Olympic Weightlifting For Basketball

!±8± Olympic Weightlifting For Basketball

For most people, Olympic weightlifting is seen every four years while watching muscle-bound Olympic athletes wearing something that resembles a wrestling singlet moving huge amounts of weight over their head while grunting and screaming to the applause from the crowd. As a basketball coach or player, you might not think that this applies to you, but hear me out. While studying to get my certification in the Olympic lifts, my instructor showed me a picture of an Olympic lifter jumping over a bar that was 50 inches or more off the ground. That is a pretty impressive feat for any athlete, let alone a guy that was less than 6 feet tall and built like a brick house. Coaching basketball for over nine years and playing the sport for even longer, I can attest to the fact that the one thing any and all basketball players really want to do is jump high enough to dunk a basketball. Think about it, how many basketball players spend their free time during practice trying to jump up and grab the rim? Pretty much all of them, but how many can really jump high enough to consistently throw the ball down? Not too many. Obviously, basketball is more than just dunking the ball, but being able to jump high and run fast will give any basketball player an extreme advantage. Olympic style weightlifting can not only get them the explosive power that is necessary for basketball, but it will also provide them with the strength and conditioning that is unrivaled by traditional bodybuilding methods.

There are many advantages to having your athletes perform the Olympic lifts like the snatch and the clean and jerk. Traditional body building lifts like the bicep curls are great for the beach muscles, but they do not have the added benefits that Olympic weightlifting does. It is important for an athlete to try to use as many muscles as possible when they train. Bicep curls are specific to one body part. The Olympic lifts call for an athlete to recruit numerous amounts of muscle fibers in their entire body to move the weight from the floor to an overhead position. The nature of this movement is highly intense and a must for any athlete. Furthermore to accomplish this, it is imperative that the athlete lift the weight as quickly as possible throughout the entire movement.

The speed at which the Olympic lifts are performed has its own benefits. First, it increases the player's metabolic drive which will aid in building a leaner, more efficient athlete, a necessity for a basketball player. The type of speed that the Olympic lifts demand will also make the athlete more explosive while reproducing the jumping motion that all basketball players need on the court. Olympic lifts, when done correctly, require an athlete to attain triple extension, the ankle, knee, and hip all extending at the same time. Triple extension also takes place while jumping. If an athlete is trying to jump high, then he must be at his top speed as his ankles, knees, and hips simultaneously extend. Olympic lifts directly mirror this action because of the speed that is necessary to pull a weighted bar through the triple extension portion of the lift.

Other than the explosive nature of the Olympic lifts, there are many other advantages. The proper technique that is needed to perform these lifts forces the athlete to use his muscles in the correct sequence, from his core to his extremities. Everyone is talking these days about how important it is to train the core. For the most part, this translates into, "Do more crunches or balance yourself on a big rubber ball". Forget the crunches, and use the rubber ball to play kick ball because the Olympic lifts help to stabilize your core muscles better than any crunch or balancing act can ever do. Another benefit to the Olympic lifts for athletes is the fact that they decrease the risk of injury by increasing the body's agility and ability to accept the force of the external object, in this case, the weighted bar. As a result, the Olympic lifts increase flexibility in the hips, ankles, and wrists and promote shoulder stability. Finally, whereas traditional weight lifting programs focus of specific body parts, your whole body gets a workout when performing these lifts. This increases an athlete's conditioning and decreases their time in the gym. Training economically is vitally important to today's athlete who usually plays more than one sport and has very little time to strength train. The Olympic lifts provide the best results in the least amount of time. Not to mention the increased strength and size that the athlete will develop while moving the weights through the full range of motion that the clean and jerks and snatches demand.

It should be noted that I am in no way advocating an Olympic lifting program for basketball players or any other athlete. What I am suggesting is that basketball players and other athletes incorporate the Olympic lifts into their current weight training regimen, preferably as the fundamental exercise on each given training day. It should also be noted that the Olympic lifts do require a large degree of technique in order to avoid injury and perform them successfully. However, this should in no way deter any coach or athlete from doing them. There are plenty of videos, clinics, and coaches out there that can instruct on how to perform the Olympic lifts properly. So, if you are looking to take your strength training to the next level and you want to have the athletic advantage of jumping higher and running faster, start to incorporate the Olympic lifts into your strength training program. Not only will you see the benefits mentioned above, but they are actually more fun than looking at yourself in the mirror while doing 100 biceps curls every time you hit the gym.

