An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 33 by CPL KARL JOHNSTON, INSTRuCTOR, 2 BDE BTC T he modern soldier should be strong, power- ful, and fast, while remaining flexible and mobile. Olympic lifting is, or at least should be, the backbone of any solid, well-structured strength and conditioning programme. With the advent of the modern strength and conditioning coach and the ever rising popularity of the Cross- Fit franchise, Olympic lifting has brought to the fore again and given its rightly deserved place in the modern strength training programme. The two competition lifts in the Olympic style, the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk, appear almost graceful when performed correctly. They also combine testing human ballistic limits (explosive strength/power) with more mobility and a greater range of motion than other lifts. Running 5-10km is a great way to build aerobic endurance, but for building the power and explosive strength required by the more taxing physical aspects of our job, Olympic-style weight- lifting simply cannot be beaten. On 5th May 2014, 20 coaches comprising PTIs, civilian-qual- ified strength and conditioning coaches, and personal train- ers from various units across 2 Bde, assembled at the newly refurbished gym in Cathal Brugha Bks for a day-long Olympic lifting workshop with the national and international record holder and 14-time national senior champion, Wayne Healy. Wayne has also been the head coach of East Coast Barbell in Blackrock, Dublin, and the head weightlifting coach at DCU, to name a few of his many coaching accolades. The first lift to be taught after a comprehensive and ex- tremely functional warm-up was the Snatch, a single, fluid, ex- plosive movement requiring the barbell to move from ground level to an overhead squat position and finally standing tall to full lockout. Wayne instructed the aspiring coaches through several progressions of the lift before a final demonstration of a perfect execution with a colossal weight of 117.5kg (unoffi- cially beating his national record of 115kg). After a short break, work commenced on the Clean and Jerk, which requires the barbell to move from the ground to a 'front-rack' position resting on the front of the shoulders, and finally the ath- lete dropping under the barbell to a lunge and standing tall to lock the weight out overhead. Once again Wayne coached the various progressions of the lift before finally demonstrat- ing a flawless execution with a weight of 140kg. Olympic lifting is something that must be practised and finely tuned in order to ensure good technique, and with proper form explosive strength gains can be quickly achieved without overloading the barbell with too much weight. After a day of comprehensive instruction from Wayne, all the coaches involved had a good grasp of the mechan- ics behind these two big lifts and we can now begin to filter this excellent and extremely functional training style throughout our organisation. Olympic

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