Author: Jonathan Wong, Singapore Personal Trainer And Fitness Expert
How to lower an Olympic Lift in a "commercial" gym.
I realize that not everybody (Singapore or elsewhere!) has the opportunity to train in a "proper" gym with platforms, rubber bumper plates and a positive and correct training environment.Too many people are stuck in places where maintaining a nice clean image for visitors (so they will sign up...) is more important that getting great results for the most important people. Clients who are ALREADY MEMBERS!
Olympic lifts and their variants are really great exercises but they do come with the need to drop heavy weights sometimes. The noise that creates REALLY upsets the crowd who comes to gyms to read the newspapers.
In fact dropping the weights are safe. Personally I got a slipped disc trying to slowly lower a heavy power snatch (weight overhead) slowly so as not to upset the instructors. It's all ok now but it did lead me to read and think about how to lower the weights in the safest possible way.
So here it is... from the end position of the clean, you flip the bar down (don't reverse curl it!) just drop it and catch it in rhythm on your thighs.
For the snatch, you need to lower the weight (like the lowering portion of a shoulder press) and do the same thing.
Watch the video, I think it will give you a better idea! (The pause on the thighs is exaggerated, you can lower to the floor immediately after you have stopped the momentum of the bar with the bending of your legs). I hope this helps people from Singapore and other countries with commercial gyms do Olympic lifts in peace!
Written For www.CoachJon.com Singapore Personal Trainer & Fitness Expert
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