Every month I reference Coach Harvey Newton’s newsletter that comes to my inbox. There are few weightlifting coaches in this country who have influenced by knowledge of the lifts as much as Coach Newton. Every month his newsletter is incredibly right on the money. Here’s an excerpt from this month referring to a particular Russian weightlifter. He focuses on her classic technique and how well she keeps pulling on the bar in the second pull and keeps the bar close. Check it out:
From Coach Harvey Newton:
“How Did You See That?”
“That’s a frequent comment I hear when discussing weightlifting coaching with relative newcomers. A few years back I addressed the Southern California NSCA State Clinic on the topic of coaching weightlifting and entitled my talk “Developing a Coach’s Eye,” a term that caught on quickly and has spread.
Those of us who’ve been in the coaching ranks for a number of years know that truly sharpening coaching skills is a result of many, many hours in the weightroom observing (and studying) thousands upon thousands of lifts. Newcomers simply don’t have this “time in.”
I lead a fair number of USAW L-I and L-II courses, where part of the schedule evaluates how candidates tackle platform coaching. I’m always impressed by some of the candidates and their ability to see what’s happening on the platform. Honing this skill over the years makes the difference.
All of this came to mind recently as I watched lifts from the 2011 World Championships, supplied to me by Bud Charniga. There were about 1,200 A session lifts to view. Only a few really caught my eye and caused me to go to a frame-by-frame review. But it’s this quick response to something different that is evidence of an experienced coach. It may be necessary to see more lifts performed before zeroing in on what caught one’s attention. When possible, it’s always a good idea to evaluate from different angles.
Russia’s Marina Shainova (currently serving a suspension) snatch attempts in Paris really caught my attention. She does something technique-wise that is quite different than one normally sees today, at least at the elite international level. I took extra time to review her lifts and to showcase an example in this month’s Dartfish Technique Tip, found elsewhere in this bulletin.
What did Shainova do that caught my attention? Well, up to the second pull she lifts conventionally. Not unusual, her second pull ends with a very sharp triple extension of her ankles, knees, and hips. We have some coaching gurus today suggesting the triple extension is passรฉ, something unnecessary for optimal performance. Sure, I can find very occasional examples to suggest little, if any, plantar flexion of the ankles. It’s rare to find someone not extend the knee or hip joints, though. Needless to say, I find the discussion of whether or not to triple extend to be a waste of time.
But, and this is significant, Shainova stays in this plantar flexed position for an unusually long time. I sometimes refer to this as stalling out, in other words, staying in an extended position rather than quickly pulling under the bar. Novice lifters may exhibit this stalling out because they think there’s a need to pull the bar higher before squatting.
Stalling out results in two consequences: 1) a slower descent time under the bar and 2) a crash of the bar onto locked arms, frequently drawing red lights. Ideally, a lifter creates maximum force against the bar, then immediately pulls under, hitting the catch position before the bar starts to descend. Despite what appears to be a deliberate effort at holding the extended position, Shainova is neither slow in descending nor has a press-out.
More than the exaggerated full extension, what really caught my eye was Shainova’s effort to continually raise her elbows while extended, creating another inch or two of pull that, at least for her, seems to work. This is very classic old-school Soviet coaching at work, evidenced in their heyday especially by world champions Victor Sots and Anatoli Pisarenko.
This higher elbow action is frequently absent with beginning lifters. Lack of pulling through often continues into the national ranks and is most evidenced by those who swing the bar in a looping trajectory by maintaining fairly neutral wrists.
Excessive swinging of the bar is a deficiency about which I have previously written. I’m not convinced that Shainova’s technique is worth copying, but it sure caught my eye as being unusual. Train your coach’s eye by first studying the following pictures (successive frames taken from Dartfish), referencing the bar’s height against the chalk stand in the background. Then review the lift at regular and slow motion speeds in the Dartfish Technique Tip to see if you can catch this lifter’s unusual pulling technique.”
Dartfish Video Link Here