If You Are Trying to Teach Yourself Olympic Lifting? Read This First

If you’ve been piecing together your Olympic lifting progress through YouTube tutorials, random Instagram cues, and the occasional WOD, you’re not alone.

Weightlifting is highly technical, and most lifters who try to figure it out on their own end up running into the same roadblocks. Some push through, some plateau, and others eventually give up—frustrated that they’re not getting anywhere despite their best efforts.

If you’re serious about making real progress in weightlifting, there are five major mistakes that could be holding you back. Let’s break them down.

Mistake #1: You’re Not Doing It Often Enough.

One clean & jerk every few weeks isn’t going to cut it. Olympic lifting is a skill, and just like any skill, it requires consistent, structured practice to improve. But too many lifters only touch a barbell when it appears in a CrossFit WOD or for 10 minutes during a general strength session, meaning they’re never actually training the lifts frequently enough to build movement patterns.

If you’re only lifting once every two or three weeks, your body never gets the chance to refine the positions, reinforce good habits, or develop real confidence under the bar. Every session feels like starting over rather than building on the last one.

🔹 The Shift: If you want to improve, weightlifting needs to be a regular part of your training, not something you occasionally throw in when it pops up on a program.


Mistake #2: You’re Lifting Too Heavy, Too Often.

We get it—throwing big weight overhead looks cool. But if you’re always testing your max, you’re never actually training your technique.

Lifting too heavy too often leads to compensations, sloppy reps, and engrained bad habits. Instead of refining positions and building confidence, you’re grinding through weights that your body isn’t technically prepared for, reinforcing the very mistakes that are holding you back.

🔹 The Shift: Olympic lifting requires submaximal practice—meaning a lot of intentional work at lighter to moderate weights (70-85% of max). This is where movement quality improves, speed develops, and strength is actually built in positions that transfer to your heavier lifts.


Mistake #3: Your Technique Has Never Actually Been Cleaned Up.

You’ve been lifting for a while. You feel decent under the bar. But something’s off.

Most lifters don’t actually know or understand what positions they need to hit or why they’re struggling with consistency. They rely on general coaching cues without understanding what’s specific to their own movement patterns.

This leads to:
❌ Repeating the same technical mistakes, session after session.
❌ Feeling stuck at the same numbers for months (or years).
❌ Wasting effort trying to "fix" things without knowing what’s actually wrong.

🔹 The Shift: It’s not about doing more lifts—it’s about doing the right lifts, with the right focus. A coach doesn’t just tell you what looks wrong—they pinpoint exactly what needs to change and help you refine your movement patterns for long-term progress.

Mistake #4: You’re Not Strong Enough to Make Progress.

Olympic lifting isn’t just about technique—it’s about strength in the right places.

If you can pull a heavy clean but can’t stand it up, or if your snatch is smooth but anything over 80% buries you, you’re not just lacking technique—you’re lacking the base strength to support heavier loads.

We see this all the time:
➡️ A lifter’s clean and front squat numbers are nearly identical.
➡️ They can pull massive weight but crumble in the receiving position.
➡️ Their lifts feel technically solid, but they hit a wall when the weight increases.

🔹 The Shift: A bigger clean & jerk requires a stronger front squat, a stronger pull, and better positional strength. Strength is built through accessory work, hypertrophy phases, and structured programming—not just lifting heavier cleans & snatches.


Mistake #5: You’re Self-Teaching—Then Having to Unlearn Bad Habits.

We see this over and over: Lifters try to figure it out themselves, reinforcing bad movement patterns for months (or years). Eventually, they realise something isn’t working, but by then, those habits are deeply ingrained—and breaking them is frustrating, time-consuming, and often discouraging enough that they just stop trying.

🔹 The Shift: The fastest way to make progress in weightlifting isn’t to keep troubleshooting on your own—it’s to get feedback before bad habits set in. Small tweaks in positioning, timing, or sequencing can make all the difference, and having structured, personalised adjustments means you actually build long-term success, rather than constantly correcting mistakes.

If this hit a little too close to home—good! That means you’re ready to fix it.

Weightlifting isn’t just about working hard; it’s about working smart. If you’re stuck in the same frustrating cycles, second-guessing your technique, and wondering why progress feels impossible, it’s time for a better plan.

That’s exactly why we built Barbell Foundations - our 1:1 coaching experience designed to fast-track your progress, sharpen your technique, and build real strength under the bar.

In just six focused sessions, you’ll get:

✅ Direct, real-time coaching that identifies exactly what’s holding you back and how to fix it.
✅ A structured plan so you stop guessing and start lifting with intent.
✅ The right balance of technical work and strength building, so you’re not just moving well—you’re moving big weight with confidence.
✅ Faster progress in weeks, not years—no more trial and error, no more second-guessing.

The longer you lift with bad habits, the harder they are to break. Fix them now. Build strong, efficient movement patterns from the start and get stronger, sooner.

📩 Click here to book your spot in Barbell Foundations and start lifting with confidence.