The Four Bottlenecks Of Olympic Weightlifting
Olympic weightlifting is one of the most complex sports to train for.
The balance of technique, mobility, strength, and speed can make it incredibly challenging to know exactly what you need to focus on to make the most improvement.
But don’t make the wrong decision, you could be wasting weeks of training if you do.
If you want to ensure you’re focusing on the right things, you’ll need to get good at identifying and removing these bottlenecks. I’ve found that most people tend to struggle with four types of bottlenecks; Technique, Strength, Muscle, and Mobility. In this article I’ll help you identify and attack these weaknesses so you can do what matters most - set PRs.
Technique
As a beginner, technique is going to be your biggest bottleneck.
It’s hard to make progress in the snatch and clean and jerk if you don’t know HOW to do the olympic lifts. On the other side of that coin, any small change to your technique could unlock 5-10lbs of potential. Stack 5-10 of these technique tweaks and you’ll see a lot of progress very quickly.
There are LARGE number of technique improvements that could be made, but your best bet is learning the lifts correctly from the beginning. Check out my free WL101: Beginner Guide & 6-Week Program here to learn the exact progression I use to help beginners learn the Snatch, Clean, and Jerk in 6 weeks or less! Otherwise, you can find some of the most common mistakes beginners make below!
The Basics
The majority of technique work for beginners is finding and consistently using the correct grip width and stance. Even people who have had years of experience lifting can often make massive improvements with small changes in stance and grip width.
A good rule of thumb for stance is to find your ideal pulling stance and squatting stance. Your pulling stance is likely where you would feel most comfortable doing a vertical jump. Your squatting stance is often slightly wider, with the toes turned out slightly. Experiment with each to find what feels most powerful and comfortable for you.
Grip width for the snatch is primarily determined by your overhead mobility, at least as a beginner. If you lack mobility, you’ll likely need to start with a wider grip to compensate for it. If you lack stability, you’ll likely need a narrower grip to accommodate.
Grip width for the clean is mostly determined by your front rack position. Ideally your hands are placed just outside of your shoulders, however those with longer arms may need a wider grip. For the clean grip in particular, make sure to do a secondary test with your stance. In the start position, your grip should not be so narrow that it forces your knees in. If it is, either narrow up your stance or widen your grip, or a little of both to create a stronger start position.
Positions
Once you’ve got the basics down, you’ll need to practice the key positions in the olympic lifts, such as the start, knee, and power position for the pull, and the rack, dip, and split position for the jerk. In WL101, I use the Double Pause Snatch, Clean, and Jerk to help lifters learn and practice the correct positions. I recommend you do the same, especially if your lifts are inconsistent in your technique.
Check out the demo video here!
Timing
One your positions are dialed in, then your next hurdle is practicing the proper timing of the lift. Timing covers several different aspects of the lift. This can mean timing the transition of leg effort to arm effort, or it can mean accelerating in the pull correctly.
Often, beginners tend to initiate the lift too quickly. Whenever you start the lift too fast, you will slow down later in the lift. In my opinion, this is one of the three non-negotiables in your technique. The bar must ALWAYS be accelerating.
One of my favorite drills to help beginners work on this is the Tempo Snatch, Clean, and Jerk. By slowing down the lift you learn how to maintain your positions and how true power is created, as well as learning that you don’t have to be fast the entire time, just at the right time.
Check out the demo video here!
Strength
While technique is important, weightlifting is still a strength sport. You can make lots of progress very quickly through small changes to your technique. However, very quickly you will stop making progress when you hit a wall, and that wall is almost always strength.
There are only six main lifts you need to focus on to build strength for weightlifting. The Back Squat, Front Squat, Strict Press, Push Press, Snatch Pull, and Clean Pull. As long as you touch each of these lifts at least once a week, and use progressive overload, you will get very strong and see improvement in the snatch and clean and jerk.
If you are limited on time to train, then I would recommend focusing primarily on the Back Squat and Front Squat. The squat is the main driver of strength for the olympic lifts, and for most people, if you see your squat go up, as long as you are training the olympic lifts regularly, then they will also go up. You can check out my 12-Week Squat Program here!
You can then add in the strict press and push press if you have more time to train. These will help build strength and muscle overhead, which has a ton of carry over to the jerk, as well as the snatch.
And if you have the time for it, then the snatch and clean pull will really help you put all the pieces together. As both the snatch and clean and jerk start with a pull, it makes sense that you want to have a surplus of strength here, however for most beginners, pull strength is not the limiting factor. As you progress, that can change, so it’s important to consistently assess your strength levels.
