Technology can be both good and bad for fitness
You can use your device to track the weights you’re lifting, or spend too much time swiping right on the latest dating app. But one groundbreaking new gym class harnesses all the pros of fit tech to boost your weightlifting power.
Gymbox class BOLT (Basics of Olympic Lifting Technique) uses a PUSH fitness tracker device strapped to the barbell you use.
This device allows you to record the speed of each lift, track your results and watch how performance progresses with each session.
Whether you’re a weightlifting novice or a hardened gym goer keen on potentially competing, the benefits of using data in the gym are clear.
What lifts does Olympic weightlifting test?
The main exercises in Olympic lifting are:
- Snatch
- Clean and jerk
Here’s a little video demo from the excellent Juggernaut Training Systems:
The BOLT class in particular breaks the clean and jerk down into two separate components, to ensure your technique is on-point.
The key to success with weightlifting is periodisation. That is, not just going ham in the gym for one single workout, but factoring what you lift into a wider training cycle.
BOLT follows a rotating programme of 12-14 weeks, but allows you to drop in or out at any time, thus ensuring each session is scalable to your abilities, desires and own level of fitness.
Gymbox Studio Creative Manager Gabriela Cunha Viana said: “Every four weeks, the class focuses on one particular lift: clean, jerk or snatch.
“BOLT starts off with a warm up and mobility work specific to the lift that the class is focusing on. Then come the positional drills, where the technique is explained and practiced.
“The third part is the ‘PUSH EMOM’ (Every Minute On The Minute) where lift drills are carried out with the PUSH device strapped to each bar. The goal is to do as many reps as possible keeping true to the speed perimeter given from the instructor.”