Olympic Weightlifting For Basketball

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How to body an Olympic Platform

!±8± How to body an Olympic Platform

Building an o lift platform for cleans and snatches as well as powerlifts. You can drop what ever weight you want from overhead with little noise. You don't even have to buy rubber plstes.

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Body Solid ORST355 Rubber Grip Olympic Plates

!±8±Body Solid ORST355 Rubber Grip Olympic Plates

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Body Solid Rubber Grip Olympic Sets. Designed using state-of-the art technology, Body-Solid Rubber Grip Olympic Plates surpasses all others in quality, accuracy, reliability and price. Quad-grip design guarantees safer and easier performance than any other plate on the market. Encased in durable, heavy-duty rubber to prevent scuffing or damage to equipment, walls or floors. Impact-resistant, these Olympic Plates will not split, crack or peel. They are also impervious to rusting, chipping, flaking or losing their color. And the integrated metal sleeve provides a smooth, secure fit onto any Olympic bar. Heavy lifting has never been easier or safer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,502 under license from Iron Grip Barbell Company, Inc.

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Body Solid Rubber Grip Olympic Sets. Designed using state-of-the art technology, Body-Solid Rubber Grip Olympic Plates surpasses all others in quality, accuracy, reliability and price. Quad-grip design guarantees safer and easier performance than any other plate on the market. Encased in durable, heavy-duty rubber to prevent scuffing or damage to equipment, walls or floors. Impact-resistant, these Olympic Plates will not split, crack or peel. They are also impervious to rusting, chipping, flaking or losing their color. And the integrated metal sleeve provides a smooth, secure fit onto any Olympic bar. Heavy lifting has never been easier or safer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,502 under license from Iron Grip Barbell Company, Inc.

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!±8± Troy Rubber Encased Olympic Weight Plates - 25 Pound - 1 Pair

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Our TROY premium grade rubber encased ?Quiet Iron EZ-lift? plate is one of the top plates on the market today. Not only does it protect floors and equipment, the interlocking feature allows the user to load more plates onto machines and bars to maximize workouts. These Olympic GO-R plates also maintain a 2% accuracy level, plus or minus.

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University of Texas (UT) Swimming Athletics Tour

!±8± University of Texas (UT) Swimming Athletics Tour

Trey Zepeda, the head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Texas (UT), gives a tour of the athlete swimming facilities. ?What are you doing Stack TV? My name is Trey Zepeda, straight to conditioning coach here at the University of Texas. Take it through my house. This place I?m about to take you, athletes only. Nobody else, you?re not an athlete, I?m sorry, you can?t come in but you?re with me so roll it on. This is the dungeon. I know, there?s no chains or no wet moldy walls but it?s home so, you get a little bit of thing that we need in here. There?s not a whole lot of bells and whistles and fancy stuff that you might say, ?Wow, that?s obscure looking device.? So, primarily on this side of the wall, we have mostly all of our platforms. Every thing are pillows in here. The thing about kilos are athletes coming out from freshmen and like kilos. What?sa kilo? That?s what we call for weights. We don?t work out for pounds in here. Its more than an international system as you see in most gyms, in places, you gotta find bench press of two or three or maybe even six as we have here. We have some power rocks and we do some squatting down in the other end and have few leg presses over here for isolated movements as far as the legs, thighs. Life cycle, tires, bikes, thread mills, things to that nature. Jumping, it?sa key component on all athletes. Believe it or not, even in golfers, and we use these boxes for that pliametric type exercises. So, once again, this is ...

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Accommodating Resistance With Tubes & Bands Part 1 - A Novel Approach to Improve a Serious Flaw!

!±8± Accommodating Resistance With Tubes & Bands Part 1 - A Novel Approach to Improve a Serious Flaw!

Today, there are more training tools available for personal trainers than ever. How does one decide what equipment is best to use? Well, that really depends on the situation.

Let's take resistance training, for example. As far as I'm concerned, free weights reign supreme! Every time I'm asked what I think of this machine or that machine, my response is always the same: get yourself a simple barbell and dumbbell set with an adjustable bench and forget the rest. Period.

