've been doing OL for about 15 years. You make good points. I agree with you about multiple reps in Crossfit being dangerous. Sometimes in a bad session I ask myself why I chose this sport, I guess its the challenge I enjoy. Also we do all those movements you show as accessories and yes if you do those accessories only, you definitely will get jacked and strong. We also do multiple reps with dips, presses, squats, deadlift variations and even, if necessary, arm curls. If the exercise is something that can assist in our lifts we do it. Yes, it isnt for everyone and that's why so few people do it. Good points.
Based explosive lift enjoyer. I've decided to chase the weightlifter aesthetic, I do an explosive pull almost every day, push press maybe 3 days a week, and of course lots of squats. It's not super technical compared to doing full competition lifts, but it's still more engaging than just bodybuilding alone. I've noticed a boost in general athleticism too: this is my second winter skiing, and I've noticed much more pop & ease of connecting turns beyond mere technical improvement.
Eh while I don't do any Olympic weightlifting myself, I could see the argument around the potential functional utility of doing the flexibility and speed aspects of the lifts (getting under the bar, the deep squat, etc.). Still won't do it myself though lol
I know where you are coming from but the Olympic lifts are not only for power production. The thing is, improving your technical literacy in those kinds of movements will dramatically improve your literacy in all movement exactly because they are so hard to get better at. Still, I don't recommend full lifts but a derivative like a muscle snatch/clean and push press. Those will simultaneously get you better at the lifts while only spending minimal amounts of time on them for example as an on the minute routine and will still give you all the power production you need and even more speed because they involve much greater rom then bot the full lifts and your derivative. That means you get faster over an even greater range of motion which is a more powerful movement and will have an extremely good transverse to the field for example Your movement on the other hand wont really transverse as good as even a simple jumping variation exactly because it is so much more strength focused witch we all have an abundance of in our training plans But hey all the best and love your channel
I'm not against weightlifting in general, and this video isn't on the derivatives, it's specifically on the full clean and jerk and full snatch. The power versions and other similar movements like push presses are a lot of bang for your buck.
I'm going to incorporate this movement into my training. Thank you. It looks like (don't laugh) as a natural progression from strict pandlay rows to cheat rows.
Hey my man. So, I’m more of a lurker/judge people-behind-their-back-but-keeeping-it-to-myself type of person, but I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and gotta say, you’re doing an amazing job, keep at it. You teach great stuff. I started lifting myself, at home, two years ago, with 2 dumbbells and a bench and it changed my life. I bought some more shit along the way, a weight vest, parallel bars, pull ups, ab wheel, bands. no gym. I sorta did my own thing, didn't follow no programs, even tho i read so many that I knew them by heart. A lot of tone to effort self regulating and nutrition and sleep on point. double progression, upping the reps where the weight was lacking, always rir 1-3. Had a FEW bumps along the way, but no more than 3 weeks and more so on the nutrition side. A lot of details, I know. So anyway, thank you for your videos, they helped. So, back on track. You do the work and I’ll always leave a like because of that. Keeping your vibe in mind, in our never-ending quest for improvement, have you ever watched The Bioneer’s content and channel? You are a lot alike, in a philosophical sense, both meaning well and trying to help people. Both also wrote books lol. He’s from Britain i think, more open field oriented, if that makes sense. Check him out, he good people.
Yup I've watched a lot of his stuff. He's great. I bought his book literally a year ago lol and have been planning to make a video on him/it for a while now.
6:28 Hard disagree there.... I think there is certainly some athletic benefit to learning how to quickly drop down into an ATG position w/ a barbell. The "catch" portion of a full clean position lends itself well to overall agility and absorption of force. For example, one of the reasons why weightlifters are good at box jumps, is because they're always explosively dropping into an ATG position. The ATG "catch" carries-over well to jujitsu, wrestling, kicking, or any sport that would require you to explosively throw your legs around, or utilize end-ROM in your hips. Mastering a full clean is probably not the most efficient way to acquire those athletic benefits. But claiming that it "absolutely won't transfer over to other activities" is highly disingenuous imo.
@@GVS Surely that depends on the efficiency of the coach, if you have a coach that can teach you how to clean and how to snatch with good enough technique rather quickly then why not? There's a youtuber/weightlifting coach Zack Telander who took on a group of bjj guys for all their s&c training and had them doing the classic lifts very quickly, of course in addition to more general prep stuff still doing pulls, squats, deadlifts, conditioning etc. I feel like being able to move heavy loads very fast is surely one of the most athletic things you can do, no? I may just be biased as I do weightlifting myself
@@thomastucker7317 depends on the coach and individual. If you have access to a very good coach that might make it worth it. But the "move heavy loads very fast" can be replicated via the movements mentioned with a much shorter learning curve so if you don't have a goal of specifically the Olympic lifts, they would still be an excellent option. I think there's often a bias here, perhaps those who have spent time doing the Oly lifts don't want to admit that perhaps they aren't as good or as needed as they think. Sunk time fallacy is very real. And of course if someone is an Olympic lifting coach they have massive bias as that's not just a passion but their livelihood.
