Olympic Weightlifting During Pregnancy
During pregnancy, we modify movements for many reasons. Health and safety of mom & baby, preservation of core and pelvic floor function, comfort/discomfort, but also for preservation of movement. The Olympic lifts are highly technical movements that athletes spend years learning, improving, and hoping to master. The snatch and clean both require efficiency in movement, which includes keeping the barbell path close to your body.
With a growing bump, we have to consider what your body currently is versus what your body was and will be. Even if you are keeping the barbell close to that baby bump, where is that barbell in comparison to your pre/postnatal body? Compensating for the bump causes a barbell to go out and around, with the distance between the bar and your midline increasing each month.
Sure, you may be fully capable of doing snatches and cleans during pregnancy. But, with every rep, you do your muscle memory is adapting to a new movement pattern. Benchmark WOD Elizabeth is 21-15-9 reps of cleans and ring dips. The workout alone has 45 reps of cleans, not including any warm-up you do. That’s 45 times you move the barbell and teach your body a new path. Hero WOD Randy is 75 snatches. A strength session on snatch day easily accumulates 20+ snatches. Regardless of decreasing weights, or switching from full cleans to powers, week after week spent drilling movements and adapting them to the pregnant body is still week after week of changing your technique.
Maybe the movement feels good. Maybe you don’t notice anything different. Maybe you feel strong and are trying for those pregnancy gains. But, is it worth it? Are you creating new muscle memory, a new movement pattern, that then postpartum you’re going to have to spend weeks, and months and even years correcting? Highly possible.
Look at my bar path here.
In order to avoid my bump, I'm swinging the bar out a good 10-12 inches away from my body. Every time I do a snatch or a clean with this path, my body learns that pattern and drills that form. Swinging the bar out and around becomes part of my muscle memory. Pre-pregnancy that bar would skim my shirt. That's quite a shift. Yes, this is 8 months pregnant. But at 5 months do you have a bump? Does that 2-3 inches grow to 5-6? Over time the distance between the bar and what your muscles know as your midline will increase, and then postpartum you'll be left working to re-establish an efficient bar path.
So what are your options?
Break down the movement. What progressions are still available that don’t have a bar path consideration?
As pregnancy progresses you may eliminate some of these movements for other reasons (core and pelvic floor considerations or just general discomfort).
Overhead movements are ones that it is recommended that athletes taper down on as they progress. But, there are always options. You aren’t limited to this list, think outside the box.
Sometimes simply substituting with a movement that feels good and that you enjoy doing is the right choice.
Want to bench on clean day? Go for it. Sled Pushes your jam lately? Work them in. Just want to back squat? Ok.
What about Jerks?
Well, the bar path isn't as much of a consideration here, but overhead movements have their own considerations. Jerks are dynamic. They are aggressive. They are high impact. They require core strength & stability. All of which are not ideal when training intentionally to preserve core and pelvic floor integrity.
Modifying away from a jerk, I like to continue to train stability in the core, or unilateral movements.
Some of these don’t directly correlate to the movement, but training the muscle groups used will aid in your eventual return to the platform.
Goals during pregnancy are often to remain active, and then postpartum to return to activity. With Olympic lifting, it makes more sense to put the barbell down during pregnancy and preserve the movement so we can take one more obstacle out of the recovery process.
So when do you stop?
That varies from athlete to athlete. It depends on form, tendencies, how your pregnancy progresses.
During my first pregnancy, I stopped snatches at 14 weeks. My second it was 10 weeks. I was hyper-aware of my snatch technique and noticed my contact point changing. Other athletes I’ve worked with have continued cleans into 2nd trimester. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide but understand the reasons you may want to discontinue the movement.
Ask yourself why you’re holding on to the movement. Like most other movements, you won’t lose them. With patience, progressions, and perseverance they come back. If you can reintegrate snatches postpartum without having to relearn technique, they may even come back faster.
Need help? Want to continue strength training during pregnancy but need assistance adapting? We can work to build a program that's progressive and oriented towards your pregnancy, postpartum, and long term goals.
Check out my pregnancy coaching options or email amy@coachamyboyle.com to set up a consult on a program or coaching service perfect for you!