Many trainers find themselves in a situation where space and budget are limited, though, and free weights may not be the best option. Remember, resistance can come from many different sources.

One such source that is quite popular in the field of personal training involves resistance tubing and bands. These are portable devices that are relatively inexpensive and quite versatile. You can perform just about any exercise with a tube and they even come in different resistances (they are usually color-coded for this reason.)

With so many benefits, resistance tubes seem like the perfect training tool...except for a slight problem: If using elastics and one end is fixed, it creates resistance patterns which do not ideally match the torque-joint angle curves of the body because the bands increase resistance fairly linearly throughout the range.

Well, the answer to that is simple: tubing encourages the disproportionate development of accelerators versus decelerators, and that my friends, can lead to injury. In fact, out of 16 cases of rotator cuff tendonitis reported by the national synchronized swim team of Canada, all but 1 case were corrected by eliminating tubing and using dumbbells instead.

Tubing exercises are quite popular in the rehabilitative setting to train the rotator cuff muscles, but obviously, there is a big difference between using dumbbells and elastics.

To take it one step further, when performing shoulder external or internal rotations for example, dumbbells provide a greater overload in the bottom position and tubes provide a greater overload in the top position. You can combine the two during a set (i.e. hold onto both a dumbbell and tube) or use a cable to provide a relatively even overload throughout; however, two problems exist with these methods:

Assuming that you have access to a cable apparatus (many home gyms do not), most weight stacks start at 10 pounds which is far too heavy for the average person. It is difficult to adjust for individual leverages and fatigue, but there is a way...

This is where the concept of accommodating resistance applies and it is so versatile with a tube or band -- it can be used on almost any exercise!

Here is a little trick I learned from the late Dr. Mel Siff. Basically, the concept is simple: use an exercise tube or band and have a partner follow the movement pattern to accommodate strength (i.e. give more or less resistance when needed.) Just remember to keep the movement smooth. When applying passive resistance, it's not a competition!

That's all there is to it.

With this novel technique, a serious flaw of training with elastics is rectified. All of a sudden, more pros and less cons!

Pros

No sophisticated equipment is required. Can produce a more even strength curve. Can increase time-under-tension (TUT) to desired length -- terminate set once particular TUT is achieved.

Cons

Requires a training partner. Lack of objectivity (this can be offset somewhat by recording size of tube and distance of hand position.)

Examples

Let's examine some shoulder movements using accommodating resistance with tubes.

Holistic Health Practitioner and Neuromuscular Therapist, Paul Chek, has a famous motto: "First Isolate Then Integrate!" So with that said, let's start with some isolation exercises.

Isolation Exercises

Some authorities feel that the subcapularis is the missing link to unlocking true strength of the upper extremities and improving shoulder strength and health. Many therapists often claim that this muscle tests weak and should be subsequently trained. Well, the reason for this is due primarily to poor posture, or more specifically, rounded shoulders (i.e. a kyphotic posture) that is so prevalent in today's society. This is a case of a tight and weak muscle.

Due to an extreme amount of internal rotation, the subscap (an internal rotator of the humerus) becomes extremely tight and facilitated. Since the sarcomeres (actin and myosin) experience full interdigitation, it becomes difficult to contract any further. Therefore, in order to strengthen these fibers, they must first be placed in an optimum position to contract effectively -- you accomplish that goal with appropriate stretching and myofascial release (e.g. A.R.T.) Only after this is accomplished should the subscapularis be trained with resistance.

Another muscle that tests weak is the infraspinatus, an external rotator of the humerus, but for different reasons than above. It is usually long and weak -- the actin and myosin filaments are not in optimum position for maximum force output. This particular rotator cuff muscle has appeared often in recent literature due to the lack of shoulder external rotation in many strength training programs creating a muscle imbalance.

Robert Lardner, a European Physical Therapist trained by among others Janda, reveals an interesting concept for rotator cuff exercises:

"To grab a dumbbell requires flexion of the arm muscles. The flexion muscles are so strong that these phasic (flexion) muscles will override the extensor (tonic) muscles. So all the guys lying on their sides are really doing mostly a bicep/brachia movement. So, what is the proper way to exercise these muscles? The best way is to have your hand open with your fingers spread and have the resistance strapped to your wrist, either through a rubber band or a cable. Then go through the extending motion that you wish to exercise."

