Can you train strength and speed at the same time? How about coordination and power? Balance and accuracy? Agility and flexibility?
What if you could train all of these physical skills at the same time?

We’re all about efficiency in our training, because I don’t have three hours to spend on training every day, and I imagine you don’t either. And so when there’s a training modality that offers us excellent “bang for your buck” returns, we take advantage of the opportunity. I’m talking about weightlifting. Notice I didn’t say “lifting weights” -- that is a vague and mostly useless term. I mean weightlifting, the sport: specifically, the snatch and the clean & jerk. Three movements, and the opportunity to train every single aspect of your physical fitness in some capacity. As far as tools in the toolbox, this is a multi-tool to keep in the top drawer in the front for easy access.

Let’s break it down in just a handful of words:

Strength: weightlifting trains strength to lift heavy loads from the floor, support them overhead, and squat them through a full range of motion

Speed: speed is king in weightlifting -- bar and athlete must both be moved with the greatest speeds possible

Coordination: the athlete must navigate their body into and out of various positions with precision and speed

Power: the intersection in our Venn diagram of strength and speed, power is written into every nook and cranny of weightlifting -- large loads moved at speed -- as textbook as it gets

Balance: lateral, anterior-posterior, long levers -- try dynamically throwing a heavy weight over your head and then standing up with it without balance, I dare ya

Accuracy: move an external object (barbell) to precisely the right spot in a dynamic fashion -- it’s not darts or shooting a three-pointer, but it still requires and trains accuracy

Agility: changing direction and body shape with speed and control -- not your typical agility training, but moving from pulling the bar to under the bar is undoubtedly an endeavor in agility

Flexibility: ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, wrist -- nearly every joint in the body works through a full range of motion in weightlifting, and does so under load -- this one’s a no-brainer

Stamina and cardiovascular/respiratory endurance: consider these a little bonus opportunity in weightlifting -- while training weightlifting traditionally does not emphatically develop stamina or endurance, and weightlifting is not our primary tool for developing these elements of conditioning, complete a weightlifting complex that asks you to spend 45 seconds connected to a heavy barbell, or do a heavy set of 5 snatches or clean & jerks, and you’ll get a healthy dose of stamina/endurance stimulus along with all of the rest

Unsurprisingly, the buy-one-get-a-bunch-more-free nature of weightlifting means that it’s not simple in the least. The snatch and clean & jerk are among the most complex, challenging to learn, and patience-demanding things we do in our program. And while they may be, at times, frustrating to learn and train because of their complexity, you can take comfort and pride in the fact that you are improving most every aspect of physical fitness each step along the way. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

- PS

8/16/17

• 25 min AMRAP:

• 100 double-unders

• 50 KBS (53/35)

• 25 pull-ups