So for anyone else who’s confused, there are only two categories for the sport: the clean and jerk, and the snatch. There used to be others but they were phased out.

In the clean and jerk, you start with a standard grip (shoulder width) and have to bring the barbell in a clean (shoulder level, resting on your arms) and THEN you have to lift it above your head (elbows lock out). You can and have to use your legs to give it momentum.

In the snatch, you start in a wide stance on the ground, then bring the bar overhead in one move. You start wide because that means your arms travel less distance and the bar is closer to your centre of gravity.

These are the two categories at the olympics, but there are “subcategories” people train with. For example since the clean and jerk is actually done in two parts, it pays to train your cleans (strict and “power”, meaning in the former you don’t bend your legs at all, and in the second you can bend them once to give momentum) and then your overhead presses (either strict or “power”, again). Or train with the squat snatch, where you go into a squat stance while lifting the bar – everyone does that at competitions because there’s less distance to travel, but you don’t have to for the standard.

  • lemmygrabber
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    3 years ago

    They are also very difficult. I have a friend who is very good at both and he is almost the same height as me but weighs 15-20kg more than me and can put more than 120kg from the floor to over his head (clean and jerk). It’s astounding.

    I want to get into them but I started off very weak. Once I hit my targets for 5 rep max for overhead press, bench press, squats and deadlifts I’ll try finding some place where I can learn how to clean and jerk.

    • @invent_the_future
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      23 years ago

      I want to get into them but I started off very weak. Once I hit my targets for 5 rep max for overhead press, bench press, squats and deadlifts I’ll try finding some place where I can learn how to clean and jerk.

      pretty much on the same boat, albeit successive lockdowns have stalled the process

      meanwhile here’s my boy Lu Xiaojun holding a 220 kilo overhead squat: https://youtu.be/9Dw_oypcFLU

    • @CriticalResist8OPA
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      23 years ago

      I was actually amazed how fast you can progress on weightlifting. I feel the hardest one is the snatch if you want to be efficient and catch it in a squat position, because so many things are happening at once and you need a lot of balance and core control.

      But at my box we’ve been doing cleans for a few weeks now and just doing them (on top of whatever else the wod plans for) I’ve been showing steady progress. I cleaned 65kg for the first time today, and while my form was kinda suffering towards the end, I think I could clean a bit more on a good day.