It may indeed be more effective to perform many of the exercises listed in this article with an open hand. Try it and see if you can notice a difference.

Let's move on to another common shoulder movement, the pullover. Many trainers prescribe this exercise to correct a winging scapulae. Guess what? That is the wrong approach!

In order to effectively remedy this situation, the serratus anterior, rhomboids and middle/lower trapezuis should be trained. The pullover does not effectively target these muscles; in fact, it hits the specific muscles (particularly the latissmus dorsi and subscapularis) that causes winging scapulae (Polquin, 1997).

Furthermore, the dumbbell pullover is often performed over a bench. This method is inviting an abdominal hernia as well as overstressing the shoulder joint (especially if the trainee has tight shoulders!) A far better approach is to perform the exercise on a decline bench or on the floor as depicted below to avoid maximum overload on the shoulder joint in extreme extension. In other words, by shortening the range of motion, it is safer for the shoulders. Also, avoid excessively arching the back by pressing the spine into the bench or floor and keeping the core tight throughout. Hence, the abdominals must act as stabilizers during the movement.

Integration Exercises

Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) patterns are a series of movements developed by Herman Kabat and featured in a classic text by Knott and Voss. Although many trainers and therapists perceive PNF as a form of stretching, it is much more than that -- it involves a series of spiral movements that cross the midline of the body. In doing so, all planes are crossed: vertical/horizontal extension/flexion, abduction/adduction, and internal/external rotation occur in one movement.

By using accommodating resistance with bands and tubes, you remove a major flaw associated with elastic resistance to provide a more even strength curve throughout the range of motion. Instead of a rather inferior training tool, you now have a potent weapon at your disposal!

References

Chek, P. Program Design: Choosing Reps, Sets, Loads, Tempo, and Rest Periods. Paul Chek Seminars, 1995. Korfist, C. Weakest Link Theory. Intensity Magazine, 2002. Poliquin, C. The Poliquin Principles. Napa, CA: Dayton Writers Group, 1997. Siff, MC., Verkhoshansky, YV. Supertraining 4th Edition. Denver, CO: Supertraining International, 1999.

Accommodating Resistance With Tubes & Bands Part 1 - A Novel Approach to Improve a Serious Flaw!

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Horizontal Plate Rack - Half Set - Black

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!±8± Troy Rubber Encased Olympic Weight Plates - 35 Pound - 1 Pair

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Olympic Lifting vs Powerlifting Training for Football

!±8± Olympic Lifting vs Powerlifting Training for Football

The debate is as old as the sentence, so it seems. I never understood why these two styles of training seem to be mutually exclusive. Why must we choose between them? It has long been recognized that the Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting develops explosive power development of absolute strength. They have the most athletes require both? Fortunately, the body does not prejudice the Olympic or powerlifting. It 'easy to be, committed dominate, leading to its task. The problem with trying to do bothis that there are only so many training hours in the week. I believe training economy is one of the most important aspects of strength & conditioning for athletes. Even in the off season, athletes spend a substantial amount of time developing specific skills for their sport, or at least they should. At the high school level, they might even participate in multiple sports. So how do we decide which training style to follow? Let's look at each, shall we?!

One of the main concerns strength coaches have with Olympic lifting is the complexity of the movements. And frankly that reflects some ignorance on their part. If you have seen any of Coach Dan John's videos or seminars he breaks down the movements and can have you snatching and cleaning in a matter of hours or days. Despite having said that, I consider the Olympic lifts to be somewhat technical. Olympic lifts require a lot more attention to detail than the powerlifts do. Also there is a limiting factor to the loads you can use with the Olympic lifts. The clean is comprised roughly of a deadlift, hang clean and front squat. One of those 3 movements will hold back the other two. How explosive do you think an athlete could be if they limited their deadlift poundage to what they could handle in the front squat, or hang clean? A 500lb deadlifter that could only front squat 300lbs, would develop a hell of a lot of force pulling 300-350lbs for explosiveness. And that's just IF they could clean 300lbs.