@@GVSBut you just admitted that it takes away the absorption component, which in my opinion is the most important thing about Olympic weightlifting. Your movements will teach triple extension still effectively but you won’t get near agile doing these kinds of movements. Like depth jumps generally speaking are superior to box jumps because they have that force absorption period to them. To be honest the only way to make yourself significantly more athletic is through movements in the OL family, which I would consider your high pull in the family obviously, but I think you need a whole foundation of these types of exercises if you actually want to run faster and jump higher. Squats are actually pretty useless after you get your general strength under you for athleticism.
Those neeeeck gains thooooo! Very informative vid- as someone who has honestly never been interested in Olympic lifting these movements seem really valuable and worth exploring.
I like to do olympic lifts on my "fun day"(friday if I got in 4 training days before). I just do them with light weights for reps and far from failure.
Weightlifters don’t do weightlifting to build muscle. Nor do athletes. The practical application of these exercises is for either sport specificity (Olympic weightlifting as a sport) or power production in the case of most other athletes. Any resistance exercise provides some hypertrophic stimulus but these don’t check all the marks for being an “optimal” stimulus for hypertrophy. If people learned these movements earlier on in their training career from a solid coach you can most definitely maintain and progress a great physique while training these movements. Most people tend to live on the left hand side of the force velocity curve closer to absolute strength or slow speed strength, and more often than not people abandon any type of speed work- ergo their inability to get under the bar. Mobility also plays into this which most people spend little time on improving or maintaining. This is more a problem of what people choose to train and not what they can or cannot train. They do take time to concentrate on and can divert resources from other things. So obviously they can rob you of time to dedicate to hypertrophy work. No doubt. But your biceps aren’t the reason your front rack is bad I know that’s what everyone thinks but there are much more muscular individuals cleaning heavy weights in a variety of athletics and their bicep girth isn’t preventing them from doing so.
Yeah, I saw this on Alec's channel and I'm seriously considering adding it into my program sometime soon. First, I want to nail down a few other priorities but I definitely want to try these.
Yea finding a gym that lets you drop the bar is tough. I stopped at a few gyms and ask questions before I sign up. Can I drop the bar? Do you mind if I use chalk as it can be a bit messy? (Liquid chalk is great btw a lot less mess) Sometimes I gruntlike a MOFO and some people don't like that. Its a beutiful and technical sport that will make you fight every day. You gotta love it to want to do it xx
0:47 a split is an extreme position that requires abnormal flexibility. Power snatches and power cleans don't require abnormal positions. 4:18 - Hang power snatch, hang power clean. (Lower down to/below the knee and then explode up) Also, there's no need to fully complete the movement (lockout/stabilize) when you are not competing in weightlifting, impulse training is enough.
What I want to know is how much transfer oly lifting has to other sports - for example if someone did oly lifting for 2 or 3 years would they be more explosive, more agile, more mobile and stronger? And would that significantly and efficiently transfer over to any other sport they chose to pursue?
if you are a fast learner with good athletic base and a very good coach, yeah you could for sure and then periodise it well in your sport (moreso in the off-season). there are some athletes from difderent sports with pretty good technique
Just regular clean/snatch pulls (no high pull, just contact and an explosive shrug with triple extension) from the floor or the hang are great exercises as well and can imo replace deadlifts on certain occasions as they’re usually done with less weight and the more vertical torso angle means less stress on the lower back. No contact muscle snatches are also relatively mild in terms of difficulty and a fantastic upper body builder.
I enjoy working on them, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Personally it took a long time to work up to snatches. Front squats and power cleans are more widely applicable
Geoff are you planning to make a video about periodization? This is very relevant to me because I'll be a intermediate lifter early next year, and I don't do any form of periodization. Just standard double progression with occasional drop sets and slow eccentrics.
I have an itch of trying Olympic movements with lever arms (I have never done it before). I think it could work, giving the full benefits and being extremely safe.
Agreed. I am a huge fan of weightlifting, but in my case, at least with my kids, the weight/movements are GPP for a sport, specifically basketball, baseball and football. Thus, I optimize the time and energy spent training to improve athletic qualities without compromising practice and game performance. I'm not saying you can't train strength speed with weightlifting movements, but there are other ways of improving those and other athletic qualities without the learning curve and/or the time and energy requirements of those movements.
Thanks, good vid. Ive developed my own Olympic/Hypertrophy 3 day split. I guess im lucky being very flexible but saying that I work at it. Yoga every morning n before bed for 20 years+. I prolly underestimate how much that enables me to keep doing Snatch n Clean n Jerk. I do agree w you that even if you mobile enough to do Oly lifting regularly it slows Hypertrophy progress bc of all the time/energy it consumes...
You list them in one of your Lower body days in a workout from your book. I've always thought of them. As Upper body, mostly, so why do you place them on Lower body days? Thank you.
The power and strength of the movements come mostly from the legs and hips, the upper body has a much more stabilizing role. Furthermore, you are performing a deadlift and a squat in the same movement, while on the upper body side of things, you are at most, push pressing.
Had snatch grip high pulls in and out of my training for a while. Been hesitant to go very heavy. But perhaps I should give it a try. In terms of percentage of deadlift 1rm, is there a sweet spot?
