Biomechanics of Olympic Weightlifting
At first glance one would think that the simple technique of Olympic weightlifting is
purely picking the weight up from the ground to a squat like position and ending above the head.
Whether performing the clean and jerk or the snatch, both movements follow that simple pattern
with a few different motions in between. There’s a high chance that any athletes or weightlifter in
general has attempted one of these lifts or even uses them in their own training. While the
movements are simple, they are also quite complex. It may seem as if you’re simply just moving
the bar with weight but when broken down there’s a lot of mechanics behind the lift. There are
actually five biomechanical concepts for weightlifting efficiency.
The first being center of mass, which is the point where the weight (in this theory the
barbell weight) is centered upon. This is important to help transfer the barbell from the floor to
the designated lift from the weightlifter. The second is the base of support; this refers to
essentially the floor. The base of support helps keep the weightlifter balanced and this is where
the center of mass moves from, if balance is lost , more work will need to be done to correct the
error. The third is the ground-reaction force. The ground reaction force is something I had to do a
little more research on but to my understanding it is taken from Newton’s third law. Essentially
your legs produce the force required to pull the inertia of the barbell from the floor .Your legs
have a constant surface contact with the ground which allows the weightlifter to gain
momentum. This results in force going through the ground and transferred to the barbell. The
