The Olympic Lifts for Fat Loss, Lean Muscle and Health by Jag252

Adding the Olympic lifts in your workout program can and will send you on a quick path to fat loss, building lean muscle and become healthier.

Do you know what the Olympic lifts are?

There are two that are used in Olympic competition The Clean and Jerk and the Snatch.

The benefits of learning and using the Olympic lifts is that they are considered compound lifts. Compound lifts are exercises that involve all or most of the major muscle groups(with assistance from smaller muscles) in the body.

So why are compound lifts importent?

The more muscle fibers you use during an exercise the more overall body strength you gain plus you are burning more calories during your workout.The bottom line is focusing on compound exercises you are getting a better total body workout which means faster fat loss.

I mentioned in Olympic lifting the two lifts are the clean and jerk and the snatch both done with a barbell. In your workouts you can do them with a barbell, dumbbells or a kettlebell.

How to do the Clean and Jerk:

Squat down in front of the weights and make sure to keep your back flat and face forward. Keep the weights inside of your legs for more power and smoother technique. Really squeeze the weights and keep your body as tight as possible.

Keep The Weights Inside Of Your Legs For More Power & Smoother Technique.

Bring the weights up slowly for the first few inches and then clean the weights as fast as possible to your shoulder. Breathe in as you bring the weights up. Breathing out will make you dizzy and you will not be tight at the pressing position. This will make you much weaker and put you in a dangerous position for jerking the weights overhead.

Now that the weights are at your shoulders, keep your body really tight, squat down a few inches and jerk them overhead. Hold your breath as you jerk the weights overhead. Use your legs to drive the weights overhead and dip under the weights to absorb the shock.

Hold the lockout position for a second, breath out, and lower the weights back down to your shoulders. From there, lower the weights back down to the starting position.

How To Do The Kettlebell Snatch:

To get in the proper position to do a kettlebell snatch, stand up straight and push your butt out as you bend over. Make sure to bend your knees slightly and to keep your back flat. If you are familiar with the barbell bent-over row, which is the position that you want to be in as you pick up the kettlebell. Look forward and grip the kettlebell really hard and keep your body tight. Flex your butt and abs as hard as you can.

Now with one smooth motion, swing the kettlebell back between your legs and quickly reverse the swing forward. As the bell swings forward snap your hips and keep the kettlebell close to your body. Use the momentum to drive the kettlebell overhead.

As the kettlebell goes up focus on getting your hand around the kettlebell rather than letting it flip over your hand and bang against your wrist. Just as your hand is getting around the kettlebell, dip your knees slightly and get under the weight. This will help you absorb the impact safely as well as allow you to do more repetitions.

Breathe in as you snatch the kettlebell off of the floor and breathe out as you lower the weight back to the floor. Make sure that you get into a natural breathing pattern or you may find yourself passed out on the floor! When you lower the weight to the floor, don't fight the downward momentum. This is not a bodybuilding exercise and we are not trying to work the negative. Use a tight grip as the kettlebell lowers to the ground. Another important point to keep in mind is a motto that I conceived called "tight-loose-tight." What does this mean? When you snatch the kettlebell off of the ground, use a very tight grip. However when the kettlebell gets close to the overhead position, use a loose grip to get around the kettlebell, and then use a tight grip to "catch" the kettlebell in the top position. This will help you get into a rhythm, give your grip a break, and prevent the kettlebell from crashing into your forearm at the top position.

There is like with any exercise a learning curve to the Olympic lifts when starting out use low reps and concentrate on getting your form right. Once you have mastered your form for a great fat burning workout do your sets in high reps or even better do them together Interval Style.

About the Author

In addition to the Clean and Jerk and The snatch you should also put into your workouts High Pulls, Dead Hang Cleans again barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells. Jag252 Fat Loss and lean muscle go hand and hand with using the exercises in your workouts.