I once wrote an article talking about how “stay tight” may be one of the worst coaching cues to give athletes. I was probably a little bit off base in that article and have actually caught myself using that cue more often than I did, but everything is about context. I believe there is a time and place for all cues. Your athletes just have to know what you are talking about. Obviously.
I have been to many Weightlifting meets, many weight rooms, and have seen countless videos on social media where “stay tight” is the mostly used coaching cue. If you are a bro and you are coaching up another bro, then by all means keep using “stay tight,” because that is probably the only thing that’s not going to confuse the respective bro.
I want to talk about how the cue “stay tight,” but more so the context of “stay tight” can be misused in the sport of Weightlifting, and how more times than not you actually don’t want to be “tight.”
I would typically go on to describe what staying tight actually means, but it is something that nobody actually knows. Staying tight is not something that actually happens physiologically, but more so a feeling someone may perceive. An example would be how someone always says their hamstrings are tight. This is most likely a sensation they are feeling because their nervous system is telling their hamstrings to hold on for dear life because of an anterior pelvic tilt. This is commonly known as neurological tone, which some people describe as feeling tight. For the sake of this article, I will say staying tight is ones ability to create and hold muscle tension.
Why Not Stay Tight
In the sport of Weightlifting where the movements are very fast and dynamic too much muscle tension in the wrong places can be a problem. In the snatch and clean and jerk (the two lifts of Weightlfting) you are basically throwing a barbell. You are throwing it overhead in the snatch and jerk and throwing it to your shoulders in the clean. I use the term throw because the implement (the barbell) needs to be temporarily weightless to allow the lifter to come under and catch the bar. This dynamic part of the sport is the reason why an athlete needs to possess the ability to stay “loose” in the Olympic lifts.
Imagine a shot put or discus thrower and a baseball pitcher performing their craft. Think about how much muscle tension they need when performing those movements. They have to stay relatively relaxed in the process to ensure an efficient and effective throw. It is no different in the Olympic lifts. For an athlete to accelerate the barbell they have to be relaxed enough through the arms in order to transfer the energy they are creating from their legs into the barbell. Imagine a pitcher trying to throw a 100mph fastball while gripping onto the ball as hard as they possibly can. The result is they aren’t likely going to be able to transfer sufficient energy into the ball and the ball isn’t going to go where they had in mind. Also, imagine a shot putter getting set up to throw. Their upper bodies are extremely relaxed and they are just holding enough muscle tension to keep the shot in their neck. It is the same when throwing a discus and much like pulling a barbell in the snatch or clean.
To efficiently transfer energy to accelerate the barbell upwards it is important to stay relaxed in the arms. Much like other sports that involve throwing implement. Many coaches like to use the rope analogy when describing the relaxation of the arms in the Olympic lifts. The arms should act like ropes. A rope can very easily be bent and it doesn’t require much to get a rope to bend. Also, imagine a rope being stretched out to its full length. Now, think about pulling one end of the rope excessively hard. The other side of the rope will accelerate towards you. That is the same with the arms being relaxed with a barbell. The barbell will accelerate up if the arms are relaxed enough. Now, imagine trying to pull the same end of the rope, but now this time there is someone on the other end pulling it just as hard. The rope will most likely not move much at all. The same would happen in the snatch or clean and jerk. If the arms remain too tight or tense, the barbell will not project upwards because their is too much tension resisting the upward movement of the bar.
Why Is This Critical
I want to drive this importance home because it is one of the main problems I see with beginner level lifters, and I think there is some common misunderstanding with what staying tight actually means. Weightlifting, being a sport of athleticism; moving quickly, precisely, and being able to produce a lot of force in a short amount of time, should not be given the same context as a sport like Powerlifting. Powerlifting is a sport of absolute strength where you need as much muscle tension as possible to move the most amount of weight as possible. It is not the same as Weightlifting. Maintaining too much muscle tension in the snatch or clean and jerk can result in poorly executed lifts. Most people who give the sport of Weightlifting a try come from traditional strength training backgrounds or are ex-athletes of field sports that continue to want to get their hands dirty in a competitive environment. Most people have little to no experience with athletic barbell movements like the snatch and clean and jerk. It is very hard for people to understand the need to be relaxed when learning the Olympic lifts, and in some cases work less hard. People work against themselves because they are so used to barbell movements being an excessive amount of muscle tension and working really hard to move the weight. Weightlifting movements are relatively light when compared to absolute strength. A one-rep max back squat is not going to feel the same as a 70% snatch, or even a one-rep max snatch for that matter. When teaching the Olympic lifts it is important to teach the importance of athletic and fluid movement to ensure overall quality of movement. Learning to stay relaxed or loose is a good prerequisite for learning other complex tasks associated with Olympic lifting.
Once an athlete feels the barbell weightless in their hands from remaining relaxed they will immediately understand the implication and importance. I can’t count the number of “AH-HA!” moments I’ve had from athletes feeling and understanding the relaxation involved in Weightlifting. It is one of the first items we teach at Force Barbell because of it’s relation to transferring energy into a barbell, which is highly important in the sport of Weightlifting.
Closing Thoughts and When Not To Stay Relaxed
First off, don’t over exaggerate what I mean by staying relaxed and try to snatch a barbell with a completely rounded back because you were trying to stay “relaxed.” There are still great amounts of muscle tension involved to execute a snatch or clean and jerk. I wanted to drive the point home that you most likely don’t need to be as “tight” as you think to be efficient and effective at Weightlifting. Staying tight can be a misused and misunderstood coaching cue. When I say stay relaxed I mostly mean through the arms until the leg drive of the lift is over, and it’s implications are mostly for beginner level lifters as most intermediate and advanced lifters already understand this concept.
There are times in the sport of Weightlifting when you need to abandon the concept of stay relaxed and that is during what I call, “go time.” Go time is the time when you approach the bar for a super heavy attempt, which is usually a PR attempt. A lot of people over think during these situations and almost all the time results in missed lifts. This is the time to throw thinking out the door and just GO. During this time you shouldn’t stay relaxed because you could potentially prime yourself to move a little too slow or move with not enough arousal. During moments of heavy lifts the central nervous system needs to be much more aroused than when you are practicing with 70-80%. I think you should stay mentally relaxed but not so much physically relaxed in these situations.
What do you see when you witness a beautiful pitch, a beautiful golf swing, or a beautiful discus throw? Most likely, you see a perfectly calculated and coordinated athletic movement which delivers quality results for that athlete. The movement is usually super fluid and almost appears as if the athlete is not even trying. That is when you have witnessed someone performing at the top level of their craft. I think Weightlifting should be viewed the same way. Even though Weightlifting is a strength sport, it is still a sport that requires tremendous amounts of athletic ability and fluidity in movement. It requires strength, speed, precision, timing, mental acuity and all of which require the prerequisite of learning to stay relaxed. Effective movement is not about staying “tight,” but learning to move you body in a free and fluid manner. Bruce Lee said, “be like water.” So go be like water the next time you approach the barbell.