Also if you watch Olympic weightlifters closely, the initial pull is not explosive. The initial pull can't be explosive because they are building up, and getting into position for the all important second pull. They are slowly stretching the rubber band, otherwise known as the hamstrings. The second pull is where the hip snap and jump occurs; these movements are basically the basis of most sports performance. This is the portion of the movement that Olympic lifting proponents attribute to building explosiveness for sports, and I do not disagree with them.

After reading this you are probably expecting me to say that powerlifting training is definitely the way to go for football. I hate to disappoint you, but since training should be fluid; the answer is yes and no. Powerlifting training allows you to use heavier loads, and develop absolute strength. I personally believe the development of absolute strength should be the basis of any strength and conditioning program for athletes. Strength is the platform that skill is built upon. However, there are significant limitations to powerlifting training as well. First of all they are all single plane movements. Take the deadlift, my favorite lift for training athletes and assessing their progress. It, and the squat, will build sheer strength and overall muscle mass like very few lifts. Yet they are single plane movement, done while holding your breath. And apart from occasionally sitting on the sideline hoping a game winning field goal is made, that's not how we play sports.

So if neither of these training styles by themselves are optimum then what is the answer?! Well in my opinion there is a dark horse in this race. One that is finally starting to get some mainstream acceptance, though I am not sure if that's a good thing. Mainstream acceptance usually means a bunch of young coaches bastardizing a perfectly legitimate strength training protocol. From my work with athletes the best hybrid between powerlifting and Olympic lifting is Strongman Training.

Strongman training has many benefits when compared to the other two classic disciplines. The most important of which is that you are taught to be strong in several planes. You learn to be strong while having to breathe. That is HUGE. I recall the first time I used a strongman yoke. I had recently squatted close to 800 lbs, and thought that carrying 600lbs. on my back for a distance would be relatively easy. It was a rude awakening. Balancing the weight while walking was difficult, but what really got me was I had to BREATHE. The moment I let out my initial breath, I started losing tightness, and the weight started to crush me. Learning to be strong while breathing is something that every athlete must do.

Another benefit of strongman training is a forgotten element sometimes. Attitude and aggression are things that should be encouraged during training. Making football players mentally tough should be a goal of any strength and conditioning program, as I addressed in my article about finishers. You have to realize that the amount of aggression that you can apply to a lift is inversely proportional to how technical a lift is. Which movement is more technical, a tire flip or a snatch? Even with a superior coach like Coach John, it takes some time to develop proficiency in a complex move like the snatch. Where as, as long as the tire is the proper weight, you can show a kid how to flip a tire and have them doing it in a matter of minutes. It's much like teaching a kid to play an instrument. You can give them a drum, and right away they can beat the hell out of it. Give the same kid a French horn and see how they do. We all recognize that the less an athlete has to THINK the better, and that goes for the weight room as well as the field of play.

You also don't take small jumps in strongman. A larger tire is probably a hundred more pounds at least. If you are doing a barbell exercise, a kid will always want to add weight, even if it's only 5 lbs. They have to feed their ego. With strongman training they have to become more proficient at the same weight, work on moving it fast and developing more explosiveness. There is no way you could get kid to stand still for that if they had a barbell in their hands. And as far as barbells go, one more advantage of strongman training is that tires and sandbags don't have handles.... neither do offensive/defensive linemen. Yes I recognize there grabbing them under the armpits will work for a handle, but it is "technically" illegal...wink, wink.

The last point I will make about strongman training is that most of it is done outside in the elements. This is also where the majority of sports are played as well. It is different, and fun. Most young athletes need the training to be fun for them to give their best effort. Not to mention that strongman training lends itself to a healthy competitive atmosphere.

So does that mean that I think that strongman is the end all and be of all strength and conditioning for sports? Not at all. I believe that the best strength programs will take something from all the disciplines. Powerlifting movements such as the squat and deadlift build sheer strength as well as packing on tons of muscle mass. Olympic lifts such as hang cleans, and muscle snatches are great for developing, hip snap, jumping ability, and overall explosiveness. Then there are crossover movements like front squats and push presses. Almost all athletes should do more of each. There is no reason to only use one style of training. There are things to draw from all three. Strongman training helps an athlete take their strength in the weight room to his chosen field of play. And performance on the field is what really matters.

Olympic Lifting vs Powerlifting Training for Football

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