Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I know there are huge guys who don't touch these lifts but I frankly find them fun to do. They're good for improving neuromuscular recruitment of the central nervous system since it's an explosive movement but don't do much in the ways of promoting muscular hypertrophy.
Do you guys bother with them? Do you think they're good for developing strength and power or do you think they're just a good way to demonstrate strength and power?

Olympic lifts are fun (and great for building strength and power), but the caution point is that if you don't learn proper form early on, it increases chances of injury AND it's hard as heck to learn how to do the lifts correctly after learning to do them with improper technique.

I never power cleaned more than 280 lbs. due to my lack of proper coaching and technique, but was told by an experienced olympic lifter that I'd probably have been good for 50 lbs. more or better had I been trained correctly. Despite dropping the weight a ton and trying to learn the correct way to do them, I just couldn't get the hang of it, my goofy style of muscling the bar up with more leg drive vs. being effective in the 2nd part of the pull just couldn't be broken to help me learn better technique. My technique in the snatch was a bit better, but still, not great, and those flaws couldn't be fixed easily, either.

Olympic lifts are fantastic, I just always encourage anyone who really likes them to make sure they get proper technique training from someone experienced so that they get started on the right course from the get-go. It's better to learn how to do them correctly early on and take longer to build up than it is to start strong and either stall out or get hurt because of bad form!

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"A 'hardgainer' is merely someone who hasn't bothered to try enough different training methods to learn what is actually right for their own damned body." - anonymous

Yeah, for me it's the snatch I have a bit of trouble with. The clean and jerk I love though.

No doubt about learning proper technique. I've heard that people who want to learn them should go for the USAW certification and avoid Crossfit. Even though Crossfit includes olympic lifts in their routine they focus way too much on volume and often don't teach the lifts correctly. Explosive lifts like the clean and jerk really should never require more than 4-6 reps or preferably fewer. I've seen crossfitter doing like 30 reps of the clean though.

I figure if you're doing 30 reps of anything then it's time to increase the damn weight.

Hit it on the head with that. I've seen lots of Crossfit people who have TERRIBLE form on their olympic lifts, for many it's more about getting the prescribed reps in the fastest time possible vs. having any semblance of decent technique.

USAW is the way to go for anyone who wants to learn the O-lifts properly, better to have someone who has been trained correctly in how to teach the lifts than someone who took a 2 hour seminar and got the stamp of approval to show someone how to do snatch properly!

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"A 'hardgainer' is merely someone who hasn't bothered to try enough different training methods to learn what is actually right for their own damned body." - anonymous

30 reps?! Holy Mother F'er! The only thing I do 30 or more of is steps on the trail when I go hiking or running!

Baby Herc

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30 reps of anything sounds like the most boring time you could possibly have!

Well, actually, there IS one activity I can think of where repetition just makes it better and better... ...but I wouldn't want to see it in a weight room.

Baby Herc

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http://allthoughtsworkoutdoors.wordpress.com/

High rep stuff is boring, but I do swear by it for some great endurance training from time to time! Nothing you'd want to incorporate too often, but rowing a sled across the entire back parking lot for a brutal 2 minute set definitely builds strength endurance, as well as the will to keep going when your body feels like it wants to die on you

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"A 'hardgainer' is merely someone who hasn't bothered to try enough different training methods to learn what is actually right for their own damned body." - anonymous

The prowler is also a great way to punish a client who complains you're not training them hard enough. That and burpees.

I never voluntarily do the prowler, but strangely enough, I never mind doing a bunch of burpees.

Every fourth workout, I'll drill the olympic lifts. Only ever singles.

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In that case, 30 reps is not enough!