Barbell Club & Kettle Bells

Barbell Club & Olympic Lifting

Weightlifting (one word) as opposed to weight lifting (two words) is the sport of lifting a heavy barbell from the ground to overhead in either one movement (the snatch) or two movements (the clean and jerk).

The benefits of Olympic weightlifting, for improving speed and power, have long been know to elite athletes and competitive CrossFitters. Training the lifts improves your coordination, power development and mobility to a near superhuman level and, due to their full body nature, give the people that do them a kind of strength and explosiveness that other movements just can’t!

However the movements are very technical and can take some time to develop which is why at The BNKR we have found ways to get most of the benefits of these incredible movements while mitigating some of the risks for people that don’t quite have to strength and mobility to perform them yet.

Dumbbells & KettleBells

The easiest place to go is with dumbbells. Now these are by no means an ‘easy’ option, if anything they are more physically taxing , however due to the greater freedom of movement they tend to be easier to learn and easier on the joints. Trading barbells for kettlebells is another fun alternative that really refine the timing of the lockout! Even hoisting a heavy sand bag or throwing a slam ball are viable alternatives.

We believe that the goal of training isn’t to be be better inside the gym but outside the gym. The movements themselves are only useful insofar as they develop powerful hips and strong backs, so hoisting, throwing and flinging are all viable alternatives in our book.

Come join us at 4pm every day where we work on this technique for beginners as well as more advanced Olympic Lifters.
Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays are for Kettle Bells
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are for Barbell Club.

Don’t worry if you don’t think you’re ready to pick up the barbell just yet or try a Clean & Jerk, we can work through some replica movements using dumbbells as well as using bamboo bars for practicing technique. Or book a personal training session where we can develop and refine your skills one-to-one.