From Playground to Platform: Perspectives on Olympic Lifting for Athletes with Elisabeth Oehler

Those of us who've tried Olympic lifting as a sport or as a supplement to our training know that it's very technical. But did you know that the technique used can vary based on your body?

In today's episode, I am speaking with Elisabeth Oehler of EO Performance. She is a weightlifting and strength & conditioning coach and consultant who helps organizations to evolve and develop their athletic development programs and improve strength & conditioning support. She also coaches elite athletes from different sports on a remote basis and works as the Head of Strength & Conditioning in a multi-sports academy in Saudi Arabia focusing on martial arts, handball, and athletics.

Today's episode is split into two parts. In the beginning, we focus more on Olympic lifting technique and how that might be variable according to your body type, and also how you might be able to self-correct your Olympic lifting technique if you don't have constant access to a coach. This will be really helpful for so you if you have been training for a while and want to either begin Olympic lifting as part of your strength program or if you've been working on Olympic lifting for a little while and wanna hear more about how some aspects of the technique might be a little bit variable.

In the second part of the podcast, Elisabeth and I particularly talk about Olympic weightlifting for children. We talk about why Elisabeth believes in teaching Olympic weightlifting to children, and how teaching Olympic lifts to children is different from teaching Olympic lifts to adults. And also what Elisabeth thinks is most important for parents and coaches to focus on to set up their children for better physical literacy later in life.

We discuss a myriad of topics in this episode but our main focus is on Olympic lifting for all ages. Elisabeth gives some amazing insights into the differences in training for adults and children and the importance of starting early if you want to pursue weightlifting as a sport versus a component of your strength and conditioning work to support your sport.

If you are already into Olympic lifting and want to improve, or if you're a coach or parent who wants to start your children or youth athletes with lifting, then this episode is definitely for you.

What are your thoughts on today's topic? Let me know over on IG or send me an email!

About Elisabeth Oehler:

Elisabeth Oehler is a weightlifting and strength & conditioning coach and consultant who helps organizations to evolve and develop their athletic development programs and improve strength & conditioning support. She also coaches elite athletes from different sports (e.g., weightlifting, rugby, athletics, and martial arts) on a remote basis.

Currently, Elisabeth works as the Head of Strength & Conditioning in a multi-sports academy in Saudi Arabia focusing on martial arts, handball, and athletics. Elisabeth studied Sports Science and holds an MSc in Sports Coaching from the University of Birmingham. She is pursuing a Professional Doctorate in Elite Sports Performance at Dublin City University. From 2017 through the end of 2020, she worked as a full-time coach for the German Weightlifting Federation, first as a manager of the youth department and later as head of talent identification and national coach.

She has experience in several high-performance environments including national teams and professional clubs. Elisabeth is a licensed weightlifting coach (DOSB A-Licence High Performance) and specialized Youth Coach by the German Olympic Sports Confederation and has further qualifications in strength & conditioning.

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