Weightlifting Training and Biomechanics

Book excerpt: Weightlifting Training and Biomechanics covers a gamut of training and technique from the perspective of Soviet era sport science to modern radical, departures in theory of biomechanics: “Can There Be Such A Thing As An Asian Pull”; “Equilibrium in Weightlifting”; “The Foot, the Ankle Joint and Asian Pull”. “Asian pull’ technique is in all probability an effort to circumvent gravity by finding the path of least resistance for the body’s movements, which means these movements need not be designed to raise body center of mass as high as possible (as in the Russian pull) before squatting under the barbell. “The Asian pull technique is antithetical to Russian protocols which stipulate the lifter remain flat - footed as trunk and thighs straighten in unison during the explosion phase (see figure 3). Much of the explosion phase of the Asian pull is carried out with shoulder joints behind the vertical line of the bar with heels raised as legs straighten.” “Peculiarities of balance, equilibrium and stability are not unique to weightlifting. In point of fact they can even be considered 'normal aberrations' in athletics; given the extraordinary complexity of the human body's movement possibilities. Furthermore, the high incidence of injuries in American sport can be traced to a catastrophic outcome of strength and conditioning training, therapeutics and the like; where an athlete's movements are choreographed to conform to rigid, arbitrarily conceived limitations; especially linear (Charniga, 2015 - 2017). Five articles have appeared in the EWF Science journal with another two awaiting publication.