Weightlifting Insight

There are plenty of well-known weightlifting coaches out there, and I’m sure they all have great insight when in comes to coaching the weightlifting movements. One coach in specific that I follow is Daniel Camargo. Camargo has been around the weightlifting community for some time and has worked with athletes that range from the recreational level all the way to the Olympic level. He posts great videos on Instagram and his website that pertain to the Clean & Jerk or Snatch. Whenever he pops up on my feed, he always has great coaching cues and offers different ways to perceive the lifts.

Here is an example…

Quick Tip: In my opinion the Snatch and Clean should be treated the exact same, with of course a different grip. The mechanics, and geometry, that gets the bar from ground to any height should be as similar as possible in both lifts. We tend not to treat them the same unfortunately because in the Snatch particularly we think “I have to get this bar ALL the way overhead”, as in farther overhead. But the truth is we don’t! We just have to get it high enough to get under it. In fact, many elite athletes elevate the bar to the exact same height and distance on Snatch as they do Clean. For the beginner and intermediate lifter, this concept makes it so much more SIMPLE to understand and EASIER to develop from. Video: in both slow and live speeds. Athlete: @bwitt48 #clean #snatch #samemovement #snatchandcleanthesame #technique #athletes #coaching #cues #corrections #barbell #barbellcontrol #barpath #bartrajectory #lift #olyconcepts #olympicweightlifting #jerk @olyconcepts

A post shared by Daniel Camargo (@camargo_oly) on Jul 19, 2017 at 11:05am PDT

For me specifically, when I first learned the movements I would think that I would have to get the bar up higher and sometimes change my approach. Watching the video was a good reminder to approach the lifts the same, obviously with different grips, and not worry so much about getting that bar way overhead in the snatch.

Here’s a great one from awhile back that has to do with bar path when pressing overhead…

Quick Tip: Telling an athlete ‘head through’ is a good cue but learning when to use it is most important. Come to think of it, that’s the case with ALL cues, not just knowing them but know when to apply them. I rarely use ‘head through’ because before I do, I pay attention to bar path. Is the issue the bar placement or truly the head placement? I encourage my coaches to first identify where the bar is going. If it’s not going where it’s supposed to then that’s what we address never mentioning the head position. If the bar is traveling correctly then I apply the cue of ‘head through’ to create the proper position of the body in relation to the bar. @olyconcepts #barpath #technique #cuesandcorrections #cues #timing #barbell #snatch #clean #jerk #olympicweightlifting #athlete #theeye #coaching #positions

A post shared by Daniel Camargo (@camargo_oly) on Dec 17, 2016 at 12:20pm PST

I encourage you guys to check out his Instagram and website. He has some pretty legit information and videos of some awesome athletes. Enjoy!