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Q. I am very motivated for getting fit and healthy and I'm open to any methods that will get me there fast. I understand that Olympic-style lifting is the way to go, but I want to be assured that this type of lifting is the "real deal" and not a fad. Is it here to stay?
A. As a natural method to measuring strength and power, the lifting of weights was practiced in the ancient Greek and Egyptian societies. Lifting weights became an accepted sport in the first Modern Olympic Games, in 1896, Athens, and inherited the name Olympic Weightlifting. The first World Championships in this sport, however, was held five years earlier on March 28th, 1891, in England. Modern Olympic Weightlifting comprises of two competitive lifts: The Snatch, and the Clean and Jerk. The practice of these two lifts outside of the Olympic Games, however, is referred to as "weightlifting" (one word), or Olympic-style weightlifting. The fact that Olympic-style weightlifting spans three centuries (1891 through the 20th Century and into the 21st Century) makes it the most researched and well-understood strength-training activity. It is, as you inquired, the real deal.
In the 1950s and 1960s the popularity of Bodybuilding -- the era of big muscles, the birth of the physique culture -- changed the style of lifting weights to what is commonly seen and replicated in most gyms today: Extensive use of exercise machines, higher repetitions per exercise, excessive focus on training body parts separately (as oppose to the whole body), and the trade-off of function for mostly form.
Bodybuilding-style training began overshadowing Olympic-style weightlifting. In fact, bodybuilding principles still have a prominent grip on many of today's gym practices, health-club programs, magazine articles, and physical therapy prescriptions. Although one of many good ways to train, bodybuilding falls short of delivering the kind of functional qualities achieved through Olympic-style weightlifting.
Olympic-style weightlifting not only provides numerous benefits (see previous "ask the expert" question on weightlifting), it is also statistically safer than most popular sports, having among the fewest injuries per participation hour. In fact, fewer injuries occur with weightlifting than regular weight training. This is perhaps due to the fact that participants of Olympic-style weightlifting typically spend a lot of time learning and acquiring technique, and that, without technique, lifting large weight is simply not possible. The nature of Olympic-style Weightlifting is that, if you don't have good technique, you generally can't lift a heavy enough weight to cause injury. There are other factors that contribute to the safety of Olympic-style weightlifting, such as the option to drop the weight if the technique is not perfect, and the specialized bar is made specifically for Olympic-style weightlifting. No single style of training should make up an entire fitness program, but because of the functional benefits and the safety of Olympic-style weightlifting, it is, without argument, here to stay. — FIT Staff
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