Hi Geoffrey, I recently watched ur arm size and growing guide videos. I was wondering how long it took u to achieve ur arms size and what kinda progress I should expect? Currently around 14 inches flexed after 4 months training could I realistically hit 15 inches in a year?
If you’re at 14 now, 15 should be realistic within a year. I started about where you did, and I believe 15” arms took me around a year Particularly with newbie gains and reasonably decent training.
Hi Geoffrey - This is off topic - but I have a question that I hope you'd be kind enough to answer. I bought your book last week & have been reading it. I'm technically a beginner even though I've resistance trained in the past. I'd like to program deadlifts into my "lazy mans" beginners routine. The thing is - I'm terrible at the movement & really need to practice the deadlift body mechanics with a low amount of weight in order to get it right not to cause pain in my lower back (its obviously a form issue & for whatever reason I'm not just naturally catching onto the movement like I have with so many other exercises). Since my goal is whole body hypertrophy - I like to take all my other exercises close to failure. With the way I'm going to have to practice the deadlift though (extremely low weight) - it would probably take a ridiculous number of reps to get close to failure on the exercise (not to mention - it would probably be a bad idea). How would you handle my situation in order to still get the most out of my "lazy mans" full body hypertrophy work out - considering my current limitations with the dead lift? Thank you for reading.
I just add heavy double kettlebell exercises like clean/squat/push-press and double snatches... Great to focus more on explosive power, not muscle per se
Can you incorporate dumbbell or kettlebell snatches and cleans in a hypertrophy phase? I actually use dumbbell snatches for cardio/conditioning workouts. Just don't go too heavy, I like how they make me feel more athletic and explosive and when done in a hiit fashion they are good for keeping the fat gain down whilst bulking. I think with dumbbell or kettlebells are more forgiving technique wise, and easier on the joints.
Best cardio imo from a cardiovascular health perspective is the bike 🚲, I would recommend doing abs before cardio about every other time you do it. As one is lifting explosive and one is cardio, do the kettle bells before any form of low intensity cardio.
It's definitely too sport-specific for me to implement in my training. However, training clean & jerk could expose some mobility issues. Maybe if you break up the movement, like the snatch grip high pull. The weighted stretch gotta go crazy on that pull.
You have to be built a certain way. These guys seem to have relatively short legs. If you're built more like a runner/swimmer, good luck doing Olympic lifts.
I started doing them to become more explosive for Highland Games but they are fun to do. They might not be the best no if you want to just build muscle but when you nail a big power snatch it is a great feeling. The full versions are a ton of timing but the power variations are a great movement and will blow up your whole body. High pulls are great snatch grip and clean, I do a shit ton of them.
It’s good if your going to compete in the sport but for exercise for other sports there are better options that have much less injury risks and are more effective.
i also like doing ( Hang power *Snatch / clean* with **Dumbbells** ) for explosiveness in general . it's more forgiven and cleaning and catching the dumbbells is way easier and more forgiven .. plus u start the movement from a hang position and catch it in a quarter squat !
@@GVS I think trainers and more advanced lifters should encourage the less experienced ones to take on more complex movements. Yes weightlifting is very technical but the power variants of the two main lifts (power clean and power snatch) are not that complicated because they dont requiere a deep front squat or an overhead squat. I understand that people have other responsibilities besides working out but to me the best thing working out provides is to learn, learn with and to use your body, knowing where you are, to balance and to sort things out.
I do the Trap Bar instead of the barbell Dead lIft, didnt see the point of the dead lift in terms of risk reward, I wanted the idiot proof version. I do a lighter RDL with a landmine for the hamstrings
I lift olympic since over 20 years. I‘m definitely not jacked 😅 Ok I‘ve massive legs. But all the upper body mass is trained by Pull Ups, Pendley Rows, Push/Strict Press, Dips or other assistent exercises. But this is comparable with an average gym bro. Not every weightlifter looks like Klokov 😉
Seems like an unnecessarily dangerous exercise due to catching the heavy barbell. Better to just let it drop and keep your spine out of such a compromised position
Train your bicep? Why do you need to train big biceps for? Your posterior chain is weaker than interior most of the time, OL is so wholesome for a total body and functional strength. And you mentioned many times about eccentric phase for muscle growth, that's true however OL explosive movements are also good for muscle growth and strength. I think you were talking with the mind of hypertrophy training style (biceps, eccentric,...) which I've been doing for years and now I find it BORING and so imbalanced.
Its basically very technical thats why he doesnt do it. Building mass does not require super technical. Its that simple. Olympic lifting is 100x better than building mass or just body building.
I'm one of the A--holes that thinks if you are not a long-legged spider, you should be able to squat to deepth along with other basic calisthenic movements. These mobilities are essential for living independently as we age.
If you have a problem with the front rack, you can try an open grip like what Olympian Gabriel Sîncrăian uses. There are pros and cons to either method. th-cam.com/video/PIDIni7jzE8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=mr62GB95vS2rBwSD
On the topic of traps and Oly lifting: when I started doing Lu raises to help with some shoulder pain, I found my traps exploded, even though I was already doing shrugs, deadlifts etc. Lu raises are also great for upper back development, if that’s something you want alongside traps.
