Weightlifting and Mobility

Thanks to all those who have attended the Weightlifting for CrossFitters seminars. You have without exception been a pleasure to teach and we hope that you continue to reap the benefits of the seminar in your training.

Those who attended will know that I regard flexibility or mobility as important to the point of critical in olympic lifting. Without adequate mobility, attainment of the different positions will be challenging at best or impossible at worst, with the additional factor of increased injury risk. I describe four stretches for improving the key positions seen in olympic weightlifting. These broadly improve mobility at the ankle, in the squat, in the front rack and in the over head positions.


As I have mentioned at all the seminars, there are a range of resources out there for people looking to improve their mobility. Here is a collection of my favourites:

Scott Hagnas at the Performance Menu - videos of great drills to improve your mobility and 'flow' between positions


MobilityWOD - the popular daily mobility workout by CrossFit coach and physical therapist Kelly Starrett



Bulletproof your body @ T-Nation - by Tony Gentilcore, this has various assessments to make sure you have adequate mobility in the most important areas

Take care of your mobility and your lifting will improve considerably.