Muscle
Besides technique, muscle mass is one of the most common bottlenecks a new weightlifter will face, ESPECIALLY if you are starting at a younger age.
You could get stronger without putting on any muscle mass. Sometimes it’s necessary for elite lifters who compete in lighter weight classes to maintain their muscle mass and focus on strength. However, for the rest of us, it is much easier to build strength if you have more muscle to work with.
You know the science fiction trope about how we only use 30% of our brain’s potential and if we unlocked it, who knows what could happen? It actually kind of works that way for strength. You are currently capable of using a certain amount of your muscle’s maximum potential, and there are some things you can do to become more efficient and use a higher percentage of your potential, but if you want to get stronger, you could just… go get more muscle to work with.
But which muscle groups should you focus on training?
As a weightlifter, you’ll want to build muscle in the quads, core, and back primarily, and in the hamstrings, shoulders, and arms secondarily.
I’ve written more about this in my free Accessories101 Guide so if you want to learn more about this as well as my top 33 accessory exercises for building muscle, then make sure to download your free copy here!
And if building muscle is your number one priority, then I recommend checking out this article I wrote on how to combine olympic weightlifting and bodybuilding. It’s the MOST popular article I’ve written, and it could help you out a ton!
Mobility
Mobility can be your saving grace or a death sentence for your weightlifting performance.
If you want to be great at weightlifting, you’ll need to have sufficient mobility.
I’m not asking you to be a master yogi, but you should be able to squat deep, front rack a barbell, and hold weight overhead in a stable position.
If you don’t have enough mobility in one or more of these areas, it can present as technique errors, BUT if you don’t have someone in your corner to point that out, then you could spend pointless hours working on fixing technique errors that are CAUSED by poor mobility.
Below are a few of the most common mobility restrictions that affect your weightlifting, but if you want to dive deep into my method for fixing mobility issues, as well as get a collection of the most effective mobility drills, stretches, and exercises, then check out my free Mobility101 Guide for Weightlifters!
Squat Depth
Improving squat depth can often just be done by spending more time under tension in the squat, with weight. One of my favorite ways to do this is by using the double pause squat. First, start by squatting to the point you normally stop at, and pause here for 3-5 seconds. Then, try to inch a little bit lower, while maintaining your abdominal brace, and hold the deeper squat position for another 3-5 seconds.
This allows you to train your brain and muscles that this new position is safe to be in, as well as strengthen your muscles in that new position.
Click here to watch the demo video!
Front Rack Mobility
Your front rack position effects both the Clean AND the Jerk, which makes it incredibly important. Limited front rack mobility can come from tight lats, pecs, triceps, as well as lack of sufficient external rotation of the shoulder.
This means that if you struggle with even just one of those, you could see a negative impact on your lifts, and even pain in the shoulders or wrists.
One of the simplest ways I’ve found to improve your front rack mobility quickly is to do an underhand dead hang from a pullup bar. This will stretch the lats as well as work on external rotation of the shoulder, the two biggest indicators for front rack mobility. Try to accumulate 30-90 seconds before or during your empty barbell warm-up for front squats, cleans, or jerks.
Click here to watch the demo video!
Overhead Mobility
If you want to snatch a ton of weight, you NEED to have a strong overhead deposition. If you lack mobility in the upper back, shoulders, chest, or arms, your snatch will suffer.
One of the most effective tools I’ve found for developing a strong and mobile overhead position for the snatch is the Press in Snatch.
To be frank, this exercise sucks. It works really well, but if you’re just starting out, you’ll probably be pretty terrible at it. I recommend starting with a lighter training bar, and modifying the range of motion as needed to perform them at your current ability level!
Click here to watch the demo video!
If you’ve found these exercises helpful, then make sure to check out my FREE Mobility101: Guide for Weightlifters here!
Hopefully, this clarifies and simplifies a few things for you! If you ever need a form check on your videos, have questions about mobility, or want to figure out how to get stronger for weightlifting, you’re always welcome to join my free discord here!
By the way, I’ve got a free beginner weightlifting guide and a 6-week program! If you’re new to the olympic lifts, then check it out here!
And if you’re looking for a weightlifting program designed to help you set PRs, improve your technique, and get strong af, then check out a FREE WEEK TRIAL of my 3 & 5-Day OlyStrong Team at the link below!