If you're sick of the BS that most influencers spew, grab a copy of my book, it'll show you how to ACTUALLY maximize your progress in the gym. 200+ pages of useful exercises and advice as well as multiple full training templates that'll change the way you look at training. Check it out:
www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat
More people will click on it if you mention the price in the comment imo
@@Raj-cp7uh yea at $15 it's stupidly underpriced lol
@@GVS didn’t you say you’re raising the price?
@@hussainattai4638 to around 25-30$ iirc, still very worth it
@@hussainattai4638 yea I gotta update that soon
Most people do the clean and jerk, but only few jerk and clean
Underrated 💯
😂
😂
oh god 😂😂😂😂
Yes sir
I figured out pretty quickly that weightlifting requires pretty much all of your focus and training economy if you want to get good at it. So instead I just roleplay as a weightlifting fanboy and always squat/pull first when I lift. Muscle snatch, high pulls, push press and power cleans are close enough for me, and I still get to focus on my true love, bodybuilding.
All great movements. And yes, true weightlifting isn't something done on a whim! Much respect to those that go down that road though.
Mark Henry would disagree.
Olympic lifting isn’t for everyone (I personally don’t do it), as a lot of it is performance specific for explosive strength & power generation, but I have nothing but respect for those who train this way. Definitely not easy, but can have big benefits if done properly & for the right reasons.
A crossover collaboration between you & Alec would be interesting to see 💪
I think everyone would be down for you and Alec collabing.
Hell yea, I'd be down. Lots to discuss.
Really hoping this happens, I learned a shit ton from both Alec and Geoff, from exercises, to mindset to lifting humor! Would be gassed to see them do a podcast or a collab one day🦾
Alec: "I can squat 5 plates"
Geoffrity: "I'm tall enough to ride a roller coaster"
I agree. Also, collab with Alphadestiny.
@@athefitz will be talking this week :)
Thanks
I like doing clean and press because it trains a lot of muscles at the same time. I can add pull ups and dips, or even just muscle ups and i have a really quick full body workout. It has a lot of bang for your buck.
I started OL after my first year of training as it looked cool and I was inspired by The Hybrid Performance Method for combining strength sports.
It took me a year to get acceptable technique on the lifts (granted I was self taught). I will say this, even though the lifts aren’t very stimulating for Hypertrophy, I believed it aided greatly in my muscle growth and developing more explosive power allowed me to lift heavier in my other movements which meant more volume.
Not too mention it boosted my athletic performance. Triple extension with a heavy load on a snatch makes a broad jump or sprinting much easier.
¡Gracias!
They're very useful for life even though they're not going to grow someone who's already getting hypertrophy from other training. The mobility, power, speed and ability to absorb force are good life skills. At the weight at which they're useful for athletes who don't contest these lifts, snatches and jerks are safely lowered thusly: front rack or chest, thighs, controlled eccentric to floor. No need to drop them.
Great video!
Thanks for your detailed breakdown of front vs back squats on quora as well.Learnt a lot from it.
You do love your squats, that's for sure.
I'm learning Olympic weightlifting but I do not recommend it for fitness unless you have a sports performance coach that knows how to teach it easily and it really applies to your sport. Basically for these lifts you are supposed to practice them for weeks before you can even do 1 rep correctly. It is definitely not an athletic training device its a SPORT.
Imagine if somone asked how to get buff and you told them to become a gymnast. while gymnasts are musclar there are much better ways to achieve it without learning the sport.
Appreciate your parallell reasoning in comparing to gymnastics, a great point!
Man, i admire the hell out of both Olympic lifters and gymnasts, they are kind of like superheroes in what a human is able to do with his/her body.
Also, they are more or less perfectly built in my opinion.But, to put down that amount of time to reach that kind of build...
At my gym ( barbell-centric, power/weightlifting club in Stockholm,SW) in my early 20's, i was mentored by an much older Olympic lifter, i still to this day remember the contempt he had for the powerlifters at the gym.He said that some of them would more or less require a wheel barrow to roll them up to the bench press and dump them there to lift the bar a few inches, that's how useless they were according to him.
They would often be short and extremely stocky with T-rex arms. :)
When it comes to the athleticism of Olympic weightlifting compared to Powerlifting, i kind of see his point.
Last May because of the pandemic I had to make a home gym. The cost difference between standard plates and barbells and olympic plates and barbells was huge here in Japan. This means Olympic lifts are of the table and I won't be able to deadlift beyond 220kg. However, even if I could have gone the olympic option on plates and barbells, my home gym couldn't allow me to drop heavy weights on the floor. Getting kicked out of a gym is one thing, getting kicked out of your residence is a whole lot worse!
Don't let A-A-ron from squat U see that hip shift from Pocket Hercules.
Dude, literally today, I was thinking If GVS would ever make a video about weightlifting. Freaky.
And yeah, thanks to Alec, I have reached the same conclusion. High pulls, push presses and kettlebell swings are the way to go, if your goal is power.
There's a video of Lu Xiaojun saying he doesn't bench because he'd get too big and lose mobility for Olympic tlifting.
