“Unwritten Rules of Weightlifting” Part 2 | Olympic Weightlifting in NYC

 I meant to get this in last week but things have been crazy hectic. Let’s jump back into “Unwritten Rules” of Weightlifting Part Deux.

Respect the Bars:

The Olympic bar is NOT used for squatting or to be used on the “J” hooks. Respect the bar! we do not use the Olympic bars on the racks because it scraps off the knurling and creates an issue with the bar spinning.  The Olympic Weightlifting bars are meant to spin for an easier turnover into the snatch and clean, otherwise all the torque will go through your wrist and elbow. This is also one reason why Kettlebell snatches and cleans are bit controversial. And the fact if done wrong, which many do, can cause massive bruising on your wrist/forearm or worse can break something. But the benefits vs. rewards of this movement is for another day.

I currently do not have a video of a spinning bar but will upload one tomorrow.

Awareness:

The gym we workout of, is also a commercial gym so we encounter some interesting situations.

Like so:

This past Saturday we had a bit of an issue with a guy doing cable flys right in front of the platform. The issue wasn’t that he decided to use the cable machine right in front of the platform, despite the other 2 that were completely open, it was that he didn’t let the guys work in during his rest. There was no rest for this guy, his whole workout was based on a cable fly machine???

Hopefully the machine will eventually retaliate 🙂

Here is a Re-neactment of the incident, EXCLUDING Reid’s over dramatic acting. Despite the video antics we try not to interrupt the other members as much as possible.