"Pause"itive Gains

Being explosive is a necessity in weightlifting. The unfortunate aspect of training for Olympic Weightlifting, however, is that often the simple foundational factor of strength is forgotten. Everyone focuses on form and power (which are also a necessity), how to move quickly, open the hips explosively and move the bar overhead in a smooth motion. That’s all great, but your form isn’t going to make up for the fact that you’re a weak A$$ Biotch!

So how do we become stronger?! Strength training... duh! "But this is Olympic Weightlifting." 100% true... so lets incorporate a technique that will still build on the lifts, but make gains on, gains on, gains!

PAUSE REPS!

Pause repetitions are a tried-and-true method of building muscle and strength and should be a staple in any training program. Pause reps are the opposite of ballistic or explosive training. Rather than seeking to take advantage of speed or the elastic components of our muscles, pause reps force you to face your lifts with strength and strength alone.

Pausing during any portion of the rep ensures the elastic energy has dissipated while simultaneously breaking your momentum. When completing pause reps, there is no stored energy to take advantage of, no kinetic energy to assist in lifting the weight. When you pause, it takes pure muscle to produce the force you need. No cheating... just pure strength.

Here is a video of a pause snatch to give you an idea of how this looks for Olympic weightlifting.

Some people go overboard with the pause, stopping for a full two or three seconds between reps. There is certainly some utility to this approach, but doesn't need to be used for Olympic Weightlifting. That's more of a powerlifting technique. That being said, you only need a small pause to get the advantages pausing provides. Just long enough (Say Pause in your head... that's long enough) that you know your momentum is broken and you are starting from a halted position. If you pause between 1-2 seconds, I am telling you now... getting the weight to move again is going to suck! However, this is how you know you’re doing it right.

Utilizing a pausing phase into your lift is the cornerstone of simplicity. We know the obvious benefit (strength) it offers, but there’s another reason I particularly like pause reps: pausing forces you to lower your weight to a load you can handle, thus ensuring strength AND technique are accomplished in unison. I’m a huge advocate of simplicity in my training. Hence, my love for pause reps. Simple... straightforward... productive... and honest.

It’s easy enough to slap on some shoes and grind through a set of heavy cleans. When you have to mindfully pause at the knees without releasing any of your tension and then initiate pull entirely with pure strength, then there’s not a lot of room for interpretation. You can lift the weight or you can’t. Your technique tricks (speed/momentum) won’t help you.

If you want to get strong, take a second and learn to pause.

Pausing forces you to pay attention to your body positioning and the muscles you're activating to lift the weight. This essentially allows you to focus more on your form. Something that is not as easy at full speed.

One of my favorite ways to use pause rep is during my warm-up while using lighter weights, often just the bar. My reason is that it sets the tone for my entire workout. Instead of thinking about everything else going on in my head (upright back, hips move in unison with knees, lats pulling in the bar), I can focus and zero in on my positioning and mind muscle connection.

Another way I use pause reps is within my prescribed workout. This to me is the simplest way to ensure I build some strength, but also work on technique and positioning. On days that are prescribed around 50-65%, I will use pause reps in the clean, jerk, snatch, squat, deadlift etc. I specifically use pause reps at this time as I am using lower weights (we stated that is a must in the text earlier), as well as, the purpose within a training program to work at weights within these percentages is to focus on technique and positioning. I can accomplish strength gains as well if I incorporate pause reps here.


The pauses can also give you a chance to see if you're performing some common mistakes within your lifts, such as having your knees collapse inward or coming too far forward onto your toes.When you slow down the movement and use the pause to stop momentum, you will occasionally witness the imbalances within your snatch, squat, clean etc. and be able to better structure your workouts to work on the weaknesses.

So do you want gains?

Implement Pause Reps in your training and see your strength and performance sky rocket!

Found this helpful? Want to know how to exactly implement pauses in any of the Olympic lifts? Want to hear about a specific topic? Leave a comment below or send me an email! 

Until next week...

Lift it overhead, slam it to the ground and repeat! Practice leads to progression... progression to Gold!