weightlifting encyclopedia by arthur drechsler

Well, for the same reasons Track and Field athletes, Freestyle and Greco Wrestlers, Rugby players, American Football players etc do. Strength and Power. Even the cantankerous God of Pro Wrestling , Karl Gotch, who famously dislikes weight training for wrestling - even he loves the Split Snatch and Squat Snatch. Gotch reckon's they are like shooting for leg takedown.

Ever seen at 77kg athlete hoist over 200kgs above his head? It is scary.

Dreschler argues that Olympic Weightlifters are the strongest people on the planet. What's the secret? Well for many pundits, it's the way the Olympic lifts (and their assistance lifts) train the whole body. Every muscle is worked and most importantly it's worked as a single unit.

Think about it, when you lift an object, is it like doing a leg extension on a machine, or is it more like a deadlift? When you do a suplex, is it like doing a leg press on a machine, or it it more like the snatch?

How many people in your gym can lift their bodyweight overhead? Not many. Olympic lifters can do that and a lot more.

Brooks Kubik writes, "Back in the 1950's, Harry Paschall authored a nifty little chart to determine how strong you were. Here's the Paschall standard for the clean and press (a military press, not a push press) for a 165 pound lifter; a lifter of different bodyweight should adjust the weights up or down: Moderately strong: 165 pounds Strong: 200 pounds Super strong: 225 pounds "Super Dreadnaught or Hero": 275 pounds"

Review:

Wow, where do you start? It's a massive book, extremely well written and very, very thorough. If it's related to Olympic weightlifting it's in the book. Here's a few of the things the book covers:

What is weightling and why you should lift even if you're not going to compete in Olympic weightlifting
Comprehensive instruction of the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk.
Motor Learning. Huge technique chapters - including topics like balance, timing, tension etc
Stretching
Routines - including real-world examples
Equipment - a guide to what you need
Assistance lifts - this is a goldmine. You may not care to perform/compete in the Snatch or Clean and Jerk - however the assistance lifts are the building blocks of those lifts, and hence the building blocks of strength. There are loads of lifts to choose from - about 50!
Training cycles - different types of cycle
Mental training - 30 pages!
Competition preparation
Guide for women & young weightlifters
Nutrition
Injuries - diagnosis, treatment and prevention - brilliant chapter.
Anatomy and biomechanics
Case studies of other athletes benefitting from OL lifting
+ a load more!

It really is a brilliant book. The only thing I can say is you might need a real-life instructor for the Snatch and C&J or video instruction, to see the lifts in motion. But that's expected from a book.

It's hard to find any faults at all with this tome. Maybe it could have more photo's - it's mostly writing, and some more inspiring shots of athletes launching unfeasibly heavy weights above their heads would have been good.

However, it covers so much, in so much detail and done so well. The book will keep you occupied for years. It's a reference par excellance - you'll always keep going back to find answers to your strength training questions.

The chapter on assistance lifts alone is worth the price of admission. You can get all the strength building exercises of Olympic Lifting, without having to confront the technically tricky Clean & Jerk and Snatch. Throwing in some Overhead Squats, Power Cleans, Push Presses, Snatch Pulls etc into your regular routine is plenty. However, the book is pretty purist - it's written for Olympic Weightlifters, so don't expect routines geared for martial artists, rugby players, bodybuilders etc. If you wanted to work some OL lifts into your usual routine, then you'll have to figure out how to do that for yourself.

However Dreschler is very clear. All athletes should OL lift because of the following benefits:

"The mere practice of the Olympic lifts teaches an athlete how to explode (to activate the maximum number of muscle units rapidly and simultaneously).....
Olympic lifts teaches an athlete to apply force with his or her muscle groups in the proper sequence. This is a valuble technical lesson to any athlete who needs to impart force to another person or object....
The athlete learns to receive force from another moving body effectively and becomes conditioned to accept such forces.....
The athlete learns to move effectively from an eccentric contraction to a concentric one......
Practicing Olympic lifts trains an athlete's explosive capabilities, and the lifts themselves measure the effectiveness of the athlete in generating explosive power."

Is it suitable for beginners? - Well, there are routines for beginners in there, and plenty of advice for novice weightlifters. Determined beginners will be able to figure out the two olympic lifts from the book. However, I feel that unless you have access to good real-life instruction, and if competing in Olympic lifting is not a priority - then beginners would be better off getting a foundation in the technically easier powerlifts (Squat, deadlift, bench press) and reaching for the Stuart McRobert books.

Summary - Dreschler's written a masterpiece and if you are serious about strength training then this should be part of your library.

Get it.