Now before you jump to conclusions, let’s clear up a few things here. The Olympic Lifts are used in the sport of Weightlifting. The classic lifts in weightlifting are the Clean and Jerk, and Snatch.
I want to emphasize – it’s a sport.
Olympic lifts have been used in strength and conditioning programs for athletic performance and enhancing strength, power, and explosiveness for athletes. They have exploded into the mainstream because of CrossFit. Now just because you see someone working on weightlifting movements doesn’t mean they are doing CrossFit nor does it mean they are weightlifters.
Now that we got that out of the way, the Olympic Lifts are not the best for explosive power because it takes time, practice, patience, more time, and proper coaching. Plus, they are not for everyone and not everyone wants to do them or has access to perform the lifts.
How are Olympic Lifts Made Explosive?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR5ZDdiuwjM
The pulling phase of the olympic lifts, as shown in the above video by Catalyst Athletics, are where all the explosive power comes from.
When it comes to building explosive power, it requires you to move weights fast enough to recruit the most motor units as possible.
Also, exercises that are used for explosive power should be done early in the training session when you feel the freshes in order to get the most out of them. Yes, some people perform them in a fatigued state but that’s when you are going more towards power-endurance. Totally different things.
In order to build serious power and explosiveness, you don’t want to be in a fatigued state. There’s a time and place for everything.
If you want to become better at olympic lifts then of course you have to practice the olympic lifts. But if you are more interested in improving your explosive power, the Olympic Lifts are not the best because they are so many other ways to perform them.
Other Ways to Build Explosive Power
Now, the pulling variations of olympic lifts are a must if you are interested in the olympic lifts. On the other hand, they are great if you just want to use them as means for building explosive power.
You can also perform them from blocks:
Here’s Coach Wil Fleming showing Kettlebell Swings with Band Resistance. By adding extra resistance to the kettlebell you 1) don’t have to worry about buying heavier kettlebells that can be really expensive and 2) they speed up the eccentric portion of the swing which creates a large rebound effect which recruits more muscles and motor units.
Or..
You can perform Seated Box Jumps as shown by Ryan Moody who we were lucky to have on our Podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMhicqI5Zfg
As Ryan Moody taught us, it’s important to be safe during this exercise and use the proper heights for you. Your body can be your best equipment for improving explosive power.
Does This Make Sense?
When people rely only on one mode of improving explosive power they are placing limits. What if they come across someone who could really care less about learning the olympic lifts or someone who has the hardest time doing the exercise or have no access to even perform them.
It’s easy to tell a person to either practice more or find a gym that allows you to do them, but if you are more interested at just becoming explosive – Olympic Lifts are not the best way because there are a ton of other exercises that can be used.
The main take away? When it comes to building explosive power, it requires you to move weights fast enough to recruit the most motor units as possible
