The following are excerpts from an article on the NSCA website [National Strength & Conditioning Association of the USA].

“Weightlifters are arguably the most powerful athletes.  As such, the training methods and modalities used in weightlifting are often looked at for the training of other athletes in sports in which strength, speed, and power contribute to elite athletic performance.  In addition to the musculoskeletal and mechanical adaptations, cardio-respiratory, motor behavior, and psychological adaptations also result from weightlifting training.

Weightlifting is defined as the sport in which athletes attempt to lift the most weight in the snatch and the clean and jerk.  Strength and conditioning professionals should be clear to differentiate between weightlifting and weight or resistance training, which is the broad category of exercise against resistance.  The term Olympic lifting, although commonly used, is inappropriate for most athletes, as this should be reserved for the elite individuals who compete in weightlifting at the Olympics games.  Similarly, the term weightlifter refers distinctly to individuals training and competing in weightlifting.

The primary style used in competition for the snatch and the clean is the squat style, and for the jerk, the split-style.  Prior to the 1960s the split-style was also used for the snatch and clean.  Some elite weightlifters use the power jerk or squat jerk, although this is rare.  In strength and conditioning programs, other variations of the lifts are used, including lifts from the hang and power lifts.

While rumors and anecdotes abound regarding the dangers of weightlifting, there is no evidence that weightlifting training causes excessive injury.  In fact, the rate of occurrence of injuries in weightlifting is less than that of more common sports, such as basketball, football, and gymnastics.  While injuries do occur in weightlifting and weight training, these are rare incidents and are typically associated with maximal performance in competitive situations.  In weightlifting, participants are more likely to be supervised by a coach and are more likely to have been instructed in proper exercise technique than in typical weight training.

During general preparation training of the weightlifter increases in lean body mass of 2.4 kg and decreases in body fat of 3% in as little as 5–8 weeks have been reported in novice individuals.  While other training methods can decrease body fat, to our knowledge no other research has reported concomitant increases of lean body mass of this magnitude in such a brief period of time.  The average percentage of body fat in weightlifters has been reported between 6 and 12%.

The snatch and clean can be broken into three components, which individually, have distinct adaptational benefits.  These are (a) the first pull, (b) the second pull (including the preceding double knee bend), and (c) receiving the bar.  The first pull involves removing the barbell from its static position on the floor until the bar passes the knees.  In this component, the angle of the torso relative to the floor is more horizontal than vertical; thus, in addition to the primary movement produced by the knee and hip extensors, the spinal extensors, scapular retractors, and shoulder extensors are also involved.  The spinal extensors create posterior shearing forces to oppose anterior shear from gravitational forces, which, along with the compressional forces generated, increases spinal stability.  The scapular retractors and shoulder extensors keep the barbell close the body.  In this position, the lifter can apply large forces; however, heavy loads cannot be moved at high velocity.  Pulling the bar from the floor thus contributes to the training of starting strength, where starting strength is the ability to generate high forces from the onset of muscle activation in a very short period of time.  Starting strength relates to the initial defensive positions for sports such as football and volleyball.  As the barbell passes the knees, the knees shift forward and the barbell and hips move towards each other.  This motion initiates a stretch-shortening cycle and repositions the lifter-barbell system so that the lifter is in joint positions with advantageous leverage to impart a large force to the barbell rapidly, resulting in a high power output.  As this large production of power is considered to be the primary benefit of the snatch and clean, strength and conditioning programs typically involve exercises that isolate this component of the lifts.  These include lifting from the hang, lifting from boxes, and high pulls.  While it is indeed advantageous for athletes to utilize these exercises, the second pull is not the only important characteristic of the snatch and clean exercises.  Perhaps the most overlooked characteristic of the snatch and clean is receiving the bar, whether overhead or on the shoulders.  In weightlifting circles, this is performed by “meeting the bar,” or actively resisting the downward momentum of the barbell.  This requires activation of the agonist muscles in an eccentric and isometric fashion.  The difference between eccentric actions during weightlifting as opposed to weight training (for example the negative phase of a squat) is that overcoming the downward barbell momentum requires a greater opposing impulse during weightlifting.  Thus, the rapid production of force in an eccentric manner is necessary, similar to plyometric movements, such as depth jumps. This is also called yielding strength and contributes to reactive strength, the ability to rapidly reverse eccentric to concentric motion.

While plyometric exercises are widely used in strength and conditioning, the landing phases of these exercises are associated with injuries, primarily at the knee and ankle joints.  The snatch and clean exercises are a safer, and perhaps more effective, method of training yielding strength, whereas the jerk exercise can be used for training reactive strength.  In properly trained individuals, the vertical ground reaction forces produced in receiving the bar are lower than those produced when landing from jumping and during depth jumps.

As is expected, weightlifters can generate greater force and power in comparison to other athletes with similar years of training experience.

The rationale for inclusion of weightlifting exercises in strength and conditioning programs to improve athletic performance is based on the similar mechanical structure of weightlifting and explosive sports movements and the relationship between weightlifting and other sports performance.  

Most sports performed on land require the generation of force by musculature to push against the ground. Examples of these movements are running and jumping actions, and the musculature involved are the extensors of the hip and knee and the plantar flexors at the ankle.  These same muscles are involved in weightlifting, with similar sequencing of actions.  Additionally, the temporal pattern of force production for weightlifting at different loads corresponds with the temporal pattern seen in jumping.  It is therefore no surprise to find a strong relationship between weightlifting performance and measures of anaerobic power, such as vertical jumping, with and without external loading.

Maximal strength is associated with improved jumping performance.  In untrained individuals, increasing maximal strength alone increases vertical jump height.  However, maximal force production is not always related to vertical jump height, whereas power is.  Additionally, in trained individuals, high force training alone does not improve vertical jump.  This indicates that explosive strength specifically is important for jumping performance.  Thus, while heavy strength training is necessary for optimal performance adaptations, heavy strength training should be performed in an explosive manner, such as occurs in weightlifting.

Anecdotally, perhaps the most commonly used weightlifting exercise variation is the power clean from the hang.  In weightlifting, however, this is only one of many variations of exercises used to enhance performance. Thus, the benefits of weightlifting are best attained by strategically using the many weightlifting exercise variations.  The majority of training time spent on these lifts should involve the squat and power versions of the snatch and clean, as well as the push and split jerk.  The major benefit of using these variations (pulling from the floor) is that they allow the greatest loads to be utilized.  As discussed previously, training with heavy loads in a rapid fashion is important for developing rate of force development, a key contributor to explosive strength.  Additionally, athletes are able to develop muscular strength in positions that are mechanically disadvantageous, which, however, they may encounter in their sport.  Depending on the needs of the athletes and their technical deficiencies, lifts from the hang or boxes may be warranted, as would the split snatch or clean.  Proper technique in performing these exercises is essential.

Conclusion

Weightlifting offers many benefits for the training of athletes.  While the mechanical characteristics of weightlifting are well known, weightlifting training results in additional adaptations.  The concert of physiological, neurological, and mechanical adaptations suggests that weightlifting exercises and methods may be the single most effective type of training for athletic performance.”  [Authors:       Loren Z F Chiu & Brian K Schilling]

For a copy of the complete article please contact me as per the email address below. 

Richard Dryden

Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand Coach

Strength & Power Trainer