50% Max Olympic lifts

Is there any benefit to doing power cleans or push press with 50% of max weight or is it better to keep the lifts above 80% of max?

Yes there is a benefit. You would do Olympic Lifts with light weight to concentrate on power and explosion. Actually, it would be more beneficial to up the intensity to about 60-65% though.

No, there is little benefit for the skilled lifter.

Never mind.

No, there is little benefit for the skilled lifter.

I should have clarified, this would be in regards to team sport athletes specifically football and basketball, not elite Olympic lifters. I thought power was developed in the 50-70% max range.

No. Power endurance with more reps, yes.

I respect your opinion but I think Christian Thibadeau and Louie Simmons may disagree. Also, the book, Supertraining, talks about RFD work being done in the 50-70% range.

I think this is referring to limit strength exercises like squats and deads. Power cleans are by nature an RFD exercise even when done maximally since speed this is necessary to complete the lift. A 90% pc may be 50% of your deadlift or even lower. A 50% pc would be very light, my form is horrible but for me it would be abuot 25% max deadlift. You could probably use ballistic exercises in place of exercises this light if you felt it necessary to work in this range. Push press might be different.

Those figures they point in are for the movements in context. The olympic lifts are quite different in terms of power percentages. They are in the higher end. 70-85% ? Don’t quote me, but they are higher than the squat and bench.

I like bosco’s research and find cleans must be higher but squat jumps are in fact that %. As you get stronger so does the shift in my opinion but it’s very hard to say what is needed here. What are the goals?

Agreed. I think this is the most pertinent question.

Also, can someone please re-familiarize myself with what RFD means? Rate of Force Distribution?

According to Stone, peak power outputs in olympic lifts occur at higher than the percentages used to obtain peak power in the “strength lifts” such as squat, deadlift, bench, etc. It’s more of a range of 75-90% for the olympic lifts because you simply can’t perform a heavy olympic lift slowly.

That is correct.