A lot of athletes from the "mainstream" sports such as soccer, rugby, tennis or track and field,
have time and again resorted to Weightlifting movements.
Often, a lot of talk goes around in the very many circles in these sport communities,
involving the "hidden potential" in such movements.
The word that weightlifting movements such as Snatch, Clean and the Jerk are great to build "power" and "speed",
can be heard coming out of the mouths of various top coaches in these sports.
If this nonsense stopped just at that I would not be writing this post.
But when was the last time in the past, that such nonsensical gossip also did not result in further nonsense decisions and actions?
Never.
And thus, to get such "power and speed", these people started to incorporate some of these movements in their training program".
Not just that, they even came up with a name for such periods when they would incorporate these movements.
Periods, especially after the "season" for their main sport or craft is over ...
"Off-season training"
What a joke.
What childishness.
~~~
You must think me mad for saying these things.
And yes, I will totally understand why to the one living in the world today, amidst that which you label as "society", such words will appear nonsense.
Because your "world" and your "society" and most things that come out of it, appear total nonsense to me.
And after all, in a world that eats, sleeps in, lives and breathes in layer after layer of lies, gimmicks and cheap tricks,
one who is able to see through the real madness, move away from it,
and then utter anything with even the hint of truth or reality will be seen as a Madman.
There is no doubt.
~~~
The world of sports today is all about searching outside.
Be it the search for tips and tricks or that secret sauce that the competition has got their hands on.
No one bothers to be thorough in their search inside or with their experimentation with whatever they have got.
And as such, every single sport has become less about the sport itself,
and more about "dipping into" other sports or practices to see what can be "borrowed" or "learned" from it.
The rationale is something along the lines of "Hey, let's see what has been already done and see if we can use it"
And thus one spends their entire career searching and looking, never ever stopping to wonder "What if I do not need any of that?"
~~~
So what is the reality that is eclipsed by all this madness of "dipping into" other sports with the hope to borrow certain traits?
And why such a chase or search is fruitless and at its very best will, yield nothing but mediocrity?
It is this ...
A sport or practice has nothing to give to anyone.
The practice of Olympic Weightlifting is an art itself, it is innocent and exists on its own, independent of your desire to be strong, powerful or fast.
As such, it cannot "give" anything to anyone.
If you incorporate Snatch or Cleans or their variations to "get" something out of it,
you are not just missing the point of doing them, but missing the point of practicing any sport really.
Will a weightlifter practice golf to "improve" their precision or "boost" their patience?
Are you getting my point?
If you practice a sport or craft, then everything that you need to master it,
is already there, in that sport or craft.
You do not need to indulge yourself in 10 different sports to borrow 10 or 20 different traits that fancy you, your coach or your athletes.
If you like to swing the tennis racket, doing cleans will not make you fast and powerful in Tennis.
Or if you like hitting the soccer ball and then watch it dodge the goalkeeper and curve its way into the net,
you do not need to dedicate your off-season to hardcore Olympic lifting training.
~~~
Before you start making assumptions, no I am not purporting the idea of, say a master golfer,
never entering the weight room or stepping on the platform to throw some weights around.
Those things can be done and if done with proper intention, will help one balance out and even allow them to learn a thing or two about their own body.
But only if so is done without any hope or expectation of getting faster or more powerful in their own sport.
Yes, in the end, it is all about the intention of why one does anything really.
Approach something with innocence and a "beginners mind" and you will be surprised at what it has in store for you.
Approach the same thing with a plan or an "agenda" of getting strong, "becoming fast" or "boosting power",
and you will not just leave empty-handed but will be tormented with more hope and expectation in the long run.