This tells you quite a lot. 1· that Olympic lifting is at odds with size at certain level. Can't be good at both. And 2 · size is strenght and strength is size, olympic lifters know this so that's why they avoid certain exercises
For sure. And while I think he was quite modest about his overhead press/bench strength, it's overall pretty clear that high level weightlifting is a VERY specific skill.
This video literally saved me from the gym/lifting exsistential crisis i have been GOING THRU
I've been doing OL for about 15 years. You make good points. I agree with you about multiple reps in Crossfit being dangerous. Sometimes in a bad session I ask myself why I chose this sport, I guess its the challenge I enjoy. Also we do all those movements you show as accessories and yes if you do those accessories only, you definitely will get jacked and strong. We also do multiple reps with dips, presses, squats, deadlift variations and even, if necessary, arm curls. If the exercise is something that can assist in our lifts we do it. Yes, it isnt for everyone and that's why so few people do it. Good points.
Based explosive lift enjoyer. I've decided to chase the weightlifter aesthetic, I do an explosive pull almost every day, push press maybe 3 days a week, and of course lots of squats. It's not super technical compared to doing full competition lifts, but it's still more engaging than just bodybuilding alone. I've noticed a boost in general athleticism too: this is my second winter skiing, and I've noticed much more pop & ease of connecting turns beyond mere technical improvement.
seeing you high pull explains why you feel like this about weightlifting
Eh while I don't do any Olympic weightlifting myself, I could see the argument around the potential functional utility of doing the flexibility and speed aspects of the lifts (getting under the bar, the deep squat, etc.).
Still won't do it myself though lol
I know where you are coming from but the Olympic lifts are not only for power production.
The thing is, improving your technical literacy in those kinds of movements will dramatically improve your literacy in all movement exactly because they are so hard to get better at.
Still, I don't recommend full lifts but a derivative like a muscle snatch/clean and push press.
Those will simultaneously get you better at the lifts while only spending minimal amounts of time on them for example as an on the minute routine and will still give you all the power production you need and even more speed because they involve much greater rom then bot the full lifts and your derivative.
That means you get faster over an even greater range of motion which is a more powerful movement and will have an extremely good transverse to the field for example
Your movement on the other hand wont really transverse as good as even a simple jumping variation exactly because it is so much more strength focused witch we all have an abundance of in our training plans
But hey all the best and love your channel
I'm not against weightlifting in general, and this video isn't on the derivatives, it's specifically on the full clean and jerk and full snatch. The power versions and other similar movements like push presses are a lot of bang for your buck.
The weights those Olympic lifters use are mindblowing. Little guys snatch and clean/press weights I can hardly deadlift, if at all....
I'm going to incorporate this movement into my training. Thank you.
It looks like (don't laugh) as a natural progression from strict pandlay rows to cheat rows.
Kettlebell can be a good replacement for olympic lifting style movement with an easier learning curve
Yes, this is what I do.
I also prefer kettlebell lifts over Olympic as it's dynamic not explosive and therefore less risk of injury
Hey my man. So, I’m more of a lurker/judge
people-behind-their-back-but-keeeping-it-to-myself type of person, but I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and gotta say, you’re doing an amazing job, keep at it. You teach great stuff. I started lifting myself, at home, two years ago, with 2 dumbbells and a bench and it changed my life. I bought some more shit along the way, a weight vest, parallel bars, pull ups, ab wheel, bands. no gym. I sorta did my own thing, didn't follow no programs, even tho i read so many that I knew them by heart. A lot of tone to effort self regulating and nutrition and sleep on point. double progression, upping the reps where the weight was lacking, always rir 1-3. Had a FEW bumps along the way, but no more than 3 weeks and more so on the nutrition side. A lot of details, I know. So anyway, thank you for your videos, they helped. So, back on track. You do the work and I’ll always leave a like because of that. Keeping your vibe in mind, in our never-ending quest for improvement, have you ever watched The Bioneer’s content and channel? You are a lot alike, in a philosophical sense, both meaning well and trying to help people. Both also wrote books lol. He’s from Britain i think, more open field oriented, if that makes sense. Check him out, he good people.
Yup I've watched a lot of his stuff. He's great. I bought his book literally a year ago lol and have been planning to make a video on him/it for a while now.
6:28 Hard disagree there.... I think there is certainly some athletic benefit to learning how to quickly drop down into an ATG position w/ a barbell. The "catch" portion of a full clean position lends itself well to overall agility and absorption of force. For example, one of the reasons why weightlifters are good at box jumps, is because they're always explosively dropping into an ATG position. The ATG "catch" carries-over well to jujitsu, wrestling, kicking, or any sport that would require you to explosively throw your legs around, or utilize end-ROM in your hips.
Mastering a full clean is probably not the most efficient way to acquire those athletic benefits. But claiming that it "absolutely won't transfer over to other activities" is highly disingenuous imo.
Fair enough. The force absorption argument is a solid one. It's just still not worth it for most athletes.
