Strength and Speed Training

What is everyones opinion on olympic lifts? I have always been told to stay away.. especially as a pitcher... but what do you guys think???

Another "concerned" poster whos main goal is getting a free plug. Can this be removed from this and any other forum he dumped it in?

Maybe they would be interested in BUYING some ad space on the HSBBW site.

Dogz

to my knowledge you are correct--there is no direct relationship to baseball as far as I know-- someone correct me if I am wrong

A lot of coaches and players are concerned using the Olympic lifts and any overhead movements with pitchers because of the shoulder joint. There are many ways to train an athlete but the question seems to be what is the safest and most efficient.

A little about training and the Olympic lifts for athletes:
The key to almost any sport is acceleration, or overcoming inertia. Whether you’re overcoming the inertia of the barbell, bat, or the human body (and in sports overcoming that inertia as fast as possible: acceleration). I am also a speed coach and I get many questions about developing speed by a lot of my parents (they want me to get their athletes faster by just teaching them better "technique"). The funny thing about speed is that if you take your fastest athletes, especially in the shorter distances 20-30 yards, are pound for pound the strongest athletes. The Olympic lifts, if used right, not only develop strength in athletes but also helps train the bodies rate of force development to be much faster...In other words it teaches the trained athlete to turn on this strength like a "light switch" and accelerate the weight of their body (like a pitcher moving towards home plate) in a much quicker manner than before.

Now you don't have to do overhead lifts (such as the snatch or jerk if your not comfortable) but in the hands of a good coach (with good tech and the right weight) these lifts, and all the Olympic lifts and their assistant exercises, are perfectly safe for any athlete (even a pitcher).

quote:

to my knowledge you are correct--there is no direct relationship to baseball as far as I know-- someone correct me if I am wrong

Tom,

Don't mean to start anything, but I have a hard time believing your son didn't have offseason baseball weightlifting in HS or college. While I agree that these lifts might not be baseball specific to help hitting or throwing, they are still being done for the baseball team.

Most college's have mandatory offseason conditioning and weightlifting. I'm sure a lot of the Olympic type lifts are being utilized. Granted (and hopefully) the instructors are teaching the proper methods, but I know of a lot of youngsters who go to weightlifting before school who might not have the proper knowledge on lifting.

just about every college or pro workout ive seen for baseball includes some of these lifts.

One of the biggest problems is not really always technique on these lifts (or any lift for that matter) that gets athletes and coaches in trouble is the weight. The thing that many athletes and coaches dont know is that you can get stronger, faster, and more explosive without always doing max weight on lifts.