The Triple Extension vs. The flat-footed/catapult

[Guest guest]

Coaching is a noble profession and one that comes with great responsibility. The

athletes place their careers and well-being in our hands and trust that we will

provide them with the best opportunities to succeed. Providing such

opportunities is largely based upon the coaches' abilities and desires to study

and apply the scientific research behind Olympic Weightlifting. Such material

is readily available in this age of information. Yet, some coaches have chosen

to snub their noses at what has been proven through the scientific method and

long-term results. Rather, they have opted for unproven, wrong, or simply made

up methods. This is shameful behavior, and in my opinion, some of the most

irresponsible acts any coach could perpetrate on his or her athlete.

Many others and I have dedicated our lives to coaching the Snatch and Clean and

Jerk. It is not just what we do, it is who and what we are as people. SO LET IT

BE KNOWN, we will defend the sanctity of these movements with great zeal against

all those who try and dishonor their existence. Don McCauley is one of those

people!

These are quotes from a seminar given by USA Weightlifting coach Don McCauley at

Athletes Arena in July 2009. He is giving his rendition of a flat-footed pull

style he termed " the catapult. " Mr. McCauley states this information as fact:

" Today, we don't triple extend with force "

" (The feet) are not pushing through the bar. A lot of people still do, but they

are wrong "

" Triple extension just wastes time because you have to get going back down "

" If you triple extend or do any fast lifting with heavy weight, that does not

add speed to your athlete as far as calf quickness. You would be much better off

having them push a sled or a heavy bag. That's going to give them quickness "

" (Lifters from the past) had huge thighs because they did a lot of front squats

and things like that. If you look at lifters today, there is less thigh

development and there is more (glute) development because they are doing this

thing (the " catapult " technique) all the time and they have come around to the

thought that we don't need so much quadricep because (in the second pull) we are

not truly knee extending hard like a jumper might…we are only going to about 95%

of knee extension and then we are (getting under the bar)…so we need the

(glutes/hips) so we built back here (the glutes/hips) a lot more "

" Keep your heels on the floor, there is no need to leave the floor at all so we

don't need triple extension because we have to go back down. Because if we

triple extend, that's three more inches we have to go to beat the bar back

down…there is no point and we have wasted energy pushing the bar and frankly,

you haven't relatively changed anything, the bar is higher and you are higher so

you have gained nothing. What you want is the bar higher and you lower "

" Some countries don't shrug at all anymore, they just get up and pull they don't

bother with (the traps) at all "

" If you teach kids that are not getting individual attention to triple

extend…you've got them landing forward, that's not good. (Because the pressure

is on the front part of the foot and the knee) but if you ( " catapult " ) you will

catch the weight on the full foot or even through the heel not much (bad) can

happen "

" In Olympic lifting you don't have to leave the floor with your heels at all to

do it, so there is no reason to jump "

" Do most sports (other than Weightlifting) have more of a reason to triple

extend? Yes. But I would say, to do these lifts correctly, if you have them in

your program, get away from the thought of triple extension and get the

explosive triple extension from something else. "

" The hip is the strongest muscle in the body…but it is behind you and your brain

doesn't know how to use it "

" The hips in this pull (catapult) (and most sports) do everything and all the

other muscles follow. The only little difference is in pure sprinting because

the quads have to leave it because you have such rip up, kind of uh flexion and

then extension and stuff like that. And that's all good and that's why sprinters

should do a lot of sprinting and practice that. Don't think that (triple

extension) is going to give sprinters more speed in their sprint. The power

clean (using the Catapult) will help them but not that push (triple extension) " .

That's not going to help their calves get faster, it cant, its too heavy "

These are some highlights of a post Mr. McCauley made to me on GoHeavy.com

" March 24th, 2010 & #8243; further explaining his `catapult " technique

" Triple extension is caused in much of Olympic weightlifting by the hip

extension literally lifting the feet into a plantar flexed position, without

much or any help from the calves and triple extension is often done simply for

the lifter to move his feet to a different catch position rather than add to the

force driving the bar "

" Catapulting has always been simply a word I used to describe the greater role

of hip extension in the lift and the lesser role of forceful knee extension and

plantar flexion in the lifts (what American coaches call jumping or driving

through the balls of the feet) "

" We, as a group, did not interpret the information coming out of Europe in the

'70's, '80's correctly. Those few coaches that were around were buried by a lot

of guys who had it set (incredibly stubbornly) in their minds that this was

simply a forceful triple extending, jumping motion "

All the above statements are full of blather and scientific inaccuracies. The

fact is, flat-footed pulling or the " catapult " has no empirical or scientific

support, whereas finishing with triple extension does. However, Mr. McCauley is

trying to sell the " catapult " as the technique that the great lifters of today

are performing and it is triple extension that is the cause of poor lifting in

this country. Roman, Garhammer, Siff, Enoka, Zatsiorsky, Verkhoshansky and many

other scientists both past and present have analyzed and continue to analyze

lifting technique only to come to the same conclusion:

" The explosion is executed by the simultaneous action of the muscles of the legs

and torso… From this position, the athlete extends his legs and torso and rises

up onto his toes and…the shoulders are elevated…Such a position is the most

advantageous condition for maximal utilization of the participating muscle

groups and the subsequent transfer to the barbell upward…This description of

good pulling technique appears to be optimal " (Roman and Shakirzyanov 4-7). This

description coincides with all of the other valid scientific research that has

been done on Olympic Weightlifting.

