Weightlifting for Dummies*

Fil was at the Welsh Senior Weightlifting competition this past weekend. Aside from winning the competition (low quality flex), one of the main take-aways was that people need to think about weight classes in Olympic Weightlifting more seriously.

Weightlifting programming for dummies, a guide.. written by dummies. Today, we're looking at the basics of weightlifting programming, structuring training programs for Olympic weightlifting, or just helping you understand how they work.

A solid overhead position is a key indicator of performance - you can't lift more than you can hold overhead. Get the simple bits right, put the bar overhead in the right place to make it easy for yourself.

Olympic Weightlifting is a game of skill development - time on the bar is key. But how long should a weightlifting session last for? What does a basic workout routine look like? and how much is too much in one training session?

Olympic weightlifting is big on leg strength: every day is leg day. Inside we discuss how many squats is too many - and what you can do about it. How to structure a training program to build big legs, lift big weights, and maximise your return on effort.

Weightlifters love to focus on speed - it's always flashy, but how do you build speed? Do you even need to focus on it? Are you just wasting training time on getting worse? In this article, we discuss speed - what it's for, how you build it, and how beginners should develop speed characteristics - in a way that's appropriate for your first few years of training.