Fixing your second and third pull on the Olympic Lifts

1. ADDRESSING MAJOR TECHNICAL ISSUES IN THE SECOND PULL

Once the athlete passes the knees the shoulders should be over the bar. Then the athlete sweeps the bar in with the lats and the bar is gently brushed up the thigh. The hips scoop the bar in as we say. A common mistake here is letting the bar float or stay far away from the body. A cue we would use to fix this would be “sweep the bar in with those lats” or “once you pass the knees scoop the bar in”.

2. ADDRESSING MAJOR TECHNICAL ISSUES IN THE THIRD PULL

At the very end of the pull the bar brushes up the thigh and passes the hips. At this point the power position is reached and the athlete triple extends. This triple extension is why Olympic lifting is transferable to all explosive sports. At the point of triple extension the athlete should be on their toes leaning back with the ankles, knees, and hips fully extended. A very common mistake is the athlete not coming up on their toes and prematurely dropping under the weight. A cue that could be used to fix this is “jump with the weight” or “come up on those toes”. Many CrossFit athletes have issues finishing with full triple extension or finish with “muted hips”. This is a result of doing some many reps where they do not finish with hip extension. For the sake of CrossFit this is more efficient, however when performing reps for the intention of a strength stimulus it is a problem. As a coach you must help your athlete differentiate extension in weightlifting from extension in a WOD. When performing reps for strength, full extension should be reached. To correct this problem you could add exercises into the program such as squat jumps, broad jumps, max height box jumps, or double jumps.