Introduction
Olympic Weightlifting is often a sport in which athletes compete for the total weight of two lifts: the snatch and also the clean & jerk. The education methods found in Weightlifting may also be used by Strength & Conditioning coaches as a means of lifting weights to get a wide range of other sports. Most significant factors behind exploiting various lifting weights modalities such is made for power development. There are several variations on the party theme of power training. Some training modalities include plyometrics (Wilson, Elliot & Wood 1990), assisted and resisted training (Faccioni 1993a; 1993b) and speed and acceleration drills (Cinkovich 1992). A popular method used to increase athletic power is Olympic Weightlifting (ie power cleans, push presses, snatches, jump jerks in addition to their variations) conducted from the training (Garhammer, 1993). It is traditionally been seen as an productive way of producing general explosive ability (Takano 1992; Stone 1993; Garhammer & Gregor 1992). However, there are more important considerations which need being addressed when implementing Olympic lifting exercises into the Strength & Conditioning program of an athlete, some of these include movement competency, training age, sport and training time with athlete. The intention of this article by Elite Performance Institute (EPI) is to supply a biomechanical and physiological discussion as to why weightlifting training is beneficial to improve athletic performance and the way they will be performed in a exercise program. For additional information, please visit www.epicertification.com

Power Defined
Power continues to be looked as the suitable combination of speed and strength to generate movement (Chu 1996). More specifically, power represents ale the athlete to generate high levels of process a given distance. The greater power a player possesses the greater the degree of work performed (Wilson 1992). Power is often a combination of strength and speed:
POWER = FORCE (strength) X VELOCITY (speed to move)
There are several physiological and neural adaptations which comprise the force component (Moritani 1992). Physiological adaptations to strength incorporate a boost in muscle tissue through hypertrophy, ligament density and bone integrity (Tesch 1992a). Neural adaptations (Schmidtbleicher 1992) that can be produced are: (1) increased recruitment of motor units; (2) increased firing rate of motor neurones; (3) synchronised firing of motor neurones; (4) boost in intra-muscular coordination; and (5) boost in inter-muscular coordination.
Speed to move is made up of a number of interrelated factors (Ackland & Bloomfield 1995). These are generally; (1) muscle fibre type; (2) skill; (3) muscle insertion points; (4) lever length; (5) muscular posture; and (6) elastic energy utilisation of the series elastic component.

Olympic Weightling exercises facilitate progression of the middle (Strength-Speed and Speed-Strength) of the force-velocity (FV) curve (see above). The FV curve acts a road map to Strength & Conditioning Courses UK according to the sort of strength developed from each exercise, session or phase of training from the program. Consequently, the force & Conditioning coach can effectively plan which power they would like to develop and which training modality (powerlifting, Olympic liftining, plyometrics, etc) is the most suitable utilised to elicit these adaptations.

Conclusion
Concern still exists for the ef?cacy of including Olympic weightlifting exercises from the lifting weights programs of athletes in sports besides weightlifting. These concerns generally belong to 3 broad categories: 1) Perceived time required to discover the movements because of the complexity of the lifts. 2) Deficiencies in understanding of the opportunity bene?ts that can be derived from performing Olympic lifting exercises correctly. 3) Concern within the potential for injury as a result of practicing these weightlifting movements.
It’s evident there is a plethora of biomechanical advantages of practicing these lifts with limited disadvantages. The biggest risk continues to be of the perceived danger of practicing these lifts. Based on the data presented by Brian Hammill of the British Weightlifting Association (BWLA), it could be stated with con?dence that the risk of harm is as low or under most sports providing there’s quali?ed supervision supplied by certi?ed Strength and Conditioning coach who’ve been competent in coaching the weightlifting movements.
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