Zawieja-Koch, M. (2005). Weightlifting in Training for Athletics - Part I. New Studies in Athletics, 20, 7-23.
Top performance in most disciplines in athletics requires the athlete to optimise his/her strength capacity. The same, of course, is true in the sport of weightlifting. There, the relatively closed movements and controlable environment that characterise the sport facilitate the study of both biomechancs and training principles and thus, the science of the sport is quite advanced. As one result, successful weightlifters recognise the importance of correct technical execution of all movements and focus on this aspect in their training. In this artcle, the author, an Olympic medallist in weightlifting who now coaches, seeks to make the connection between the contemporary form of training in weightlifting and athletics, particularly in the area of general strength development. Making use of his knowledge and experience, he identifies the application of specific exercises and their variations as used by weightlifters to the general strength requirements of the event groups, and even specific events in athletics. He provides detailed explanations of the exercises athletes should use in their strength training, including description of the movement, objectives, didactics, fault identification and suggestions for correction. Because of its length and the number of illustrations, this article is presented in two parts, with Part II appearing in
Zawieja-Koch, M. (2005). Weightlifting in Training for Athletics - Part II. New Studies in Athletics, 20, 37-43,
where the author discusses the application of key training principles and the planning of the training programme.
