When rhythm and timing is the difference between a National title
It has all come down to this moment… The third clean and jerk in the National Championship for the title of National Champion. However, before we get to the ending lets look at the last half a year…
Training has been good. Coming off the normal tweaks and pains of training weightlifting our athlete is getting into quite the routine. She has her eyes set on performing well on the National stage, and you are very aware as her coach that she has a good shot at the podium. Let the work ensue.
Through six months of training, you cycle through two strength programs, and weekly customize her training specific to issues she is having in her technique. She is strong and she likes to depend on that strength in her movements often by muscling weights off her hip. When she muscles weights it really affects how she receives the weight in both the snatch and clean and jerk. She doesn’t seem to be able to smoothly transition out of the hole.
Finally, Nationals arrive and the cards are playing out in your favor. Where you knew your athlete had a good shot at the podium it has played out that she has a shot at gold. It all comes down to that last lift… Her third clean and jerk.
As she walks out there tension is high. As you remind your athlete to breathe you realize you need to breathe yourself. She approaches the bar. She is set in a good position… all the points you look for are there in her start position. She pushes through the floor… She muscles at the hip. The weight pounds her in the hole like a hammer hitting a nail. She is at a dead stop sitting in the hole but she is strong… she grinds through the clean standing up. She pants trying to get just a little more oxygen. She sets… she misses the jerk. She was just out of juice.
For weeks you replay the moment in your head. You think, “If standing with that weight wasn’t so hard she could have had more energy for the jerk”… But she is strong. Stronger than most of her competitors, and that clean wasn’t close to her max front squat. What else could I have done…
How Rhythm and Timing Fit into Weightlifting Technique
What is rhythm and timing? Let me define my interpretation of “rhythm and timing” – A timed sequence of the movements in either the snatch or clean and jerk that have a distinct rhythm.
Snatch – You can see and hear the “rhythm and timing” in the snatch at the top of the second pull and execution of the third pull. Another way to say this is the point of extension of the hip and immediate closing of the hip as you pull under the bar.
Clean – Just like the snatch, you can see and hear the “rhythm and timing” in the clean at the top of the second pull and execution of the third pull.
Jerk – There is a distinct “rhythm and timing” in the jerk at the start. The point of unlocking the legs to dip and then driving.
The snatch and clean rhythm and timing can be heard. This was taught to me by Olympic coach Mark Cannella who learn it from Olympic Coach Wenbin of China. It goes like this… “Pop-Pop”.
“Pop-Pop” and how to apply it to our technique training
This drill or cue I’ve found can do a few things. It can slow a lifter down when they’re pulling too soon, and it can cut a lifters pull who may be pulling too long. Both of these are great corrections.
The first “pop” is the bar brushing the hip and the second “pop” is the sound of the feet connecting to the floor. If an athlete does this correctly there will be a distinct rhythm you can hear, and if an athlete does this incorrectly you’ll be able to hear how that rhythm changes.
Here is a quick video I put together for our 60 Day Challenge that explains this:
Why You Should Start Thinking More about Rhythm and Timing
When an athlete executes good rhythm and timing one major thing happens that is VITAL to weightlifting…
The weight will be going UP as the athlete is traveling DOWN.
This has a few huge benefits for the athlete.
1. The athlete will have an opportunity to receive the weight correctly. In the snatch this means they’ll have more opportunity to punch and lockout on the weight, in the clean they’ll be setup to “kick” out of the hole rather than “grind”, and in the jerk they’ll have an opportunity to have the weight help them rather than “heave” it up there.
2. The athlete will be moving more efficiently and thus saving energy
3. This is the crazy speed we see when we watch great weightlifters
Here is one of my favorite examples… Mark Cannella filmed this at the 2011 World Championship in the training hall. This is the 85kg lifter from Poland who won the gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games, Adrian Zielinski. LISTEN to the “Pop-Pop”
Update: My friend Walt Maken make a quick slow-mo of the video above if you’d like to see it watch below:
All I can do is encourage you to think a little more about the rhythm and timing involved in weightlifting. I hope both my videos in the article help and give you a good starting point. If you want more information we’ve put together a video series from Olympic coach Mark Cannella and Olympian Holley Mangold on a cue that can help with rhythm and timing.
My story at the start of this article is a heart breaker that we all know can happen for more reasons than just rhythm and timing… but… if that athlete would have “kicked” out of the hole rather than grind from a dead stop… we all know there would have been more energy for the jerk.
Give your athletes the best opportunity. Help them with rhythm and timing.
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