Doug LarsonBarbell Shrugged is on a mission. We want to make the world a better place for weightlifters and coaches, and there’s no better way to do that than through education.
You’ll always find tons of free instructional content over at TechniqueWOD, including an amazing coaching session with Anders Lindsjo, head strength coach at Eleiko Sport. Aspiring coaches, if you want to see a master working is craft, look no further. Anders is a very impressive coach.
Also, do not miss Nuggets & Pearls where we answer your lifting questions and help you train better. Do you struggle with getting under the bar quickly in the snatch, for example? We’ve got you covered.
These are great resources, but we thought we could do better. So, we to put together an all-in-one guide to weightlifting. Something to educate and inform, but also inspire. We believe that anyone can be a great weightlifter. You just need a great plan, as well as a willingness to persist and grind under the barbell.
I think we nailed it.
To date, the FLIGHT Olympic Weightlifting Training Guide has accumulated over 2.1 million total views. We couldn’t be happier about that. To everyone who downloaded the guide, printed it out, and shared it with friends, thank you! You are helping us to educate and inspire a new generation of lifters.
FLIGHT Weightlifting begins with a few key ideas. First, you can significantly increase strength just by improving the quality and timing of your movements. This also removes performance barriers and helps keep you injury free as training loads increase.
If you want to move better you have to practice the lifts often. For that reason, every training session should begin with light drills designed to improve the quality of your first, second and third pull, as well as the jerk. Check out the guide for unique photo illustrations of the lifts, as well as some free videos and programming examples.
Sample FLIGHT programming
As you become more proficient in the lifts your strength will continue to increase, but moving better isn’t enough. To maximize performance you have to also build strength in key weightlifting positions. A great example is the squat.
If you just want to be stronger, something like a low bar squat is great. It’s just not a very good choice for the Weightlifter. Instead, work on your high bar and front squats. Get comfortable going all the way down. Stay upright. Start light, but march the weights up weekly.
You’ll be setting records in every lift before you know it.
Finally, FLIGHT Weightlifting is about commitment and community. To reach your potential in weightlifting you have to focus. You have to make sure that everything you do contributes to the ultimate goal of lifting more weight in the snatch, clean and jerk. The best way to do that is to pick a program that is consistent with your goals.
You can still make room for metcons, gymnastics and conditioning sessions, but the primary goal must always be building work capacity for weightlifting. So, stick to your plan. Go find strong people and train with them. Let them push you. More importantly, let them coach you and help make you better. That’s the best way to get strong.
Join an online community. It doesn’t matter where you live. It sucks if you don’t have access to a great training facility or a coach, sure, but you can still get coaching, feedback and support. You can be held accountable and encouraged by online training partners.
Like I said, we want to help. There’s a lot of information in the FLIGHT guide, read it once to get a feel for it, then use it as a reference over the years to master the lifts.
Train smart,
Mike, Doug, Anders and Team Barbell Shrugged
