Understanding Olympic Weightlifting and Its Fitness Benefits

Weightlifting has been an Olympic tradition since it debuted in 1896, and the sport is growing in popularity thanks in part to the impressive display of human power. These weightlifting movements also provide overall health benefits, prevent diminishing muscle mass as we age, and enhance performance in many other sports.

“Weightlifting is very much a strength and power sport — we’re not only moving heavy loads, but we’re moving those loads very fast. A weightlifter may drive three times the athlete’s body weight overhead in an instant,” says Douglas Berninger, a strength and conditioning specialist at the Mass General Brigham Center for Sports Performance and Research.

Berninger reviews the two Olympic-style weightlifting movements — the snatch and the clean and jerk — which can help build and sustain strength and power.

Weightlifting to improve fitness and performance

General weightlifting movements and Olympic-style lifts are very effective at increasing strength and power. Therefore, they can help many other types of athletes improve performance, such as soccer players and sprinters.

They also can:

• Boost metabolism (how your body burns calories for energy)
• Build strength for a wide variety of everyday and athletic tasks
• Decrease body fat
• Improve mood
• Increase bone density for stronger bones
• Straighten posture

How to do the snatch

The snatch lift is a powerful movement in which the lifter brings the bar overhead from the floor in one continuous motion. It uses muscles throughout the body, especially the quadriceps (fronts of the thighs), deltoids (shoulders), trapezius (upper back), and glutes (buttocks). 

To perform a snatch:

1. Stand with your feet under your hips and under the barbell.

2. Find the proper snatch grip by picking up a barbell and standing tall. Then, move the hands wider — evenly on each side of the barbell — until the barbell is at the level of the hip crease at arm’s length.

3. Squat and grasp the bar. Keep your back flat, your arms straight, and your eyes forward.

4. Start to lift the bar by pushing the ground away with your feet so that the legs extend. The barbell will remain as close to the body as possible throughout the movement.

5. After the bar passes your knees, the torso begins to ascend vertically and the knees “re-bend” to move forward, under the barbell.

6. As you move into full leg extension, the barbell continues to rise from momentum created by the leg drive. At this point, shrug the shoulders and use the arms to pull your body under the barbell.

7. For a brief moment, the feet will be off the ground during this “pull-under.” The feet are then moved into the receiving position, which is slightly wider than the starting or pulling position.

8. Stand up, straightening your knees and hips. Keep your upper body upright, your arms straight, and your elbows locked. Hold the barbell directly over your body.

How to do the clean and jerk

The clean and jerk is a powerful lift that combines two separate movements: the clean (bringing the barbell to shoulder height), then the jerk (thrusting it overhead). It works muscles throughout the body, including the quads, glutes, hamstrings, back, shoulders, and core.

To perform a clean and jerk:

1. Stand with your feet under your hips and under the barbell. Squat down to grab the bar. Hands are shoulder-width apart, back is flat, arms are straight, hips are above your knees, and eyes are forward.

2. Keep the barbell very close to the body as you begin to extend the legs and lift the bar from the floor.

3. As the bar passes your knees, the torso will begin to rise to a vertical position.

4. At the top of the pull, the heels may rise from the floor. Shrug your shoulders and explosively pull your body under the bar.

5. The elbows will rotate around the bar and end in a front rack position, as if in a front squat. The bar will be received in varying depths of a front squat, depending on the relative load. This is the clean.

6. When you have control, stand up with the load. Begin the jerk by slightly bending the knees and hips into a quarter-squat and immediately reverse the direction of the bar by explosively straightening your knees and hips.

7. As the barbell passes your head, put one foot forward and the other one backward (a lunge-like position). As your feet land, use your arms to lock the bar overhead as you press yourself under the bar.

8. Finish by bringing both feet back together, standing straight.

Safe weightlifting

Despite common misconceptions, Berninger says, weightlifting doesn’t stunt growth in young lifters or cause bulging muscles in female lifters. According to researchers, weightlifting is one of the safest sports with the fewest injuries. However, frequent, heavy lifting can lead to overuse injuries in the knees, elbows, and shoulders.

Berninger recommends the following safety tips:

• Start with just the barbell to learn proper form, and then add weights in small increments. Only add weight if you can maintain proper form and technique at a lower weight. You can even modify the lifts as you begin to train. For example, start with the bar in your hands rather than on the floor.
• Learn proper form by working with a coach or trainer, especially in the beginning. Weightlifting clubs are a great place to start, as those coaches will have more experience than most local personal trainers.
• Warm up before you lift weights.
• Start small with weight levels you know you can handle, then work your way up a little bit at a time.
• Learn to bail, or how to escape from heavy weight if something goes wrong.
• Stretch after you lift.
• Recover between lifting sessions.

The Center for Sports Performance and Research offers weightlifting courses to help athletes lift to their full potential. Refer to our group programs page to see the latest schedule.

“There’s a proper way to do it, and there’s definitely an improper way to do it,” he says. “In other countries where strength sports are looked more highly upon and have more of a fan base, they start their athletes at younger ages, as young as 3 or 4. They’re using PVC pipes, broomsticks, things that mimic a barbell. They’re learning the technique first before they add weight.”