The excellent Tight Tan Slacks of Dezso Ban blog reproduces one of the seminal articles comparing the split and squat styles of weightlifting here: http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2009/11/squat-style-vs-split-charles-coster.html
Coster wrote this article at a time when the squat lifts were still a new development and not used by a significant number of lifters.
Interestingly, he notes that use of the squat style for the snatch can yield good results for those with the mobility or anatomy to take advantage of it. For lifters like Dave Sheppard and Pete George, it was their ability to put their shoulders in the dislocate position:
This dislocation is seen to advantage in lifters such as Dave Sheppard and Pete George, and it enables them to fix their weights more securely overhead than would otherwise be the case – prior to the final leg straightening movement being undertaken.
For lifters like Tommy Kono, there was a lack of need to use the dislocate position, likely owing to his anatomical proportions:
There are a few squatters however who do not dislocate when they snatch either because they cannot, or do not, choose to do so. The amazing Russian featherweight Saksonov, and the American lightweight Tommy Kono both come into this category – and they both once held World snatch records.
Coster was much more skeptical of the utility of the squat style for the clean:
The fact of the matter is that squat cleaning involves split-second timing, and a balance that must be mathematically perfect if near-world record weights are to be succeeded with. Failure to whip the elbows well forward so that the bar is securely held high at the sternum usually means that the lifter has to lean forward – and once the trunk is forced out of the upright position the lifer’s task of straightening his legs assumes superhuman proportions.
Sagging elbows, or a lean forward with a rounded back, almost invariably means that the line of the bar is somewhere above the lifter’s toes, and it is impossible to exert maximum muscular effort once the line of gravity is at fault.
However, his own commentary near the end of the article gives a clue to overcoming the limitations he observes in the clean - namely, increase squatting strength:
It is important to keep an open mind when studying weightlifting phenomena, and any tendency to get into a rut with certain training habits is much to be deplored. Just as there is a sticking point which it is difficult to negotiate during the Olympic Press, so there is a certain sticking point encountered as the squat lifter fights his way to an upright position during the halfway stage of a clean.
I am glad to say American lifters are using great imagination and enterprise in their efforts to solve this little mentioned problem of leg recovery. Both Pete George and Tommy Kono are taking steps to improve their fundamental basic power all the time, and undoubtedly the sticking point is being gradually made less dangerous in competition by the practice of deep knee bends and half knee bends – with the bar held in front of the neck. By methodically attacking the problem in this way a lifter can increase the power of his thighs, hips and back by gradual degrees, and at the same time form the habit of keeping trunk perpendicular at all stages of the movement. This form of training is most logical, and, theoretically at least, it has much to recommend it.
Finally, he suggests that split style lifters also consider incorporating specific leg strength exercises:
The time honored split style of lifting has been in use for a long time – but I wonder how many lifters have ever tried to improve the strength of their back, hips and thighs by
“getting up” from the split position with weights which were substantially heavier than poundages which could be handled in competition. Not many, I’ll bet. The practice of standing up with weights which are supported on a couple of stands has much to recommend it, in my opinion.
The whole article is worth a read for historical significance if not for any particular technique or programming information.
No comments:
Post a Comment