Voodoo Weightlifting

One of the most common mistakes I see in the Olympic lifts.

When 🇮🇸 would perform Sn**ches, during the pull I noticed she was off balance.

How did I determine this?

Watch her feet!

When the bar would approach her knee, her toes would come off the ground.

This is a sign that her weight was too far back on her heels, and that she was off balance.

I pointed this out to her and told her to think about keeping her weight on the middle of her foot.

The next rep she was able to correct it, and then maintained the correction for the rest of her Sn**ches.

If you’re off balance in the pull, try thinking about feeling pressure on the middle of your foot and see if that helps.

Are there any technical errors you have trouble spotting, or correcting? Let us know in the comments!

📍 in Akranes, Iceland! Miss this place, was one of the best places to train.

TnG Power Cleans
79 kg (175 lb)


Christine is one of the strongest competitive women in CrossFit history. She might still has the heaviest Clean & Jerk record hit in a sanctioned CF competition, though there are women competing right now that could beat this.

What’s admirable is her appreciation for technique. When a person has a predisposition towards being strong, it can be tempting to rely on it and become dismissive of developing and reinforcing good technique. She’s never turned down the chance to work on and improve her technique on the lifts.

One point that my mentor John Coffee instilled in me is that developing strength and technique isn’t mutually exclusive. Or to paraphrase his words:

When a lifter does the Sn**ch and Clean & jerk, they’re working strength and power as well as technique.
When pulls and squats with the same technique as the classics lifts are done, he or she also is working technique.

Or to put it a different way,
When an individual is performing the full lifts, they’re reinforcing technique while also getting stronger, and when performing squats and pulls, they’re getting stronger while also reinforcing technique.

We have a few spots opening up in June in our Remote Coaching & Competitor’s Program! Link in bio for more info.

95 & 100 kg Overhead Anderson Squat from 🇦🇹

In the first few weeks of getting to know Paula, what stood out was how strong her overhead position was.

I’ve seen a handful of times where she was strong enough to pull the bar overhead, but missed the lift when standing up (whether it was due to the bar being slightly out of position or the body in a precarious position).

If this is the case, it makes sense to do more work in the segment of the lift that misses are occurring. Of course it also makes sense to look at what happened in the earlier phases of the lift as well (since that directly impacts the later phases of the lift).

Starting from the bottom of the Overhead Squat makes it an added challenge; the body has to be fully braced to hold the bar overhead before the bar is actually loaded onto the body.

Would anyone care for a more elaborate video on the benefits of doing Overhead Squats from this bottom position, or why Paula uses them?

Or perhaps you’d like to know what they’re sometimes called ‘Anderson Squats’ rather than Pin Squats? Let us know in the comments!

124 kg Jerk
🇦🇹

Three weeks before Europeans, Paula hit this Jerk.

She was in great shape. Her Front Squat had improved, she was more consistent in heavy Sn**ches, and hit a couple of PRs the month leading up to competition.

Not too long after this, she injured her thumb and wrist falling off of a horse. Truly believe she was on the brink of some good lifts in Georgia, but unfortunately it was not meant to be.

That’s unfortunately the reality of sports and life. Those good lifts will just have to come a little later on!

Have you ever gotten hurt before a big competition? Share your stories in the comments.

Listen to THIS clip if you’re rehabbing an injury!

Excerpt from an interview with where we talked about her training, injury, and moving forward.

If you didn’t know, Lucy’s CrossFit career was in question after she had to have a radial shortening osteotomy.

Asked Lucy what she would tell someone who was currently in the middle of coming back from an injury.

Repost this if it resonated with you!

Struggle holding the bar in a front rack? Try this!

Start with an empty bar or broomstick resting on the middle of the traps. Wrap your hand completely around the bar or stick. Maintaining a full grip:

Pull left elbow up and in until you feel a moderate stretch. Hold for 3 seconds. Bring elbow back down, and repeat a total of 3 times.

Pull right elbow up and in, hold for 3 seconds. Bring elbow back down, and repeat 3 times.

Pull both elbows up and in together, hold for 3 seconds. Repeat a total of 3 times.

It’s normal to feel that one side is tighter than the other. You can expect to feel this in the forearms, triceps, lats, or all of the above.

This footage is from 2022 in Copenhagen, and was the first time I got to teach a workshop in Europe. Could have explained this mobilization better and stumbled over my words, but I think I’ve improved!

Please repost this if you found it useful!

Three angles of Robin Goad’s 81 kg (178 lb) Sn**ch at the ‘91 World Cup Gala in Barcelona, Spain. Note she hits his ON A 20 KG BAR!

Which angle do you like the most? Partial to the coffee cam in the middle left.

I’ve always admired Robin as a lifter for hitting the numbers she did when Women’s Weightlifting was in its incipient stages.

Robin was ‘s best lifter. Robin earned 18 medals at the Senior worlds during her career.

Have footage from the ‘89 Women’s Worlds (it used to be hosted separately from men’s), along with the ‘90 and ‘91 World Cup Gala. Would anyone be interested in seeing this footage?

What lift do you prefer:
Sn**ch or Clean & Jerk?

Asked Weightlifters at Europeans this question, here’s what they said!

Want to see more from this Q&A? Let us know in the comments!