becoming a state champ powerlifter

[youngguns]

weight lifting season starts around christmas time for florida highschools. ive been training in the off season this year to try and actually get somewhere with the weightlifting team (i want one of them damn rings!!!) my bench press is 245, and my clean and jerk is 200 (the 2 lifts that are used in highschool weightlifting season). i weigh anywhere from 178-181 lbs (depending on my water weight at the time). i can probably cut down to 170, or 165... maybe. ive gotten pretty lean as it is. im thinking of reading up some more on the westide philosophy to improve my bench, but i what i was wondering is what would be best to help improve my clean and jerk? i have the most trouble at the initial take off. my take off is usually very slow. any help would be appreciated, ill try and get some video's of my bench form, and clean and jerk form up later. thanks.

[youngguns]

video of my clean and jerk is up in the picture and video section of the forums.

[Tom Mutaffis]

Technique plays a huge part in the clean and jerk... I would watch as much video as you can on youtube of trained olympic lifters (if you do not have access to a quality coach). Add in explosive exercises like high pulls, jump squats, speed deadlifts (can do deficit deadlifts if you are having trouble with the bottom end), etc.

For your bench press there are plenty of things that you can do for that, and again technique may be able to provide you with a 5-10% increase in that lift.

If you can post your videos here and I'll take a look to see if there is anything obvious... basic principals: work hard, work smart, don't overtrain, use good form, eat a quality diet with good protein supplements, and get as much rest as possible for recovery.

[Eric Downey]

Go to Elitefts.com. There you'll find Travis Mash. World Champion Powerlifter and Oly lifter. A year or to ago he applied the westside training methods to his and his girl friends oly lifting with great success. He has a website out there to. As far as speed off the floor I'd try doing some speed pulls with bands or chains which ever you have around. Bands are cheaper and easier to carry around.