New Weightlifting Sessions for Teens
Teens Barbell Club
We are starting Barbell sessions for Teens on Thursdays at 5:30pm.
First class will be on Oct 12th! The classes are in a group setting. We are excited to announce that Skip Callard will be assisting the Teens sessions.
What does Olympic lifting for Teens mean?
It is called Olympic Lifting because the moves used in the barbell club are to Olympic lifting standard. According to statistics weightlifting is one of the safest sports. A lot of our children play football and rugby which are contact-sports and therefor the injury rate is high. In our weightlifting sessions we work in small groups and focus on technique and mechanics before we lift. Our teens are only allowed to load if their technique is 100%.
Olympic weightlifting has got many benefits for Teens:
- it has a positive effect on your cardiovascular system. Why? The distance the bar needs to move in a clean and jerk is from ground all the way overhead which is like sprinting 200m. So simply said they will get not just stronger but also fitter.
- it will make the body move as one. Our bodies are designed to move as one. Bringing a bar from ground to overhead involves every muscle in your body and helps the neurologic system to make your body work as we are designed to do. Why is this important? When your body works as one your neurologic system knows how to activate all muscles and therefor you will move better in anything you do in your daily life.
- it is a sport where its hard to overtrain. Bringing a bar from floor to overhead can be done only in so many reps.
- we train power (power= strength x speed) we use power in many aspects of our life in- and outside the gym and it will make us stronger, fitter, faster and healthier people.
- olympic lifting requires an enormous amount of dynamic and static flexibility. Flexibility prevents us from injuries in our daily life.
- olympic lifting improves body composition; Studies have shown that after 8 weeks of training the average body fat has decreased by 6% and the average lean body weight has increased by 4%. As a bonus people on average lowered their resting heart rate by 8% and decreased their systolic blood pressure by 4%,