Your thoughts on KCM's LIFT

[laurajhawk]

(1) Does anyone do Olympic Lifting with dumbbells? How well does that work? I don't really want to get my barbells back out.
(2) The wrists bending backward sounds bad for me - I had wrist problems last year and need to be careful. Does the modification Nyx suggested work? Maybe using dumbbells would help with that?

Like I need another DVD. But I'm getting tempted. Love the idea of the 17-minute mix.

[andtckrtoo]

I don't understand why she bends her wrists back like that. I've done clean and presses with a barbell - not Olympic style, granted, but I have done them - and I have never needed to do that to move the weight. Maybe it's just the Olympic way?

[mtnmom]

Originally Posted by andtckrtoo

I don't understand why she bends her wrists back like that. I've done clean and presses with a barbell - not Olympic style, granted, but I have done them - and I have never needed to do that to move the weight. Maybe it's just the Olympic way?

Okay, don't quote me on this, half the time I don't know what I'm talking about anyway... I think it's because when you get the bar to the "clean" position, where it is at your collarbone, it should be resting on the front of your shoulders and they should be bearing the weight of the bar. If you don't bend your wrists, the bar's weight is on your arms (you should also be holding your elbows out in front of you). When you transition to the "press", where the bar is above your head, and you switch to straight wrists, you'd be working your forearms way more than you should. My forearms are a little sore today and I think it's because I would sometimes default to the straight wrist position. My hammies and nicely sore too, but that's a good thing.

You could always go to Kelly's forum and ask her. She's very good about responding to questions. And by the way, she's asking for input for her next couple of DVDs. Right now the consensus is for a 2-day split (upper body/lower body) in the 30-minute format.

[counterclockwise]

I asked Kelly on FB about not doing the whole barbell on the shoulders w/the wrists bent back, and she basically said I needed to do it if I were going to go heavy, but I didn't have to if I went light. I would copy the reply but I think we're not supposed to do that (you can check out her FB page and see what she said though). I tried some of the moves w/wrists straight and barbell not on shoulders anyway w/a 30 lb. barbell, and it felt fine. But then again I didn't try the whole workout that heavy. Maybe it would be different.

[counterclockwise]

Originally Posted by mtnmom

Okay, don't quote me on this, half the time I don't know what I'm talking about anyway... I think it's because when you get the bar to the "clean" position, where it is at your collarbone, it should be resting on the front of your shoulders and they should be bearing the weight of the bar. If you don't bend your wrists, the bar's weight is on your arms (you should also be holding your elbows out in front of you).

Yeah, the only way I can get it on my shoulders is to really bring the elbows up and bend my wrists back. The weight is on my shoulders, but unfortunately that position for the wrists just hurts for me. Kelly said I could try working on my flexibility, or try gloves w/wrist wraps? I am not even sure what those are.

[KateTT]

Originally Posted by laurajhawk

(1) Does anyone do Olympic Lifting with dumbbells? How well does that work? I don't really want to get my barbells back out.
(2) The wrists bending backward sounds bad for me - I had wrist problems last year and need to be careful. Does the modification Nyx suggested work? Maybe using dumbbells would help with that?

Like I need another DVD. But I'm getting tempted. Love the idea of the 17-minute mix.

I have a barbell, but used two 15 lb dumbells for Olympic LIfting and it worked great for me! I just really watched my form, and made sure my wrists were straight. Got a great workout from it.

[sammycakes]

In NROL4W, they have you do the same thing with your wrists.

[tigger]

Originally Posted by andtckrtoo

I don't understand why she bends her wrists back like that. I've done clean and presses with a barbell - not Olympic style, granted, but I have done them - and I have never needed to do that to move the weight. Maybe it's just the Olympic way?

I think it is, because the girl who does the PINK series (Olympic lifting) does it too. She is a competitive lifter and has her coach and another lifter in the workouts (who does it too), so I assume she knows her stuff. I just can't remember her name for anything right now!

[andtckrtoo]

I love these forums! You learn something new every day!

[KathAL79]

Originally Posted by sammycakes

In NROL4W, they have you do the same thing with your wrists.

I was thinking this, too. You'll see it in FBB as well for front barbell squats, for which I found having the bar rest across my shoulders with arms crossed more comfortable, but now I'm regretting doing that because I didn't strengthen my wrists and practice this position for LIFT.