When I'm not Olympic-lifting, I take an off-season to "rebuild".⠀Here's why:⁣⠀• Olympic lifts can be repetitive and nerve-racking, so it can burn us out after too many weeks.• There is no "muscle-building" quality to the lifts themselves, there is too little time-under-tension to grow muscles.• The "Clean & Press" was eliminated from competition in 1972, so Olympic-lifters don't train their pressing/bent-arm strength enough.• Olympic lifts isometrically train the spine and arms, there is no active flexion/extension of either, so this can be a problem if you want strength outside the gym: like bending over to pick up your keys.⁣⠀I combine Gymnastics and Martial Arts "bamboo leg" style training. This gives me variety and challenge, but keeps my Beginner's Mind sharp. These are difficult movements for me.⠀If you compare Gymnastics Strength Training (GST) to Olympic-lifting, GST is far more complex in movement variety and execution. And the amount of strength they have in EXTREME ranges of motion (Back Lever, HSPU) is more than an Olympic-lifter ever needs.⠀If I look jacked but can't wipe my own ass, well then I'm not sure that's a great idea. But if I can Snatch over 300# but my arms look like I have never used my body, that's not good either.⁣⠀??????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ?? ? ????? ?????. ⁣⠀Just watching guys like Russians and Chinese, now I see why Lu Xiaojun ?? does heavy weighted GST and bodybuilding.⠀When I was Snatching 200lbs+ regularly, there was a time where people asked me if I even lifted anymore because my arms lost their "shape".⠀But it takes High Quality Training, and INTROSPECTION. You need to know how to plan your own skill building and strength building at some point. I'll talk about helpful principles and "Low-Quality" training in the next two posts.

Posted by Brandon Scott Chien on Saturday, 30 November 2019