POWERFUL arms are not weightlifters鈥� most important attributes. It鈥檚 their
ability to coordinate a range of muscles around the body that makes the
difference between failure and success.
鈥淚n weightlifting, the critical phases鈥攖he power positions鈥攃an
last only 200 milliseconds or so,鈥� says Keijo Hakkinen, who studies the biology
of physical activity at the University of Jyv盲skyl盲 in Finland. 鈥淵ou
need to recruit as many muscle fibres as possible and get them to activate
rapidly all at the same time. The arms don鈥檛 actually do too much of the
lifting, they just act to direct the barbell鈥攖o stabilise it.鈥�
As with sprinters, record-busting weightlifters need legs capable of
generating extraordinary amounts of power. 鈥淲eightlifting is all about the
efficiency at which you can transfer power from the legs into moving the
weight,鈥� says Matt Jevon, a sports and exercise consultant accredited by the
British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences. And like sprinters, power
is generated by fast twitch fibres. Because these fibres don鈥檛 have to wait for
oxygen to arrive, they are ideal for fast, strong movements.
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