



By Jim Schmitz



U.S. Olympic Weightlifting Team Coach 1980, 1988 & 1992

Author of Olympic-style Weightlifting for Beginner & Intermediate Weightlifters Manual and DVD





My Take on Technique

“Teach according to the textbook technique, but take what you can get.”

When I teach someone how to snatch and clean and jerk, I try to have the lifter do exactly as diagramed in all books on Olympic-style weightlifting. I call perfect technique “textbook.” Also, if I’m working with an experienced lifter, I see if they can do the lifts with textbook technique. However, you can never achieve perfection, so as the famous American football coach Vince Lombardi once said: “Pursue perfection and you might achieve excellence.”

I coach lifters to have the best technique they can have according to their mental and physical capabilities. I tell them we will try to achieve the best technique possible for them. Good technique takes a while to acquire and you can lose it very fast. Once you develop your technique to a fairly good level, the next thing you have to develop is consistency. You need to do each lift exactly the same way, from warm-up weights to maximum weights.

Don’t get hung up on small technical aspects of the lifts—even though you have to correct your technical flaws, you have watch out for “paralysis due to analysis.” This problem comes from thinking so much about lifting perfectly, you stop or move too slowly to complete the lift at all. It’s a very common thing with beginners. That’s why when I’m coaching someone and see this happening, I tell them: “Just pull as hard as you can and move as fast as you can.” I also say if you pull hard and move fast, you have a chance; but if you pull slow because you are trying to have perfect technique, you have virtually no chance.