Q: Would it be good for a guy looking to pack on some beef to do Olympic lifts?

A: In a word, yes. Olympic lifts are basic compound movements. A bodybuilder who incorporates them into his program will end up with a thicker, more rugged looking physique than one who doesn’t. He’ll also be stronger, more flexible and more agile on the basketball court.

The two Olympic lifts are the clean and jerk and the snatch. The clean and jerk involves cleaning the weight to the shoulders and then dropping one leg back as the weight is lifted to lockout overhead. In the snatch, the lifter takes a much wider grip on the bar and lifts it from the floor directly to overhead lockout while in a squat position. He then stands with the weight still overhead. As you can appreciate, they are not easy exercises to perform but they do have benefits that make the effort very worthwhile. Here are some of them:

(1) They build explosive strength

(2) They teach an athlete how to move rapidly from the functional use of eccentric to concentric strength.

(3) Vertical jumping ability is greatly enhanced.

(4) The major muscles of the thighs, the back, the deltoids, forearms and abdominals are all directly stressed.

(5) These movements are also quite aerobic and therefore good calorie burners.

An Olympic lifting program is quite different than a conventional bodybuilding program. Because you are not working body parts in isolations, you can’t divide up exercise days on the basis of body parts trained. In addition, Olympic lifting can be done more frequently than normal training without the risk of overtraining. Your Olympic lifting program should start off with a few sets of the two core exercises and then move on to several auxiliary movements that athletes use to improve their competition lifts. Here is an Olympic routine that you may wish to try out. Give your normal routine a break for six weeks and monitor how your body responds when it goes Olympic. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Day One

Cleans 5 sets of 3 reps

Power Cleans 3 x 6

Press behind Neck 3 x 12

Day Two

Snatch 5 sets of 6 reps

Overhead Squats 5 x 6

Squats 3 x 10

Hyperextensions 3 x12

Day Three

Snatch 4 x 6

Overhead Squats 4 x 6

Front Squats 3 x 8

Good Mornings 4 x 10

Day Four

Clean and Jerk 5 x 3

Press behind Neck 3 x 6

Overhead Squats 3 x 8