Last month I wrote about how lifting heavy, and the full body nature of Olympic lifts, makes girls lean and hot. I thought I'd post an article about lifting heavy, and the full body nature of the Olympic lifts, makes guys lean, strong and muscular.
I found this video of Pyrros Dimas, one of the strongest men in the world, working out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVB_rQFSsEg
This video led me to this Article:
http://health.yahoo.com/topic/fitness/overview/article/mens-health/24722
"The Greatest Workout in the World" by Tim Folger for Men's Health. Also features some awesome advice by Alwyn Cosgrove, who I've mentioned several times is the author of one of my favorite books on fat loss, Afterburn.
*Alwyn is also the only trainer I know to put out a really comprehensive book FOR TRAINERS on how to design fat loss programs, the Real World Fat Loss Manual for Fitness Professionals.
The first thing is that Alwyn mentions in the article most of the benefit (for adding muscle and strength) of the Olympic lifts is in the explosive "first pull",
On the other hand, most of the technical aspects of the Olympic Lifts are in the "catch". The catch on both the clean and the snatch require some flexibility specific to those lifts, that the average gym goer doesn't have.
So Alwyn just eliminates the catch. Lets take 95% of the benefit, and cut out 50% of the learning curve. I totally agree. The result is doing a "high pull" instead of a "clean".
the high pull – All the benefit of an explosive full body lift. Much less flexibility required than a clean or snatch.
Being a kettlebell instructor, I tend to lean towards doing the Olympic lifts with a kettlebell. This simplifies both the pull and the catch. In fact, everything you have ever heard about "how great kettlebell workouts are"can be attributed to the fact that they are based around the Olympic lifts – the snatch and the clean and jerk. Kettlebell lifting is just a simplified version of, and usually a higher rep version of the Olympic Lifts. Kettlebells, because of their design, lend themselves to being very safe for high rep Olympic lifting, which is why they fit very well into "bootcamp" style fat loss circuits.
For fat loss clients, I always like to mix up hard fast bootcamp style kettlebell workout days with heavy lifting days. All of my clients squat and deadlift – not nearly as heavy as Pyrros Dimas, but they are always getting stronger and progressing to heavier weights. Note – heavy doesn't mean stupid. Progression is slow and smart. If you've never put together a periodized strength program before, I definately recommend getting Power to the People by Pavel.
By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
Josh Hillis is a specialist in getting my clients lean, fast. Josh usually works with the hardest clients to lean out – women who are already in good shape. He likes the challenge of burning off the stubborn fat. Josh's book is about how anyone can get that that lean rockstar body they've always wanted.
© Joshua Hillis 2007