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Dan John reviews Glenn Pendlay’s Olympic Lifting DVD
Glenn Pendlay’s Olympic Lifting Techniques DVD shocked me quite early. Honestly, I thought I would be sitting and going “well, yes, of course.” Right away, he was emphasizing methods that were counter to nearly everything I have ever learned. I would be sinful if I didn’t mention that I also saw a “Juan Diego” shirt in the first pan through and that simply made me smile.
I really enjoyed how Glenn emphasized that an elite lifter should do this, but the beginner needs to “that.” I was happy to hear that many of my little tricks with youth were “okay” as my audience (teen athletes and really most people I deal with in training) are going to use the Olympic lifts as tools to other goals.
Glenn teaches moving immediately into the Squat Snatch and I applaud this vigorously. I found the same issues with teaching football skills and throwing techniques: the longer you wait to teach the athlete the “full” movement, the harder it will be to teach those early successful, but mediocre, movements. Discus throwers become addicted to standing throwers while football players catch the ball one way in a flag football game and their arms “magically” shrink in a real game. O lifters who learn the power variations first tend to love to stay with them long after they have any value. I was so happy to hear “Stay on your heels,” by the way.
It was nice to see Jon North’s consistent excellent technique throughout the DVD series. Glenn would talk and Jon would lift and the combination keeps one watching. “Learn by doing” DVDs need an excellent technician to get the idea of what we are trying to accomplish. I love Joe Q. Public, but it is hard to learn much watching those beginner movements.
There is an excellent summary towards the end of the snatch DVD where the review of all the points really gets to the point. I actually “feel better” about my little method of teaching the lifts watching this as it is basically the same approach. I really enjoyed the hammering on the word “consistency,” too.
The Clean and Jerk DVD was nice as I printed out the slides (a pdf file on the first DVD) and I could “follow along” and watch for the subtle coaching clues). I do have to add that it was fun seeing a lot of familiar faces in the group. I need to keep my weekends more open so I can attend these kinds of things and enjoy the fun.
Excellent DVD overall. I was very impressed by the simple approach and look forward to meeting Glenn in person one day.