@@GVS Surely that depends on the efficiency of the coach, if you have a coach that can teach you how to clean and how to snatch with good enough technique rather quickly then why not? There's a youtuber/weightlifting coach Zack Telander who took on a group of bjj guys for all their s&c training and had them doing the classic lifts very quickly, of course in addition to more general prep stuff still doing pulls, squats, deadlifts, conditioning etc. I feel like being able to move heavy loads very fast is surely one of the most athletic things you can do, no? I may just be biased as I do weightlifting myself
@@thomastucker7317 depends on the coach and individual. If you have access to a very good coach that might make it worth it. But the "move heavy loads very fast" can be replicated via the movements mentioned with a much shorter learning curve so if you don't have a goal of specifically the Olympic lifts, they would still be an excellent option. I think there's often a bias here, perhaps those who have spent time doing the Oly lifts don't want to admit that perhaps they aren't as good or as needed as they think. Sunk time fallacy is very real.
And of course if someone is an Olympic lifting coach they have massive bias as that's not just a passion but their livelihood.
@@GVSBut you just admitted that it takes away the absorption component, which in my opinion is the most important thing about Olympic weightlifting. Your movements will teach triple extension still effectively but you won’t get near agile doing these kinds of movements. Like depth jumps generally speaking are superior to box jumps because they have that force absorption period to them. To be honest the only way to make yourself significantly more athletic is through movements in the OL family, which I would consider your high pull in the family obviously, but I think you need a whole foundation of these types of exercises if you actually want to run faster and jump higher. Squats are actually pretty useless after you get your general strength under you for athleticism.
I grew up watching Kakhi Kakhiashvili, Puros Dimas and many more Olympic weightlifters. Thanks for the content!
Those neeeeck gains thooooo!
Very informative vid- as someone who has honestly never been interested in Olympic lifting these movements seem really valuable and worth exploring.
13:10 I literally thought that was plainrock124
I like to do olympic lifts on my "fun day"(friday if I got in 4 training days before). I just do them with light weights for reps and far from failure.
Smart, that’s honestly the best way I’d imagine if you aren’t serious about oly lifting
I've definitely watched this video before, and the cleaning with straps part still made me lol
I like doing the clean grip power snatch from floor. This is my favorite while doing just regular all around fitness
Weightlifters don’t do weightlifting to build muscle. Nor do athletes. The practical application of these exercises is for either sport specificity (Olympic weightlifting as a sport) or power production in the case of most other athletes. Any resistance exercise provides some hypertrophic stimulus but these don’t check all the marks for being an “optimal” stimulus for hypertrophy. If people learned these movements earlier on in their training career from a solid coach you can most definitely maintain and progress a great physique while training these movements. Most people tend to live on the left hand side of the force velocity curve closer to absolute strength or slow speed strength, and more often than not people abandon any type of speed work- ergo their inability to get under the bar. Mobility also plays into this which most people spend little time on improving or maintaining. This is more a problem of what people choose to train and not what they can or cannot train. They do take time to concentrate on and can divert resources from other things. So obviously they can rob you of time to dedicate to hypertrophy work. No doubt. But your biceps aren’t the reason your front rack is bad I know that’s what everyone thinks but there are much more muscular individuals cleaning heavy weights in a variety of athletics and their bicep girth isn’t preventing them from doing so.
Yeah, I saw this on Alec's channel and I'm seriously considering adding it into my program sometime soon. First, I want to nail down a few other priorities but I definitely want to try these.
Yea finding a gym that lets you drop the bar is tough. I stopped at a few gyms and ask questions before I sign up. Can I drop the bar? Do you mind if I use chalk as it can be a bit messy? (Liquid chalk is great btw a lot less mess) Sometimes I gruntlike a MOFO and some people don't like that. Its a beutiful and technical sport that will make you fight every day. You gotta love it to want to do it xx
No one's going to catch pocket hercules anytime soon
0:47 a split is an extreme position that requires abnormal flexibility. Power snatches and power cleans don't require abnormal positions.
4:18 - Hang power snatch, hang power clean. (Lower down to/below the knee and then explode up)
Also, there's no need to fully complete the movement (lockout/stabilize) when you are not competing in weightlifting, impulse training is enough.
Dumbbell snatches are a good alternative too. You need less mobility to catch it low.
@10:00 i feel like those snatch pulls would squeeze a nad and game end my entire oly career, bruh i'ma just trap bar shrug.
What I want to know is how much transfer oly lifting has to other sports - for example if someone did oly lifting for 2 or 3 years would they be more explosive, more agile, more mobile and stronger? And would that significantly and efficiently transfer over to any other sport they chose to pursue?
Possibly, yes. But you always have to consider the cost in comparison to the other training it would replace.
if you are a fast learner with good athletic base and a very good coach, yeah you could for sure and then periodise it well in your sport (moreso in the off-season). there are some athletes from difderent sports with pretty good technique
I just started going hard on Power Snatches a couple weeks ago.... too much fun!
Pffft! Getting under a super heavy bar super quickly, what could possibly go wrong? 🤔
Just regular clean/snatch pulls (no high pull, just contact and an explosive shrug with triple extension) from the floor or the hang are great exercises as well and can imo replace deadlifts on certain occasions as they’re usually done with less weight and the more vertical torso angle means less stress on the lower back. No contact muscle snatches are also relatively mild in terms of difficulty and a fantastic upper body builder.
Have you ever tried swiss bar cleans? My upper back dies every-time I do them.
Will give them a shot!
