We know that the Olympic Lifts are important for athletes and sports people alike because of the physical skills and attributes that they develop. The Olympic Lifts develop speed, power, coordination, flexibility, range of motion, better posture, they are highly metabolic and they can burn fat.

But can they do this for us as trainers and more importantly can they do this for our clients the: office workers, manual workers, stay at home mums, elderly and weekend warriors?

In a short answer they can do a lot and here is why:

The human body is designed the same whether it belongs to an Olympian or an everyday Joe, it also needs to be trained in the same way. This might come as a surprise to a lot of people out there but it’s true. The difference between Olympians and the rest of us is ability, this is obvious, but what unites our species is that essentially we are the same!

As our bodies our designed in the same manner there is no reason that our bodies should not be trained in the same way. What differs is the load, intensity, frequency, duration and not the actual movements or exercises.

Movement Patterns

As a species we all need to Squat, Bend, Lunge, Push, Pull and rotate, these are the movements that allow us to exist and it is from these very movements that exercises can be derived. This is unquestionable.

Why then don’t we train these movements? Even if we do train these movements independently we could save a lot of time if we were able to combine them. This is where the Olympic Lifts come in. The Olympic Lifts are these movements- all of them, all at once!

Take the Snatch for example, in one exercise you have a Bend as you pick the weight up off the ground, you have a Pull as you pull yourself under the bar and you have a Squat as you stand the bar up while you Press against the bar.

If you look at the Clean and Jerk you have all of the above movements plus you have a Lunge when you perform the Split Jerk.

If Olympians and athletes of the highest calibre perform these lifts because they help them to move better so too should everyone else. If everyday people should be doing these lifts to help them move better it is then every trainers responsibility to be able to teach these lifts.

The reasons why trainers need to learn to teach the Olympic Lifts:

- so their clients can enjoy the benefits of the Olympic Lifts (above)

- so their clients can perform these lifts safely and correctly

- so they get more ‘bang for their buck’ (this refers to getting more out of a movement) from exercises

- to better understand how the human body functions

So if you’re a trainer out there and you don’t know how to teach or implement the Olympic Lifts what are you waiting for? Book on to an Olympic Weightlifting Instructor Course today.

For most of you out there this is a really important month business wise. The general population have set their goals and resolutions and will be looking to you for some guidance. There are individuals all over the country that will be turning to trainers for motivation, inspiration and education, so good luck with being the best you can be!

To kick off the year we’ve got a taste of all that is coming up for the first couple of months of 2012.

January:

The first month of this Olympic year begins with the EKI 01 course. The EKI will be in Munich, Germany on the 21^st and 22^nd and will be co presented by our educational partners Perform Sports. The following week the 28^th and 29^th of January we’ll be hosting the EKI01 at the OLF Training Centre for what will be a great way to kick off the year. To find out more about the EKI01 just click here.

February:

We kick off February with the OWI01 our Olympic Weightlifting for the Fitness Professional course which is at the OLF Training Centre on the 4^th and 5^th of February. This was our most popular courses in 2011, and you need to get on this to see what all the fuss is about. We also head to CrossFit 3D in Manchester on the 25^th and 26^th February for more Olympic Weightlifting click here for more information.

In February we are also running our EMT and the BBS01. The Effective Movement Training Course is on the 18^th February and the Bulgarian Bag Specialist Course is on the 25^th and 26^th February both at the OLF Training Centre. To check these courses out take a look here for EMT and here for BBS01.

March:

Well March just carries on from January and February. To check out our full calendar of courses please visit here.

Functional Training Zones

OLF has, in conjunction with FF Germany and Escape Fitness, launched their first Functional Training Zone. To take a look at it in action, please visit here.

Exhibitions and more

This year we’re representing and presenting all over the place.

We’ll be at Fitpro in Loughborough on the 2^nd weekend of April. We’ll also be at exhibitions in both Germany and Switzerland.

If you can make it to any of these, let us know and we’ll see you there!

Keep lifting and stay strong, let’s dominate 2012!

Not quite sure what you’ll experience on the EKI? See below…

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want to get serious results from your training and take your PT or group sessions to the next level, get booked on the EKI Course now!

Speak to one of our educational advisors for more information and to see how OLF can make it happen for you in 2012. Or click here for full details on the EKI Course.

WHERE ARE WE GOING IN 2012?

London – Manchester – Dublin – Munich – Geneva – Edinburgh – Belfast – Cardiff – Harrogate – Newcastle – Nottingham

Click here to check out the dates and full calendar of events.

WHY IS THE EKI THE BEST KETTLEBELL COURSE?

‘Best course I’ve been on since becoming a PT. Tutors were very knowledgeable plus good fun. Hard work was rewarded. Truly excellent well executed course, well done lads!’

Johny Grigg

HAVE YOU ALREADY DONE THE EKI AND ARE THINKING ABOUT A REFRESHER?

It’s a great idea to come back on the EKI, we’re always adding new information and more training ideas to the course so we welcome current EKI’s back to brush up on skills and technique. What’s more you only pay 50% of the course fee if you’re a current EKI.

Contact our Course Manager, Mayyah Shalchi to book on for your refresher.

Mayyah@optimallifefitness.com

Tel: 0208 318 7000

OLF PAYMENT PLANS

Helps you get on the course you’ve always wanted to do!

Place a 25% deposit to secure your place and pay the remainder 2 weeks prior to the course

We reduced the price of:

• MIT 01 – Move IT Functional Training Workshop, down to £129.99, from £198.00. Wow, that’s good!
• AST 01 – Advanced Strap Training Course, down to £129.99, from £198.00. Wow, that’s awesome!
• EKI 02 – Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course Level 2, down to £129.99, from £198.00. Wow, that’s really, really good!
• PBI 01 – Performance Boxing Instructor Course Level 1, down to £129.99, from £198.00. Wow, that is ridiculously good!!
• PBI 02 – Performance Boxing Instructor Course Level 2, down to £129.99, from £198.00. Wow, this is incredible!!

