“It never gets easier, you just get stronger. The stronger you get the more you’re rewarded with hard work,” says Max Aita, Head Coach at Juggernaut Training Systems.
That’s arguably one of the most honest ways to describe weightlifting and strength sports in general. This is especially true with weightlifting, as this is a sport that takes years to master and is an ongoing project of self-improvement. Max Aita does a phenomenal job at breaking down the snatch for a beginning weightlifter, which in this case is BarBend contributor Meg Gallagher (Meg Squats).
Meg is a competitive powerlifter, so seeing Aita walk her through snatch progressions as a beginner was really interesting. Movements in both sports require and have different mechanics. This aspect requires extra focus from multi-sport athletes, because they’ll have to work extra on things like starting position differences.
One of the first progressions Aita highlights and focuses on with Meg is how she makes contact with the bar and her hip. Aita talks about how most beginners either don’t make enough contact with the bar and hip, or when they do they push the bar away from them. He has Meg go through multiple sets and reps of focusing on bar contact with upward compulsion.
One of the biggest takeaways of the video was at the very beginning when Meg and Aita talk about weightlifting beginners and new gyms.
When we asked Meg what the biggest lesson was she took away from working with Aita, she said, “On a non-technical level, I think the biggest thing that Max taught me was the importance of working with a talented coach early on. If you have the opportunity to be around greatness, then take advantage of it.”
Meg also added to the importance of the above statement by saying, “No lifter should ever feel like they’re not worthy of great coaching, or wait until they pass some kind of threshold before asking questions.”
A sport like weightlifting can be intimidating to start, especially for lifters with no previous experience. Aita touches on this point in the video and states, “Everyone started at some point where they didn’t know how to do it – no matter who they are. Being around good athletes and coaches is great because they can often really concisely provide laid out tips. They know so much they can convey information to you in a really small one or two words that can make a huge difference.”
For weightlifting athletes who are interested in taking the next step in their training and are thinking about competing, then Juggernaut also made new video titled, “Guide to Your First Weightlifting Meet.”
This video is tremendously helpful in giving you a step by step guide to finding and prepping for your first meet. Aita talks about how a meet is a great way to track how far your training has come.
Juggernaut’s new weightlifting videos are great tools for understanding what it takes and what to expect when first starting out this sport. Possibly the biggest takeaway is to not let intimidation stop you.
Feature image from Juggernaut Training Systems YouTube channel.