I just add power cleans and power snatches
I enjoy working on them, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Personally it took a long time to work up to snatches. Front squats and power cleans are more widely applicable
"Do not pound your snatches"
But November is over 😭😭😭
Geoff are you planning to make a video about periodization? This is very relevant to me because I'll be a intermediate lifter early next year, and I don't do any form of periodization. Just standard double progression with occasional drop sets and slow eccentrics.
Eventually, yes.
I have an itch of trying Olympic movements with lever arms (I have never done it before). I think it could work, giving the full benefits and being extremely safe.
Agreed. I am a huge fan of weightlifting, but in my case, at least with my kids, the weight/movements are GPP for a sport, specifically basketball, baseball and football. Thus, I optimize the time and energy spent training to improve athletic qualities without compromising practice and game performance. I'm not saying you can't train strength speed with weightlifting movements, but there are other ways of improving those and other athletic qualities without the learning curve and/or the time and energy requirements of those movements.
Thanks, good vid. Ive developed my own Olympic/Hypertrophy 3 day split. I guess im lucky being very flexible but saying that I work at it. Yoga every morning n before bed for 20 years+. I prolly underestimate how much that enables me to keep doing Snatch n Clean n Jerk. I do agree w you that even if you mobile enough to do Oly lifting regularly it slows Hypertrophy progress bc of all the time/energy it consumes...
Hey buddy how do you limit bicep involvement in these and is it hard on the bicep tendon considering the eccentric starts with bent elbows?
Just focus on the hips. Though the arm is slightly bent, the overhand grip means there's actually not much stress on the biceps.
You list them in one of your Lower body days in a workout from your book. I've always thought of them. As Upper body, mostly, so why do you place them on Lower body days? Thank you.
The power and strength of the movements come mostly from the legs and hips, the upper body has a much more stabilizing role. Furthermore, you are performing a deadlift and a squat in the same movement, while on the upper body side of things, you are at most, push pressing.
While things like snatch and clean are very difficult power version of both exercises are very fun and easy and should be in everyone's programme
I find the snatch alot more comfortable than the power clean which is off as the powerclean is generally a more popular lift among non Oly lifters
Had snatch grip high pulls in and out of my training for a while.
Been hesitant to go very heavy. But perhaps I should give it a try.
In terms of percentage of deadlift 1rm, is there a sweet spot?
Hi Geoffrey, I recently watched ur arm size and growing guide videos. I was wondering how long it took u to achieve ur arms size and what kinda progress I should expect? Currently around 14 inches flexed after 4 months training could I realistically hit 15 inches in a year?
Hard to say for sure. I don't have measurements from my early years so I don't know exactly how long it took.
If you’re at 14 now, 15 should be realistic within a year. I started about where you did, and I believe 15” arms took me around a year
Particularly with newbie gains and reasonably decent training.
Hope you’re well Geoff, good videos as always 💪🏻👌🏻😬
There I was thinking you would talk about kettlebells! That's my go to for this and it doubles as a cardio session too.
Hey Geoffrey can you do a video about muscular imbalances between the right and left side ? I have been struggling with that forever
Hi Geoffrey - This is off topic - but I have a question that I hope you'd be kind enough to answer. I bought your book last week & have been reading it. I'm technically a beginner even though I've resistance trained in the past. I'd like to program deadlifts into my "lazy mans" beginners routine. The thing is - I'm terrible at the movement & really need to practice the deadlift body mechanics with a low amount of weight in order to get it right not to cause pain in my lower back (its obviously a form issue & for whatever reason I'm not just naturally catching onto the movement like I have with so many other exercises). Since my goal is whole body hypertrophy - I like to take all my other exercises close to failure. With the way I'm going to have to practice the deadlift though (extremely low weight) - it would probably take a ridiculous number of reps to get close to failure on the exercise (not to mention - it would probably be a bad idea). How would you handle my situation in order to still get the most out of my "lazy mans" full body hypertrophy work out - considering my current limitations with the dead lift? Thank you for reading.
You can do them on day 2 as written, with 3 sets of 12,8,6 reps, but not to failure. You don't have to fail on them, and probably shouldn't.
Hi geof,
Other than your book sweat, what other books do you recommend for a novice to read. I want something to keep me educated on the rest days
I might do a vid on that, I have to do more research on it first though.
Landmine University style training is very cool for power and way more natural, less mobility required.
I just add heavy double kettlebell exercises like clean/squat/push-press and double snatches... Great to focus more on explosive power, not muscle per se
Can you incorporate dumbbell or kettlebell snatches and cleans in a hypertrophy phase? I actually use dumbbell snatches for cardio/conditioning workouts. Just don't go too heavy, I like how they make me feel more athletic and explosive and when done in a hiit fashion they are good for keeping the fat gain down whilst bulking.
I think with dumbbell or kettlebells are more forgiving technique wise, and easier on the joints.
Best cardio imo from a cardiovascular health perspective is the bike 🚲, I would recommend doing abs before cardio about every other time you do it. As one is lifting explosive and one is cardio, do the kettle bells before any form of low intensity cardio.
Hey just checked jay vincent channel...what your thoughts on HIT training with slow tempo?
Generally not a fan of slow concentrics.
