My coaching philosophy, regardless of sport, is to stick to the core movements that have the biggest carry over to sport. Auxiliary movements and for this post, weightlifting complexes, are a very minute aspect of the grand scheme of training for a weightlifter.
I get the draw though, it’s fun to practice weightlifting complexes and doing so changes up the daily training routine. But most weightlifters are novice or intermediate level lifters and I strongly believe we need to expose the main lifts to them as much as possible. Doing so will develop their bar awareness, timing, control, and hopefully their total potential in this sport. This of course does not mean that you shouldn’t expose them to complexes but just to understand that this is a small piece to the whole pie.
The Benefits of Complexes
Weightlifting complexes done correctly can potentially help fix a lifters compensation pattern and strengthen weak areas of their lifts. Take for example the complex- “Snatch Pull- Snatch”, some weightlifters tend to overthink when it comes to the full lifts, allowing them to get the kinks out during the pull can give them confidence and reinforce correct pulling patterns to hopefully translate into the lift.
The “Power Snatch- Drop Snatch- Snatch”, can help the weightlifter generate power and an aggressive punch out from the power snatch, drop snatch, and than translate that into the snatch all within in one set.
Other complexes such as “Power Snatch – OHS” are great learning tools for new weightlifters to gain the confidence in the lifts and stability in specific joint angles. Once they’ve become sufficient in that complex transitioning into the full lifts can start to become easier and easier. But they still should be exposed to the full lifts throughout the week.
Complexes can also be used as great primer/warm up for lifters too. For instance if a weightlifter is slow in the turnover in the clean, a simple primer of “clean pull- dead hang cleans” as a warm up/primer can help reinforce a good clean session.
Pitfalls
While I believe weightlifting complexes are beneficial to a point, beginning weightlifters watch videos of elite lifters doing highly specialized movements and think that is the missing link. Yet they fail to forget that those same lifters probably have 15+ years more of weightlifting than they do. Another aspect to keep in mind is that these lifters have anywhere from 8-12+ training sessions a week. This means they have the luxury to go outside of the core lifts (snatch, clean, jerk, squat, pull, press) but for the general weightlifter that trains maybe x3-5 a week it will need to be far more focused and concentrated with the lifts, depending on their block and needs.
To top that some of these complexes are going pretty far out there, I’m seeing things like “muscle snatch- drop snatch – overhead squat -no feet no bar touch no hook snatch”…..I’m not very sure what the purpose of this complex would be beneficial for. Complexes should have a purpose for the individual weightlifter and should have a clear point. In my opinion, they should not focus on developing multiple skill sets all at once, especially for novice weightlifters. Keeping the complex focused and simple allows the lifter to concentrate on executing that task perfectly and hopefully can then translate that back to the full lifts.
Conclusion
In the end I believe complexes are beneficial to an extent, as long as the weightlifter is still exposed to the full lifts. Obviously we need to take into consideration their total volume, phases, and how the weightlifter learns. But in my experience both in weightlifting and in training athletes of various sports, the more focused the training is the better the translation to sport. Basically keep it simple, don’t over complicate things, and have fun!
I hope this all makes sense, been out of writing for a bit thanks to traveling and work.
Train smart,
