Olympic lifter start position

**Ericw** · 01-22-2021, 03:58 PM

It seems that competitive Olympic lifters start with the hips quite a bit lower than what we advocate here. Is there a rationale for this or is it part of the dogma?

I would think that this position would drive the bar forward of midfoot and cannot come up with a logical explanation other than it’s easier to get under the bar with a more vertical back angle.

**m s** · 01-23-2021, 01:38 AM

The bar is placed ahead of mid foot on purpose. The idea is that at the start of the 2nd pull (when bar passes knees), the lifter is more over the bar and in a better position to accelerate the bar and then explode. This makes the pull to be considerably more complex by requiring the bar to be manipulated horizontally, instead of just pulling in a straight line.

Rip has argued that regardless of how the pulling is done, the bar ends up in the same place at the power position. And thus, pulling with the bar forward and hips down is less efficient and difficult to learn as well as not offering any significant dvantages.

Part of the low hips thing is not just due to the bar being too forward, but from the lifter lowering their hips beyond what the bar position dictates. You'll see this when their hips shoot up off the floor.

**Jonathon Sullivan** · 01-23-2021, 11:19 AM

This has been discussed extensively on the site. Search function will yield more material than you can handle. It boils down to this: At the instant the bar leaves the floor for any nontrivial amount of weight for ANY pull, you WILL be in a hips-high, back relatively horizontal, arms back, shoulders-in-front-of-the-bar deadlift position, BECAUSE PHYSICS. You can put yourself in this position before the pull, or you can let the bar put you in the position after wiggling your ass around for a while. We hold that the former is more efficient and probably more safe. The actual data on this issue is mixed, and has also been reviewed here and elsewhere.

Also, in the aforementioned materials you will find multiple cited examples of elite weightlifters who do NOT start with the hips low and twerky.

**Ericw** · 01-23-2021, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by Jonathon Sullivan

It boils down to this: At the instant the bar leaves the floor for any nontrivial amount of weight for ANY pull, you WILL be in a hips-high, back relatively horizontal, arms back, shoulders-in-front-of-the-bar deadlift position, BECAUSE PHYSICS. You can put yourself in this position before the pull, or you can let the bar put you in the position after wiggling your ass around for a while.

This is the exact argument I was trying to make while, apparently, simultaneously insulting religion.

The USAW shall not be questioned, I guess.