We’re giving you this awesome opportunity to get involved with OLF and get your education sorted for 2012.

Call OLF now to book this course, 0208 318 7000 (with the option to pay 50% deposit now, and the rest up to 2 weeks prior to the course start date)

Contact Us Now:

0208 318 7000

info@optimallifefitness.com

Book online by going to www.optimallifefitness.com, selecting the course and date you want to attend.

This Christmas we’ll be giving you a new way to Move IT everyday up to Christmas. So every morning you can wake up and open your laptop, IPhone or IPad and get your Move IT workout. Sorry we didn’t have time to send you all the Move IT advent calendar! But if you want to make your own, go for it and show us what it looks like!

24 Challenging ways to Move IT all the way to Christmas!

OLF and Escape Fitness will be showing you how to Move IT in 24 different ways. These workouts and challenges will be fun, challenging and everyone can take part. We want you, your clients and your mates to get involved, post your workouts on YouTube or Facebook and let us know how you’re getting on. Let’s make December a great one, with some awesome training and some great training clips.

The 24 ways to Move IT challenge is a great way to get you and your clients working hard all the way to Christmas. We hope you’ll like it as much as we will!

If you can’t do the exact workout that we do, don’t worry, come up with your own way of Moving IT. That’s what it’s all about and we want to see how you Move IT!

If you love the way we Move IT, you’ve got to get yourself on the Move IT Functional Training Workshop. this 1 day workshop will show you how to get clients moving with functional training tools. The best ways to integrate the training tools and how to programme for successful PT and Small Group Training Sessions.

During the Christmas period you can book the Move IT workshop for only £129.99, the full price is £198.00. We all love a christmas bargain, click here for more info!! Contact us for more info on 0208 318 7000

If you want to get hold of any of these great functional training tools that we’ll be using, get yourself to the Escape Fitness Store.

Good luck with the next 24 Days and we look forward to seeing what you’re doing.

OLF Team

I think we did a good job!

Fern (new OLF Coach) was down to help and gave the group plenty of examples of how she has succeeded with small group training. Tommy got his point across about the fundamental movements and the functional concepts and overall OLF got the trainers Moving!!

It was a great group so we finished off with some very special Move IT Workouts, this is what we did:

Set 1- 45 secs on, 15 secs off.

1. Kettlebell Swing
2. TRX Back Superset
3. Core Bag Clean and Press
4. ViPR Lunge and Uppercut
5. Boxing – Overs
6. SAQ – Ladders and Hurdles
7. Medball Reactor – 3 man game
8. Medball Slams

Thats was set one and we did 3 more sets with a variety of different exercises. It was all about getting people moving in different planes of motion, being challenge mentally and physically, but most of all having fun!

For more information on Move IT click here.

To get the exciting Move IT equipment go to Escape Fitness

He has decided to raise money for his favourite charity ‘Special Effect’ by performing 20,000 Kettlebell swings in one month. That’s right, along with a few of his clients he will be aiming to complete 20,000 swings.

Here’s the details from Tony:

We kick off on Tuesday 1st November and will run until Wednesday 30th. We are going to do the swings in our regular classes in Spider Fitness and also The Unit. We’re looking at 4 sessions a week with an average of 5 people swinging in each session. Aiming for around 1000 swings per session multiplied over the 4 weeks of the challenge should give us a good number. Our main target is to hit 20,000 total swings over the month and at the same time, to raise £500 for SpecialEffect.

Myself, Nancy and some of our class regulars are going to pick one weight and stick with it for the month. We are going to keep a record of names and number of swings per session and then total them up at the end. Hopefully a bit of competition and rivalry will emerge and we can have some fun with it.

Our donation page is www.justgiving.com/SwingChallenge all proceeds go directly to SpecialEffect and I’m going to add pictures and videos to our facebook group and website each week as we work through the challenge. Anyone can donate and anyone with a kettlebell can join in!

It looks great Tony and all the team at OLF will be following you and supporting you throughout! The only thing we expect is that you’ll be swinging with a 32kg!!

You may have heard that OLF are celebrating 5 years of top quality education and because we’re so happy about it we’re offering you 15% off OLF courses in 2012. For a limited time period you can get 15% of OLF courses, available online or over the phone. We’ve recently launched our course dates for 2012 and we’ll be visiting more cities than ever before across the UK. Check out the course calendar online and book in for your next OLF course with 15% off.

Book Online www.optimallifefitness.com

Call us: 0208 318 7000

Email Us: info@optimallifefitness.com

OLF Payment Options:

25% Deposit

Final payment due 2 weeks prior to the course

To place a deposit please call the office on 0208 318 7000

OLF Team

“I throughly enjoyed the OLF Olympic Lifting Course. The complex lifts were broken down into simple steps, well explained and demonstrated, and we were all given enough time to practise each step. Coaches provided excellent feedback throughout and also taught us specifics to look out for and encouraged us to help coach each other, which made for a good atmoshpere. The course also included material about programming and assistance work, which was really beneficial for coaching purposes. Overall, a throughly enjoyable weekend” Sarah Cahill

“More great feedback from the Course at In2CrossFit Clapham…’A lot of hands-on work, plenty of time devoted to practising lifts with thorough tuition throughout. Tutors kept corrections and queues simple. Thanks!” James Tait

Check out some of the great pics from the course and some fantastic lifting technique.

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If you’d like to see all of the pictures from the day, go to facebook and visit the OLF Group page

If you would like more information about OLF running the OWI 01 course at your training centre, contact OLF on 0208 318 7000