“Strength is never a weakness” – Mark Bell
Believe it or not, Strength is the most important thing in Strength Sports and in Strength Training. Many people fail to realize the secret to lifting more weight is to Get Stronger. Sounds pretty obvious but a lot of people don’t want to admit the fact that they’re weak. They always think their limiting factor is a technique issue. I have worked with dozens of individuals who all say something along the lines of “Every time I get to 225 pounds I start to lose form. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.” Maybe you’re just weak.
I am currently training for an Olympic Weightlifting meet and I’ve noticed that a lot of people underestimate the importance of strength in this sport. Olympic weightlifting is a Strength sport so it would make sense to place a large emphasis on strength. Again, I hear it all the time:
“Every time I lift (X amount of weight) my form starts to fall apart. I need to lower the weight and practice my technique.”
After grinding out an ugly rep, training partners and on-lookers are quick to suggest a solution to the problem;
“Get your elbows up, point your toes out slightly, make contact here, try this, try that.”
I’m here to tell you that your elbows are dropping and your upper back is rounding because you’re weak, not because your technique needs improvement. Just get stronger and the problem will take care of itself. I’ll be the first to admit that the Snatch and Clean & Jerk are very technical movements and practicing the fundamentals of technique is very important. Correct technique allows you to demonstrate your strength but if you don’t have strength in the first place what are you demonstrating? At the end of an Olympic Weightlifting competition the man/woman who lifts the most amount of weight wins. Period.
If Athlete #1 front squats 200 pounds and Athlete #2 front squats 400 pounds, Athlete #1 will never clean more than Athlete #2 regardless of how much better Athlete #1’s technique is.
If you take a strength athlete with a certain set of skills and make him stronger he will be a better strength athlete. A beautiful thing happens when you get stronger; weight that you previously struggled with now feels easier and more manageable even if your technique has not improved. If you struggle to clean 225 pounds and you start putting an emphasis on increasing your pulling and squatting strength rather than just your technique you will find that as you get stronger your clean gets better.
I’ve seen a gym advertisement that labeled Olympic Weightlifting as “A sport where skill is everything!” When you watch the video of Hossein Rezazadeh of Iran Clean and Jerk 263.5 kgs (581 lbs.) do you think to yourself “Wow, impressive skill!” Probably not, most of us are amazed by his strength.
The other day I heard someone ask “why are Russian Olympic Weightlifters so much better than Americans” Someone responded, “Because PEDs are legal in their country.” I’m not saying that statement has any validity but let’s pretend his theory is true; “Russians are better than Americans at Olympic Weightlifting because they use PEDs.” That means Russians are better than Americans because they are stronger. PEDs do not help technique, they increase strength. By this guy’s own theory, getting stronger will make you a better Olympic Weightlifter. He better get to work.
This topic is not limited to Olympic Weightlifting; I see it in Strongman too. People will say things like “My log press sucks” and I respond “Your pressing strength sucks.” There have been very strong guys who have come into Untamed Strength and pressed a near 300 pound log with sloppy technique and no experience simply because they were strong.
As much as I would like to blame my past performances on factors other than strength;
- I couldn’t get the log into a good rack position.
- The handles were too wide.
- The ground was uneven so it affected my clean, blah blah blah.
I have to admit to myself that maybe I just need to get stronger if I want to get better at Strongman.
In closing, I am not implying that technique/form doesn’t matter, because it does. Technique/correct form will allow you to fully benefit from the movement, it will decrease your risk of injury, and it will make you more efficient. For some people, a lack of technique is the limiting factor. This article is aimed at people who need to stop assuming technique is holding them back. You are not making progress because you’re still weak. It might not be your technique that’s causing your elbows to drop during a clean; maybe you’re just weak. When all else fails, just get stronger. Get your ass in a squat rack, pick a program, follow it, do not question it, and give it everything you’ve got. If you want to lift more weight you need to get stronger.
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