Lacrosse Training: Olympic Lifts (VIDEO)

-March 1st, 2013-

I am a fan of the Olympic Lifts. They are great for improving power production and force development and have the greatest direct transfer to lacrosse performance.

The reason for that is they train ‘Triple Extension.’ That is full extension of the ankles, knees, and hips. Every stride you take when sprinting your leg performs triple extension to propel you forward.

If taught and performed properly, the Olympic Lifts and variations of them are a great tool to include in your lacrosse training program. If done improperly, they can be very dangerous.

I only prescribe O-Lifts from the Hang position (bar starts above knee versus on the floor as in the Olympics) as it is much safer to start from that position.

I am not creating future Olympians (although I would love if one of my athletes took to the lifts and decided to pursue it) so I need to use the safest method of training. They are lacrosse players, not lifters.

I keep the reps below 6 as the lifts are very technical and therefore any higher and you risk fatigue setting in and possible injury.

Below is a video of Brynne Yarranton, a Boston University commit who has trained with me for over 2 years now, performing 6 reps of the Hang Clean with 100lbs.

Tags: Brynne Yarranton, Hang Cleans, Power, The Dynamic Athlete