Wil Fleming is the Co-Owner of Force Fitness in Bloomington IN. He is a former Olympic level weightlifter and Division 1 athlete at Indiana.
Wil has authored several articles around the web and was one of the authors for the IYCA Essentials of High School Strength and Conditioning book.
He just released a DVD, that I was able to review, and I got to say it is one of the better ones out there. He has some great teaching progressions, coaching cues, and variations that any strength coach will benefit from. He is a great guy and intelligent strength coach
We were able to discuss:
- His Background in Olympic Lifting.
- Recommendations on a warm up prior to lifting.
- Coaching the Olympic Lifts in a team setting.
- Sport Specificity
- Variations when dealing with an injured athlete.
- Why he created another DVD on Olympic Lifting technique.
Links we mentioned:
- Wil Fleming’s Website
- Wil’s DVD: Complete Olympic Lifting
- Wil Fleming Facebook
- Wil Fleming Twitter
- IYCA
- Strength Coach Basic Training
Coach, I enjoyed the video and the start of IGCT, one question about olympic lifts that was not touched on in the video was the catch. I find that teaching the clean progression is not that difficult like Wil mentioned my question is how much emphasis do you put on the catch? I find that is the most difficult part to teach due to a variety of issues like wrist problems or flexibility. Just curious your thoughts on that thanks.
Craig, thanks for the comment. I agree one of the most difficult things to get the guys to do is catch correctly. One exercise we would do is a “Drop Clean” I believe Wil calls it Scarecrow Clean/Snatch in his video. You start on your toes holding the bar with light weight and shoulders shrugged. This puts you in the highest position you can be before momentum takes over. From there you must keep the bar tight and drop under the bar without using any momentum. The only way to perform that exercise is to get your elbows around and letting te bar roll into your finger tips. It has been the most effective way for me to teach the catch. I hope that helps. Wil does a great job showing and explaining it in his DVD.
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