Instead of following the work of the world's greatest Weightlifting minds, Mr.

McCauley expects us to throw out 50 years of proven research and exceptional

Weightlifting results and listen to him. A man by his own admission, who has no

formal science background and bases this catapult/flat-footed technique entirely

upon opinion and limited observation, not on actual biomechanical studies. In

fact the technique Mr. McCauley describes is biomechanically impossible to

perform as explained. One cannot de-emphasize leg extension and overemphasize

hip extension and create a vertical bar path because this action " forms

ineffective habits in the explosion. " (Livanov and Falameyev 26). This is a

simple vector addition problem. If two forces from different directions and of

different magnitudes converge, the resultant vector will be influenced to a

larger extent by the force with the greatest magnitude, which in this case would

be the force created by the hips in the horizontal plane. Excessive horizontal

bar displacement is exactly the opposite of what is desired.

Interestingly, when you read research done by the former Soviet Union on the

pull in Weightlifting there is no mention of the hip as a specific force

producer. The description used to describe the " explosion " of the second pull is

that it " is executed by the simultaneous action of the muscles of the legs and

torso " (Roman and Shakirzyanov 4).

The reason for this is effective summation of force production is not about any

one particular part of the kinetic chain; it is the coordinated effort of the

ENTIRE kinetic chain, which produces optimal technique and force production.

Force applied to the bar during the lift is proportionately related to the sum

of ALL joint torques, not just the torque at the hip.

Mr. McCauley states that rising onto the toes at all during the second pull is a

display of poor technique and negatively affects the outcome of the lift. This

opinion cannot be substantiated by ANY of the biomechanical research done in

Weightlifting past or present. It is true that rising onto the toes may

negatively affect the outcome of a lift but only when done subsequent to full

hip and knee extension! When a lifter produces a well-timed powerful pull,

he/she does not have to make any deliberate effort to plantar-flex or remain

flat-footed. The lifter will involuntarily produce an action, which

instinctually suits his/her needs. In some cases this will result in marked

plantar-flexion, in other cases far less. However, whether or not we observe

heel rising, the mechanical action of the lifter/barbell complex remains

unchanged. This is why relying solely on observation will not always tell the

whole story.

There are scientists who have laboriously dedicated their lives to understanding

the intricacies of the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. The research started with the

men who built the Soviet Weightlifting program such as Roman, Lelikov, Medvedev,

Povetkin, Treskov, Shakirzyanov, Zhekov, Martyanov, Popov, Verkhoshansky, and

Lukashev. It has continued with the likes of Garhammer, Enoka, Gourgoulis,

Isaka, Chiu, and many others. All of these scientists have had similar findings

in their biomechanical research in Olympic Weightlifting technique, and

specifically with " triple extension. " DON MCCAULEY'S " CATAPULT " TECHNIQUE IS IN

DIRECT OPPOSITION OF THE FINDINGS OF ALL OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED SCIENTISTS! He

even boasts on his website that he is " an opponent of the thought that the

triple extension is all-powerful. " The supremacy of the triple extension IS NOT

a thought; it is FACT! The mere existence of this quote is further proof of his

choice to ignore years of research and scientific application.

It is NOT true that we " misinterpreted " the information that came out of Europe.

Fifty years of science and meet results tell us that the triple extension is

definitely NOT a " waste of time. " The " catapult style " is NOT being performed

by " many of the top lifters. Mr. McCauley has created these stories out of his

own imagination and continues to pass them off as fact.

I vigorously tried to find just ONE peer reviewed biomechanical study that would

support Mr. McCauley's statements. I was unsuccessful. I vigorously tried to

find video evidence of a top athlete who performs this " catapult " style. Again,

I was unsuccessful. I challenge Don McCauley, or anybody else, to provide

biomechanical evidence that the " catapult " approach is the optimal technique for

lifting a barbell. THAT IS WHAT I SEEK, NOT SIMPLY OPINIONS OR PREFERENCES!

I, on the other hand, DO provide documented evidence for my statements. I have

included just a fraction of the peer-reviewed scientific literature available on

the biomechanics of the Snatch and Clean and Jerk.

Blagoy Blagoev said it best when Mel asked him about the flatfooted pull:

" I do have only one problem with the flatfooted pull. As they say, " the

flat-footed pull will give you flat-footed results " . We certainly don't want to

get that. We do know for a fact that the lifters are trying their best to get to

fully extended position before get under the bar. I do not see it happening by

staying on your heels. Another small detail - if you go to an extended position

of your legs (on your toes), even before you start pulling with the arms to

direct the bar towards the final fixed position, you will gain 6-9 cm in height.

In my opinion, at a max lift, this will give you the winning edge. Try a

vertical jump off your heels!!! "

Mel, I hope your up there still giving hell!

Waxman

Waxman's Gym

Waxmansgym.com