Team Georgia Weightlifting


"Developing Exceptional Students Into Elite Athletes"

Clinics - Summer '08

Olympic Weightlifting @ CrossFit Atlanta
Starting June 9: 8 Weeks

"There are two Olympic lifts, the clean and jerk and the snatch. Mastery of these lifts develops the squat, deadlift, power clean, and split jerk while integrating them into a single movement of unequaled value in all of strength and conditioning. The Olympic lifters are without a doubt the world’s strongest athletes.

These lifts train athletes to effectively activate more muscle fibers more rapidly than through any other modality of training. The explosiveness that results from this training is of vital necessity to every sport. Practicing the Olympic lifts teaches one to apply force to muscle groups in proper sequence, i.e., from the center of the body to its extremities (core to extremity). Learning this vital technical lesson benefits all athletes who need to impart force to another person or object as is commonly required in nearly all sports.
In addition to learning to impart explosive forces, the clean and jerk and snatch condition the body to receive such forces from another moving body both safely and effectively.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the Olympic lifts unique capacity to develop strength, muscle, power, speed, coordination, vertical leap, muscular endurance, bone strength, and the physical capacity to withstand stress. It is also worth mentioning that the Olympic lifts are the only lifts shown to increase maximum oxygen uptake, the most important marker for cardiovascular fitness.

Sadly, the Olympic lifts are seldom seen in the commercial fitness community because of their inherently complex and technical nature. CrossFit makes them available to anyone with the patience and persistence to learn."

-Greg Glassman, Founder of CrossFit

Olympic Weightlifting 101 (Beginners)

Olympic weightlifting, or simply weightlifting, is a competitive Olympic sport. It is not the same as lifting weights, weight lifting, powerlifting, or weight training. In a weightlifting competition an athlete lifts in two events: the clean and jerk, and the snatch.

Running, jumping, swinging a bat or a golf club, tackling - they all require power. Power is a combination of strength and quickness. To be powerful, you have to be strong, and you have to be able to apply that strength quickly. A strong, slow athlete will not be effective, and neither will a fast, weak athlete, because they both lack the ability to produce power.

In Olympic Weightlifting good technique is what moves the bar, and in this series of classes you will learn the correct movement patterns with a broomstick before we ever move on to even light weights.  Safety and general well-being should be the number one priority when CrossFitting.  This class is designed to teach you the correct postures, forms, and techniques of the snatch, clean & jerk, front and back squats, deadlift, and push press so that when you do your CrossFit workout, the Olympic lifts will be the last thing you worry about.  Session begin Monday, June 9, and will continue every Monday for 8 weeks at 7:30 pm.

This class is designed for the following people:

  • Athletes new to CrossFit
  • CrossFitters who have under 3 months of lifting experience
  • CrossFitters who are not comfortable with their technique and want to dramatically improve it
  • Athletes with injuries

Sessions are/will cover:

  1. Monday, June 9: Front Squat
  2. Monday, June 16: Back Squat
  3. Monday, June 23: Dead Lift
  4. Monday, June 30: Snatch
  5. Monday, July 7: Clean
  6. Monday, July 14: Push Press
  7. Monday, July 21: Jerk
  8. Monday, July 28: Evaluation

Prices:

  • CrossFit Atlanta monthly members: FREE!
  • All other: $20 / session / person
  • Pay in advance for visitor for all 8 sessions: $140 (one free session) due by Friday, June 20

Technician Training (Advanced)

Power generation...  Center of mass...  One-dimensional acceleration...  Moments of inertia and multi-planar torsions...  Non-linear stability...  Potential elastic energy...

See any terms above you didn't know apply to CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting?  You know the lift motions, you've even hit some pretty good weights, but maybe you've hit a plateau, or maybe you know something is wrong but not quite sure.  You want to get better at the O-lifts but don't want to sacrifice your CrossFit progress.

Then this is the class for you!  Don't be scared at first from all the science-based material because by the end you will know some trade secrets of fine tuning your lifts to work for you instead of you working to make the weight.  Sessions start at 8:30 pm on Monday, June 9, and continue every Monday and Thursday for 8 weeks.  Each week consists of very technical exercises to include in your toolbox for better CrossFitting and lifting.

This class is designed for the following people:

  • CrossFitters with more than 3 months of lifting experience
  • CrossFitters who have taken the Olympic Weightlifting 101 class
  • USA Weightlifting members
  • Science-minded people

Sessions are/will cover:

  1. Week 1: Foundation Mechanics
  2. Week 2: Power Generation
  3. Week 3: Acceleration
  4. Week 4: Mentality (Thursday off for Independence Day weekend)
  5. Week 5: Controlled Fatigue
  6. Week 6: Speed
  7. Week 7: Stability and Flexibility
  8. Week 8: Review/Evaulation

Prices:

  • CrossFit Atlanta monthly members: $20
  • All other: $40 / session / person
  • Pay in advance for all sessions:
    • CrossFit Atlanta: $280 (one free session) due by Friday, June 20
    • Visitors: $550 ($50 off) due by Friday, June 20

Coaches

Chandler Alford

Chandler Alford
A native of Atlanta, Chandler has competed in Olympic weightlifting for 8 years under the direction of 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games Assistant Weightlifting Coach, C.J. Stockel.  He has won 4 national titles, numerous city, state, and regional championships, and has competed on the international platform, including Chile, Colombia, and Puetro Rico.  Chandler is the current 77 kg Collegiate National Champion, just competed in the USA Weightlifting Olympic Team Trials, and is now ranked 17th overall in the country.  His next stop is the World University Games in Athens, Greece, during Thanksgiving 2008.  Chandler is a certified USA Weightlifting Club Coach and has sent several athletes to the School-Age and Junior National Championships.  He is a senior at Georgia Tech studying mechanical engineering and is a contractor for the Strength and Condition Program with the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.
Jason Bourgeois Jason Bourgeois
A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Jason has been Olympic weightlifting for 7 years and has lifting under the direction of Gale Hatch, the "godfather" of Olympic weightlifting.  Jason will compete in the Georgia Games this summer to secure a spot on the World University Games team.  He is a senior also at Georgia Tech studying biomechical engineering and has competed as a Varsity athlete on the swim team.  Both Jason and Chandler represented Georgia Tech at the 2008 CSTV Collegiate National Championship.  Most recently, he won his weight division in the CrossFit Total at the Southeast CrossFit Challenge in Melbourne, FL.  Jason is thoroughly trained in all aspects of CrossFit and is among one of the top times finishers for a majority of the CrossFit Workouts.

Payment

There are several options for payment for your convenience.

  1. Pay on-site (all sessions or per session basis): cash or check made out to CrossFit Atlanta BEFORE the session begins.
  2. Pay in advance (all sessions): please, visit the section of interest to pay.
  3. Pay in advance (per session basis): click below
Olympic Weightlifting 101 - Visitors
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Technician Training - CrossFit Atlanta
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Technician Training - Visitors
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Contact Info

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Chandler or Dan for any questions.