Keep Your Hands on the Bar  by Coach Dan Bell Anatoli Pisarenko (photo credit unknown)   A detail of weightlifting technique not often...

Use Straps for Weightlifting Use Straps By Coach Dan Bell “I don’t like straps. I’m not used to them.” “My CrossFit coach says I’ll get dependent on them.” “I don’t want my grip to get weak.” “Straps are cheating, because you can lift more with straps than without.” “Only wussies use straps.” I’ve heard every reason not to use straps when training the Olympic lifts. None are valid. (Well, one is, but we’ll get to that) There will be times and circumstances in every lifter’s c

Lifting: Faster is Now the Fix One of the easiest ways a coach can get someone to hit a personal record Olympic lift at a clinic is to tell them “move faster” or “pull faster,” the core precept of the philosophy that “speed kills!” And it works. Many lifters will hit PRs. CrossFitters and casual weightlifters will walk away singing that coach’s praises when their snatch goes from 60kg to 63kg in a weekend. The extra speed works for a while, anyway. For a little more weight on

Going Under the Bar I’v e had a number of CrossFitters and weightlifters complain to me that they have an almost impossible time going under a snatch, or, less often, the clean or jerk. Someone in their lives may have ascribed this technique flaw to a lack of “guts.” A coach or fellow lifter convinced the athlete that the reason they did not go under the bar was a substantial character flaw: the lifter did not have enough courage to go under the bar. But being brave has nothi

Deadlifting You don't have to spend much time in the sport of weightlifting before you understand in your bones the importance of...

About Bumper Plates There are a lot of different choices available in the current market for bumper plates.   Bumper Plates  are...

The Double Knee Bend Can and Should be Taught Last time I talked about the importance of drills. But which drills and why? It is time to...

I’m a Better Coach than Klokov by Coach Dan Bel Damn, he is a beast, though, isn’t he? Yes, you read that right. I am a better...

The Importance of Drills in Weightlifting by Coach Dan Bell If you’ve ever played an organized sport, you know what drills are. They are...

The Grind - Olympic Weightlifting Olympic Weightlifting is hard--brutally hard.  In this sport, I think it’s safe to say we have more bad...

It’s Not About Your Hips by Coach Dan Bell, Rubber City Weightlifting “Hips to the bar!” That too-common coaching cue may be messing up...

@Regranned from @csiweightlifting - Merry Christmas to us with a couple new @vulcanstrengthtrainingsystems plates! Great stuff from them...