Lester Ho, commonly known as “The Training Geek” in the bloggosphere, is a weightlifting coach out of Australia. In addition to coaching weightlifting, he is currently finishing up his PhD in Biomechanics of the snatch. Lester graciously took the time to answer a few weightlifting questions for me.

Interview:

Question 1: Tell us a little more about The Training Geek and your new gym South East Strength.

Lester Ho: The Training Geek is my blog which I started as I began my studies in Exercise Science. My interest in understanding the science behind exercise led me to starting this blog. Slowly, it was influenced by the areas of interest that I developed through my studies. When I decided to focus my studies on research and particularly the weightlifting movements, my focus for the Training Geek was to make it a source of information and knowledge based on experience and science for anyone who is keen on weightlifting. Hence the mantra “Bringing Weightlifting to All”.

South East Strength is my new gym set up together with my business partner, Mr Adam Lam who is a National-level equipped powerlifter. We met each other in one of my first weightlifting classes I ran at Cohesion Strength and Conditioning (a mixed implement gym which one of my good mates brought me into). We kept in touch regarding training and we decided to start a lifting club out of my own garage. Initially weightlifters, the club grew bigger and we decided to find a proper location to properly house the club and our lifters. There, we got more specialty equipment for strength sports (i.e. monolift, weightlifting bars and bumpers with change plates, competition bars etc.) to provide an environment for lifters to properly prepare for their lifts. Now we have a good bunch of lifters where we compete under the SES family in weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman.

Question 2: Generally speaking, do you have weekly setup you like to use with your weightlifting athletes? What might one of those weeks look like

Lester Ho: When an athlete first comes to me, I would spend about 2-4 weeks working on technical issues. So each session would involve a snatch movement or variation, a clean movement or variation, some pressing and finishing off with pulls (or deadlifts) or squats. Once their movement patterns are reestablished, then I will get them on a proper training cycle with the goal of hitting max or a comp at a certain date.

For those on the proper training cycle, I usually have a snatch day, a clean and jerk day, and a squat day for someone who typically trains three times a week. Either a variation or the classic lift is programmed followed by a pull and a squat. I find it important to have a good balance of pulls and squats within the week. Another critical aspect in my programming is that I encourage my lifters to spend the last bits of their sessions finishing off with trunk work or bodybuilding activities.

Question 3: The legs are the driving force behind weightlifting and allow the athlete to accelerate the bar until the extension. A common error I see is the focus being taken off of the leg drive and the athlete using more hips and lower back to drive the bar up. What are your thoughts on leg drive and the use of the hips in the lift?

Lester Ho: Very good question indeed. Yes. There has been a lot of emphasis on the use of hip extension especially in the second pull that have come up from watching the top lifters at their element. However, from my perspective, whether you should use more leg drive or use more hip extension is also dependent on your body segments and how you set yourself up for the second pull.

Weightlifting is a game of physics and levers. Understanding the levers in your body will help you determine if you should focus on using your legs more or you should focus on hip extension. Another misconception is that hip extension is critical by itself but most of the time, it needs to be accompanied with a shrug to ensure that the bar is directed as vertical as possible once it leaves the hips.

Question 4: Technique is very important in weightlifting. But, spending too much training time on technique at lighter weights may hinder an athlete’s ability to progress. What are some of the ways you incorporate technical changes while maintaining a base of heavy classic lifts

Lester Ho: Technical changes can be implemented if one has a good understanding of motor control and learning. Since the movement of the lift is a complex skill on its own, re-learning the lifts requires an approach based on motor control and development.

I always want to ensure quality of movement on heavier weights so if needed, I would actually enforce single repetitions so that the individual has a chance to gain feedback for each lift and ensure that the quality of movement is not compromised. Sometimes doing doubles or triples will not allow this to happen because the lifter would focus on getting the set completed instead of each repetition being the same.

Question 5: Some athletes feel that getting under the bar is one of the toughest parts of the lift. Do you have any specific drills or exercises that would help address this issue

Lester Ho: To me, getting under the bar is not an issue of being fast enough. Getting under the bar should be a reaction of the lifter realized that he has completed his second pull. Most of the time, the mistake made is that the lifter focuses so much on pulling the bar up to the extent of pulling with his arms, resulting in making it difficult to get under the bar due to the tension in the arms from the excessive pulling.

I would typically get the individual to focus on achieving the feeling of weightless-ness as that would ensure that the bar’s momentum is not disrupted through excessive pulling from the arms. I would correct this movement with the individual by doing straight-pulls with an emphasis on the shrug and not focusing on the height of the bar. Once the lifter can feel the adequate use of the shrug, then I will allow a bend in the elbows to keep the movement of the bar moving from the pull. If the individual does that by pulling with the arms, I would go back to the shrug again. I have found this to be effective in re-teaching the pull and ensuring that the bar moves due to momentum generated in the second pull and not because of further pulling from the arms. That way, getting under the bar will be a lot easier.

Question 6: If you had any advice for the novice weightlifter wanting to get better at the lifts, what would it be

Lester Ho: My very first piece of advice is to get a coach right from the start. Every rep done not to the right movement pattern is one rep that you have to undo. The earlier you can prevent a bad movement pattern from being developed, the easier it is to ensure good movement and begin training properly.

Second piece of advice would be to be patient with learning the lifts. It can be a frustrating process but if you have one lift that “clicks”, that’s all you need and you will be able to understand how to lift. Many novices rush in wanting to put more weight on the bar without even being confident of moving the empty bar appropriately and consistently. I always tell my guys that if you cant do what you want to do in the lifts with an empty bar, what makes you think you can do the same with a loaded bar?

 

Big thank you for John and the crew from Athletic Lab for this interview. I look forward to bringing everyone more information and knowledge regarding this wonderful sport of weightlifting. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me via my Facebook Page!