Weightlifting skill drills

Matters most for: Powerlifting, Olympic lifting, General strength

Setup: An empty bar or about 50% of your working weight.

1. 1. Five seconds down, two seconds paused at the bottom, then stand normally.
2. 2. Keep the bar over mid-foot the whole way — film from the side to check.
3. 3. Brace before you unrack, not on the way down.

Volume: 4 × 3

Coaching point: The pause removes the bounce. Whatever position you're in at the bottom is the position you actually own.

Make it harder: Add weight only once all reps hold position, then shorten the pause.

Matters most for: Powerlifting, General strength

Setup: A bar you can control for triples, and a rack with safeties.

1. 1. Lower to the chest and hold for a full two seconds, still and tight.
2. 2. Keep the shoulder blades pinned back and down throughout.
3. 3. Press without letting the bar drift toward your face.

Volume: 5 × 3

Coaching point: Stay tight in the pause. Relaxing at the bottom is where both the press and the shoulder go wrong.

Make it harder: Lengthen the pause to three seconds before adding weight.

Matters most for: Powerlifting, Olympic lifting, General strength

Setup: A loaded bar at about 60%.

1. 1. Take your stance, grip, then pull your chest up to take the slack out of the bar.
2. 2. Hold that wedged position for two seconds before the bar leaves the floor.
3. 3. Lift, then reset completely — no touch-and-go.

Volume: 6 × 2

Coaching point: Hear the bar click into the plates before you pull. Yanking a loose bar is how backs get hurt.

Make it harder: Add weight once the setup is identical on every rep.

Matters most for: Olympic lifting, General strength

Setup: An empty bar or a broomstick.

1. 1. Press or snatch the bar overhead with a wide grip.
2. 2. Lock the elbows, push the head slightly through, ribs down.
3. 3. Hold, then walk ten steps without letting the bar drift forward.

Volume: 5 × 20 seconds

Coaching point: If the bar sits in front of your ears you're holding it with your shoulders instead of your skeleton.

Make it harder: Add a light load, or hold in a quarter squat.

Matters most for: Olympic lifting, General strength

Setup: A bar at roughly 70% of your clean.

1. 1. Pull to just above the knee and stop dead, shoulders still over the bar.
2. 2. Hold for two seconds, feeling the weight in the middle of the foot.
3. 3. Finish the pull with a hard hip extension, or lower and reset.

Volume: 5 × 3

Coaching point: Shoulders in front of the bar at the knee. Let them drift back and the bar swings away from you.

Make it harder: Raise the halt position, or take the pause out and go straight through.

Matters most for: Powerlifting, Olympic lifting, General strength

Setup: Nothing, or a light belt.

1. 1. Breathe into your stomach and sides, not your chest.
2. 2. Brace as if about to take a punch, without letting the air out.
3. 3. Hold the brace for ten seconds, then breathe out and repeat.

Volume: 3 × 5 breaths

Coaching point: Pressure goes 360° around the trunk. Sucking the stomach in is the opposite of a brace.

Make it harder: Practise it under a light bar, then at your working weight.