 So if you're looking to improve power output or explosive ability for your shot putter, your discus, I think one of the best movements that you can do is the snatch. Now I'm a huge fan of the Olympic lifts as a whole. I've always incorporated those and I can tell you back in the day I had focused on the power lifts. We had focused on big squats, cleans and snatches and a bench press. And those were kind of the primary things I did in college. I had some pretty good numbers. I was never the biggest guy and I remember really making some great strength gains and of course my throwing distance did go increased. Now post-collegiate, what did I do? I switched my focus to being an Olympic lifting dominant program and I found that over the years, over the course of the last 10 years with Airtate Throws Nation and all of our training with athletes in different sports, what we found is that the same sort of principles that we incorporate a lot of Olympic movement, we tend to see those explosive gains and that really that quick response that we're looking for to be better athletes. Now in the throws, remember we have from the time the implements back, whether I'm throwing the shot or I'm throwing the discus, from the time it's back to the time it's out of my hand, the best in the world are about 1.25 seconds. A brand new throw is about 2 seconds. It's a very short period of time so it's a very short, quick, explosive movement and so the Olympic lifts are great movements. Now one of the key things is being patient, learning to develop your technique on those lifts. So what we'll do is we will focus on what we always call is a J-curve approach and I recommend this for you as well. Again, I've seen it personally myself and once I started focusing on this post-collegiately, I went from a PR of about 56 meters in college. I didn't have the biggest PR and then the next year out I went 58 meters and I went 63 meters. What was the big change? That was by the second year my shift to being really immersed in the Olympic lifts had made a huge difference. I had also switched up from back squats to front squats because in my opinion that has been one of the core principles to hold a better, truer power position in the throws. Now if you look at that, we tend to be a little bit more upright, we're on the angle, we're not bent over like a back squat. So we've been able to see athletes at all levels from junior Olympic level to advanced pro level where we've had guys go over 65 meters in the discus, over 21 meters in the shot put and we always make this shift to the front squat Olympic combo because when you catch it, you're power clean, you're full clean, you're snatch, you're more aligned like you would be in a front squat. Now if you look at real Olympic lifters, their mobility at the ankle and hip is out of this world. These guys can get their hips well below the knees, the knees push forward, the upper body's up next to them, they have great positions and a lot of these guys are just phenomenally explosive. The speed in which they're going to pull and the velocity and the force, right, the watt output from that second pull in both lifts is off the charts. It far exceeds the bench press, the squat or the deadlift. So the watt output has to be much higher to move the bar to the shoulder at a heavy weight or overhead. So it's a very easy way to add quality, strength and power. Give your time and develop technique. That's the most important thing. A good friend of mine is an international coach with USA Weightlifting. He's coached on international teams and he was in charge of a high school program for many, many years. And what they would do every year is spend about eight weeks on PVC pipes, training the movement, quality, quality, quality. This is kind of hard for a lot of young athletes to realize that you are going to see that, you know, to take that J curve again, where you're, you're working slow, working slow, and then everything takes off. So you got to put in that time. If you learn the technique, you won't have any issues. You got to learn how to vacate the bar. That's a really simple technique as well that you want to understand. So if you're looking to add more power, because we get a lot of these questions that are asked, Hey, how do I add more power? How do I get more explosive? We've done this over the years with all of our athletes. We also force our athletes always to maintain and they're working at lighter weights as their technique develops. So we're working on all the deficiencies in their strength levels. And I think that's another great thing about Olympic lifts. They really kind of show you real quick. If you have flexibility issues and if you have strength deficiencies, if you can't get into the hole on a clean where you can catch and drop comfortably, you typically are going to have something that's, that's weak and it's compensatory, right? Your body inherently knows how to avoid stress. So it's not going to drop and get into a position. If your shoulders are going to round, the bar is going to fall up. You have to be able to stay straight on the catch to drive the elbows through and catch the bar. So these are things that really make a big difference. So these are just some kind of food for thought items that we get a lot of questions. How are you going to improve your strength? This is how you're going to improve your explosive strength. Speed and power is absolutely critical, right? That explosive ability and nothing's going to train that more because when you start to lift a heavy weight, you're not going to be able to get it up to your shoulders or over your head. If you're moving it slow, you're going to have to move it fast. And one of the other things that I love about Olympic lifts, it's sequential, just like throwing the shot or the disc. You have to understand how to engage, right? The hamstrings, the knees, the hips, you come through. When you pull off the ground, you've got to stay engaged tight. You've got to drive the hips up and get everything into extension. And then you'll be able to pull the arms. If you activate the upper body too soon, you actually make the weight heavier and you slow it down. Sound familiar? Well, if it doesn't, that's how the throw works. If you initiate the upper body too early in any of your throws, you're going to have problems, you're going to decelerate. And remember, speed is the big key. You're strong and you're fast. You're going to be able to move the implement fast. If you have any moments of hesitation in your throw, you're going to slow down and you're not going to throw as far. Big distances equal faster athletes through the circle and more efficient. And the Olympic lifts really parallel that quite a bit. So if you're looking to add more speed and power, try adding the Olympic lifts. Hopefully some of the suggestions here help make a big difference. And I can tell you firsthand from myself as an athlete back in the day competing and the hundreds of athletes I've coached personally, the Olympic lifts have been the game changer. OK, guys, thanks so much and we'll see you in the next video.