Olympic weightlifting isn’t just for Olympians anymore. At Gold's Gym SoCal, we're committed to providing our members with the most up-to-date equipment, which is why we've been installing Olympic weightlifting platforms throughout our clubs. The platforms are inspired by the Olympic discipline where the objective is to lift the highest total weight in the clean and jerk and the snatch. In recent years the sport has made its way into mainstream fitness programs and now into Gold's Gym SoCal.
The 10 reasons Olympic weightlifting has become so popular are the same 10 reasons you should consider adding it to your fitness routine:
TRANSFORM YOUR BODY
From your legs, glutes and back to your abs, shoulders and arms, performing a snatch or clean and jerk is a full-body exercise, so you're sure to feel the burn during your workouts in a short amount of time. That makes Olympic weightlifting a great way to build muscle, increase strength and decrease body fat while maximizing time spent on strength training.
DEVELOP EXPLOSIVE POWER
While Olympic lifts don’t mimic many specific sports skills such as running, throwing, or catching, they do develop explosive power. In fact, they produce some of the highest power outputs of any sport. Power is the body’s ability to produce the greatest amount of force in the shortest possible time and is the product of strength and speed. It’s the key ingredient in running faster and jumping higher.
BOOST ENDURANCE
Olympic lifts can also enhance high-intensity exercise endurance and decrease recovery time. With greater training capacity, you can work out more each session and reach your health and fitness goals faster.
IMPROVE BONE DENSITY
Strengthening your bones is a great way to prevent osteoporosis and protect yourself from fractures. Olympic lifts introduce large forces on the legs, spine, and arms, which is exactly what your body needs to encourage new bone growth to improve bone density.
INCREASE RANGE OF MOTION
Don't let Olympic weightlifting fool you. Many people associate lifting heavy weights with stiffness, but in reality, the execution of a proper Olympic lift requires a high level of flexibility and mobility, which can expand and strengthen your range of motion.
ENHANCE COORDINATION
Precise coordination, rhythm and timing are essential to the execution of an Olympic lift. Working on those aspects of the movements improves your body awareness, which is great for both sports performance and daily activities.
DEVELOP STABILITY
In sports and daily life, we rarely need stationary strength, but we can mimic that type of stress on the body in the gym. Olympic lifts build strength and stability around major joints at speed, which means the movements aren't just strength exercises but also functional.
PROTECT AGAINST INJURY
Since Olympic lifts are full-body movements that target the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles, they help promote flexibility and stability across joints. Having control of the load of the barbell through the entire range of motion of all these joints gets the body ready for impacts found in other sports and some daily activities. Including the lifts in your training can reduce susceptibility to injury by improving flexibility, strength, and stability.
IMPROVE SPORTS PERFORMANCE
Both Olympic lifts require the athlete to exert force into the ground through a quick and coordinated triple extension of the ankle, knee and hip. This extension is a core movement in most other sports because it happens during sprinting and jumping, so incorporating lifts into another sport can directly improve strength, power and speed.
BUILD CONFIDENCE
Olympic weightlifting is about a lot more than lifting the heaviest possible weight. Many people find that learning to lift the barbell with speed and proper technique keeps them excited about the workout because of the process. Mastering these new skills allows you to see what your body is capable of, which builds confidence inside and outside the gym just as much as it does strength.
DOWNLOAD OUR NEWEST FREE GUIDE
Our newest free guide makes it easy to incorporate Olympic weightlifting into your routine. While the clean and jerk and the snatch take years to perfect, doing the training exercises in this guide will still add up to major strength, mobility, power and speed gains now.
Here is what's included in your download:
- 13 platform lifts with photos and step-by-step instructions
- Video demonstrations in real-time and slo-mo
- A breakdown of weightlifting positions
- History of the sport
- How weightlifting plays out at the modern Olympics