It's definitely too sport-specific for me to implement in my training. However, training clean & jerk could expose some mobility issues. Maybe if you break up the movement, like the snatch grip high pull. The weighted stretch gotta go crazy on that pull.
Hey whats your Favorite split
I don't have one, I've done many and don't have one in particular that is my favorite.
Do you think this would work with a trap bar or would that turn into a weird Yates Row-looking thing?
I think you'd probably hit yourself in the face or sth.
@@GVS yeah, think I’ll stick to shrugs and Deadlifts with the trap bar! Thanks!
Heaving deadlifts are my go to
You have to be built a certain way. These guys seem to have relatively short legs. If you're built more like a runner/swimmer, good luck doing Olympic lifts.
True.
Look at lesman paredes
I do snatch grip high pulls and even though it’s a lot of glutes and hams I put it on upper because it’s way more traps for me
after reading SWEAT, I will be thoroughly dissapointed if the lift isn't low pull from the hang
YUP!!!
I started doing them to become more explosive for Highland Games but they are fun to do. They might not be the best no if you want to just build muscle but when you nail a big power snatch it is a great feeling. The full versions are a ton of timing but the power variations are a great movement and will blow up your whole body. High pulls are great snatch grip and clean, I do a shit ton of them.
Wow you compete in Highland Games
@@Carlos-bk5is For almost 20 years.
I do highpulls as well. Specifically with a snatch grip.
It’s good if your going to compete in the sport but for exercise for other sports there are better options that have much less injury risks and are more effective.
i also like doing ( Hang power *Snatch / clean* with **Dumbbells** ) for explosiveness in general .
it's more forgiven and cleaning and catching the dumbbells is way easier and more forgiven .. plus u start the movement from a hang position and catch it in a quarter squat !
Wouldnt a power clean done right be better than the movements you show?
Sure, but as mentioned it requires more precision.
@@GVS I think trainers and more advanced lifters should encourage the less experienced ones to take on more complex movements. Yes weightlifting is very technical but the power variants of the two main lifts (power clean and power snatch) are not that complicated because they dont requiere a deep front squat or an overhead squat. I understand that people have other responsibilities besides working out but to me the best thing working out provides is to learn, learn with and to use your body, knowing where you are, to balance and to sort things out.
I do the Trap Bar instead of the barbell Dead lIft, didnt see the point of the dead lift in terms of risk reward, I wanted the idiot proof version. I do a lighter RDL with a landmine for the hamstrings
Both good options!
3x5 or 5x5 on SGHP actually make my trap visible now
I lift olympic since over 20 years. I‘m definitely not jacked 😅 Ok I‘ve massive legs. But all the upper body mass is trained by Pull Ups, Pendley Rows, Push/Strict Press, Dips or other assistent exercises. But this is comparable with an average gym bro.
Not every weightlifter looks like Klokov 😉
While I think you've got a good point (mostly,) I don't think you've enough knowledge about weightlifting to comment that much about weightlifting
Seems like an unnecessarily dangerous exercise due to catching the heavy barbell. Better to just let it drop and keep your spine out of such a compromised position
I do them because they're fun
I just want a 50inch vert
lol good luck
Cleaning with straps. Got em 🤣
Skeet skeet
I also can't do the Olympic Lifts, mainly because my gym only has cast iron plates haha
Weightlifters have the best looking physique imo
Train your bicep? Why do you need to train big biceps for? Your posterior chain is weaker than interior most of the time, OL is so wholesome for a total body and functional strength. And you mentioned many times about eccentric phase for muscle growth, that's true however OL explosive movements are also good for muscle growth and strength.
I think you were talking with the mind of hypertrophy training style (biceps, eccentric,...) which I've been doing for years and now I find it BORING and so imbalanced.
B-B-But AthleanX and Rippetoe said that if you want to train like an athlete you have to do oly lifting.
Its basically very technical thats why he doesnt do it. Building mass does not require super technical. Its that simple. Olympic lifting is 100x better than building mass or just body building.
I'm one of the A--holes that thinks if you are not a long-legged spider, you should be able to squat to deepth along with other basic calisthenic movements. These mobilities are essential for living independently as we age.
If you have a problem with the front rack, you can try an open grip like what Olympian Gabriel Sîncrăian uses. There are pros and cons to either method.
th-cam.com/video/PIDIni7jzE8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=mr62GB95vS2rBwSD
I think big traps looks very good so maybe I'll give high pull a try
On the topic of traps and Oly lifting: when I started doing Lu raises to help with some shoulder pain, I found my traps exploded, even though I was already doing shrugs, deadlifts etc.
Lu raises are also great for upper back development, if that’s something you want alongside traps.
OWL is not easy on joints, risky on gainz/work ratio. Not many olimpic lifters are fully functional after retiring
Yes. Injuries can be traumatic if they do occur.
Kahi kahiasvilis (h prounounced like in hell).Oh!Another postworkout meal with my youtube friend Geof.
2:48 his hips going sideways made me scared AF
Why? It doesn't increase injury risk and that's how he always stood up a clean
I recall seeing kids on IG say "Bodybuilding is an Olympic sport"...
lol. it's not a sport at all.