Kahvakuulaurheilu.net

Intent
July 14th, 2009

by Catherine Imes

One of the things that I’ve focused on defining in terms of the lifts is the intent for each lift. It has changed how I practice the lifts, how I feel what I ‘m doing with every rep, and how I coach or instruct others in the lifts.

Why is intent important? First, if you don’t know what you intend to do, then you’ll be going through the motions without any awareness of the necessary mechanics in terms of the appropriate application of energy. You won’t develop a feeling on when you should be powerful or quick , when you should employ tension or relaxation.

If your intent in the beginning is to be smooth and relaxed, then you may not really ever get a feeling for the mechanical requirements for a good lift. Elites look smooth and relaxed, but I don’t believe that they are thinking I want to be smooth and relaxed while they lift. I believe they look this way because they are so good at the movements that they waste no energy performing them. They are quicker than most of us realize. They have laser precision with all the movements.

So, how does intent guide you so that you can become adept at the lifts to the point where you look smooth and relaxed and are precise? What should your intentions be during execution of the lifts?

Your intent in the beginning should be to figure out how to generate power to put the bells overhead in the Jerk and the Snatch and to aggressively fixate the bells so there is as little extraneous movement as possible.

If you’ve spent any time with me at a cert, you hear me tell folks to be aggressive with the lockouts. You’ll hear me tell folks to be violent with their first bump.

I use these strong words because folks are too soft; they are too relaxed. They aren’t using the legs enough, they aren’t employing proper tension overhead to fixate the bells. Some of this is because they are trying to replicate what they’ve seen in the elites without understanding what is really happening at a physical level or how they got to that place. But, the fact is that the elites are powerful and aggressive. You don’t see that because they are tremendously efficient, but this efficiency should not be confused with softness or relaxation for relaxation’s sake.

Using myself as an example: As I’ve increased the weight on my snatch, I’ve realized how important speed is with the legs out of the back swing. Many folks pull too early with their hand or don’t extend their legs at the proper time or quickly enough to launch the bell over head. My intent: To take that bell overhead as fast as possible so that the likelihood of me pulling with my hand is reduced. How do I do this? I become aware of where the bell is when it is swinging forward and I’m then aware of the timing in terms of when I should extend my knees so I reduce the chances of pulling with my arm. This saves my grip and it saves my hands

With the jerk, my intent is to bump violently; to make sure the bump is powerful enough that I’m finishing it with extended knees and hips. I need this energy potential so that I can quickly and powerfully drop underneath the bell to achieve a solid lockout.

Fixation and Intent on Jerk and Snatch: My intent is to stop the bell on a dime as soon as it is overhead by employing just enough tension to stop the bell. I’m not relaxed during fixation. I can relax somewhat once I have fixated if the bell has landed in the right spot. But, I cannot relax until that point. The quicker I am at employing this fixation, the sooner I can relax.

For some additional cues on fixation:

With the jerk, we all do a second dip. This dip is crucial to fixation. When I drop back to my heels, I fixate or lock the bell out in conjunction with this drop. The timing and aggressiveness of this drop is crucial to aiding the arm lockout and fixation.

For snatches, it is very similar. When I extend my hips and knees, my weight is more on the balls of my feet, but when I raise my hand for lockout, I quickly shift the weight back to my heels to stabilize for lockout and fixation. This is deliberate and it is my intent to use this weight distribution to help my fixation.

On both Jerks and Snatches, I now think heel of hand and heel of the foot. The heel/hip of the hand goes into the handle when the weight on the foot shifts to the heel. It’s just a cue that might help timing of your lockout and fixation.

So, think about your intent when you lift. You should want to take the bells overhead in the quickest manner possible. You should want to fixate the bells as quickly as possible. Be aggressive and deliberate. Over time, you will learn how much energy is required. But, until you do many reps, you should error on the side of expending more energy to fixate the bell rather than too little. Gradually learn to regulate this energy and you will get to a point where you are using the precise amount necessary.

All this being said, there is of course a relaxation component to the lifts; the time between the reps. However, the well placed reps are critical in order to be able to position the bells so that you can safely relax between the reps. These well placed reps will not happen without intent.

Mun kielitaitoni ei tuohon riitä Mutta itse olen antanut itseni ymmärtää että kun kuula liikkuu ylöspäin on toiminta mahdollisimman agressiivista ja kun kuula liikkuu alaspäin on toiminta maksimaalisen rentoa.....

Karhu, selitan kaiken kun tulen!!

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