Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Glenn Pendlay - Olympic Weightlifting Techniques

 If you are like me, a dabbler in the Olympic lifts, you are always looking for good DVDs for instruction. You've already bought a bunch of training hall videos from Ironmind and those were, of course, awesome. You've bought some books on the subject. You've had a little instruction from capable competitors and maybe even a coach here and here. Maybe you were like me and had a father who was an OLer, but you got sick of doing endless lifts with a broomstick.... In any case, you needed a little more - something that blended excellent modeling, explanation, and hands-on instruction with someone who wasn't already a world-class athlete. Well, here's a  DVD for you - Dave and Laree Draper have put out a new DVD that fits the bill: Glenn Pendlay - Olympic Weightlifting Techniques

Glenn has a humble way about him and his instruction is crisp and straight to the point. He details his teaching progressions for the Olympic lifts and gives clear rationale for their implementation. His emphasis on positions and transitions is something that as a lifter, I've given a lot of thought to, but could never really really "get" with the finer nuances of Olympic lifting - I think Glenn has really opened up some of those details to me with this work. The DVD will be an asset for both trainers and trainees alike who want to improve their snatches, cleans, and jerks, and, in my opinion, is a must-have for coaches who incorporate power-versions of the Olympic lifts for their athletes.


I'll be honest with you, generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of workshops that are recorded and then sold as DVDs. Often film and sound quality is poor and there is a lot of "filler time" showing the workshop participants. That is NOT the case with any of the workshop DVDs that Dave and Laree Draper have produced (all titles shown here). In Olympic Weightlifting Techniques you never get bored watching Glenn working with the participants. The two-hour set of two DVDs has an awesome balance of lessons from Glenn Pendlay, demonstrations by athlete Jon North, and short clips of hands-on instruction with trainees of varying levels of proficiency. I enjoyed all of the segments immensely both as a teacher and learner.

At $44.50, the DVD is a great deal. If you have any interest in improving your own Olympic weightlifting technique, or in seeing how one great coach coaches them, I don't think you'll go wrong.

Glenn Pendlay: Olympic Weightlifting Techniques
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13 comments:

  1. DreamingofArnoldJanuary 5, 2011 at 8:20 AM

    Thank you for the recommendation.

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  2. cmoneyJanuary 5, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    I like Pendlay a lot and plan to take Oly lifts more seriously in the future. Thanks for the recommendation.

    Unfortunately, I find Jon North very grating. Great lifter, no doubt, so I'll get over it, but I find him classless. I hate bar spikers in general.

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  3. Niel K. PatelJanuary 5, 2011 at 2:15 PM

    Boris, do you have any other recommendations on Olympic lifting resources? I find it much more difficult to discern what's genuinely useful on the sport.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BorisJanuary 5, 2011 at 9:13 PM

    OnMyWay,
    You're welcome - I hope you like it if you decide to get a copy.

    cmoney,
    I'm not a big fan of faux hawks, but he's a strong kid!

    Niel,
    Well, like I said in the post, I really enjoyed the training hall tapes from Ironmind - not all that helpful maybe in learning the movements, but for inspiration and models, they are great.

    Dreschler's book is a classic, but I don't know how useful it is to someone who's still learning the ropes.

    Tommy Kono's book is probably great - I've heard good things, but I don't have a copy.

    Greg Everett's book is probably great - again, I've heard good things, but I don't have a copy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2011 at 6:37 AM

    Hi, didn't know how else to contact you.

    I'm just wondering if you have any tips for someone with hypermobile knees. I'm afraid to "lock" out at the top and when coming out of the hole during squats, because I easily hyperextend the knees.

    Is it bad to leave a little forward bend in the knees at the top, i.e. just being just shy of a lock-out?

    ReplyDelete
  6. BorisJanuary 6, 2011 at 8:23 AM

    Hi Anonymous,

    There's fully extended, and then there's hyperextended. If you have imbalances that need to be worked out, then that should be addressed, but yeah - knees and hips should be extended, not hyperextended. I don't know if that helpful or not...

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  7. MattJanuary 6, 2011 at 5:29 PM

    Does he happen to go over front squat technique?

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  8. BorisJanuary 6, 2011 at 7:43 PM

    Well, kind of, but not really. There are some points that he makes that would help fo sho.

    We can always look at your technique together if you're interested and you can borrow my copy of the dvd too (assuming this is Matt M., right?).

    ReplyDelete
  9. MattJanuary 7, 2011 at 8:33 AM

    Yeah, it is Matt M.

    I would like to watch the dvd. I have been thinking about adding power cleans into my routine.

    If you would like to read Gregg Everett's book I could loan it to you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2011 at 9:12 AM

    I have a very easy time hyperextending unless I'm careful, and I can't easily recognize a lock-out, or extension, as per Rippetoe's "just stand up". Is a little flexion okay?

    Also, even after doing bodyweight squats (i.e. without bar), I wake up with tender patellae (or at least some sensation close to them) - is this a threat from my body I'm 1) doing it wrong or 2) should give up squats before the get-go?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  11. BorisJanuary 7, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    Hi Matt,
    Yes, I'd like to borrow it. I couldn't find any pics btw and I spent more time on Facebook last night than I have in a month!

    Anonymous,
    I think you need to get that checked out by a med professional first, then get a competent coach that can work with you, check your form and prescribe corrective work. JMO.

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  12. vic574mSeptember 13, 2011 at 8:49 PM

    Hello,

    I was wondering if there's any way to get this dvd still. Dave draper's site no longer carries it (confirmed by their customer svc rep) and nor will they ever.

    ReplyDelete
  13. BorisSeptember 13, 2011 at 10:05 PM

    Hi Vic,
    I wondered the same thing and was very disappointed to hear that it was no longer being carried through Dave's site.
    Apparently Glenn and his business partner will be re-releasing it at some point (from what I've heard), but that's all that I know.
    I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful. I think there are probably ways to reach Glenn online, but I have not spoken with him outside of a few interactions online via message boards. Facebook may be an option and a search for an email address might turn something up for you.

    Good luck - it is a great dvd and I hope you can find it.

    Boris

    ReplyDelete