"Perfect" technique is a bit subjective and hugely dependent on the specific proportions of the athlete. There's lots of lifters with very good technique but if you aren't built like them then trying to lift like them will be frustrating.
Might be somewhat controversial and against the grain advice, but I think a lot of people would benefit from just knuckling down and training with more grit rather than focusing so much technique.
Once you have the fundamentals down, technique refinement will take a very long time and is something you have to figure out with a coach.
Look at Karlos Nasar. Most people would consider his technique fairly unrefined, there’s technical issues with his snatch, clean and jerk - yet he’s a world record holder and will certainly set more in the future. That’s because he just gets after it. That’s not to say you should just max out every day, but just worry less about technique as it can hold you back.
As others have said, there is no such thing as ‘perfect technique’ to begin with. Its very much depends on your proportions as to what lifters you should try and learn from.
In general, almost all elite weightlifters adhere to the same basic principles. They’ll then work around those principles and move in such a way that makes sense for them. With that said, just because you have the same measurements as someone else doesn’t mean you should try to emulate their technique.
I could watch Tian Tao all day, but trying to move exactly as he does simply wouldn’t work as well for me.
I do think there’s still lifters that move well enough that they are a good model for anyone. Lasha and Kuo come to mind, but not all aspects.
Lasha has a very nice snatch and clean, although his jerk isn’t as ‘perfect’. Kuo has an excellent jerk. I think in general the Soviets have some of the best jerks all around.
The grit partially comes down to strength and such, correct? Much easier to lift heavy with “poor” / not aesthetic / non ideal form if you’re yoked.
From a coaching perspective I guess there comes a point where the technique is good enough and that’s when you can start pushing a bit more (while still refining your technique over time). Increasing strength, focusing on making lifts, etc would be this form of grit I suppose.
An interesting question would be what high level lifters saw a large difference in technique between performances? Are there any examples of someone completely reworking their technique and having vastly different looking lifts which led to them hitting bigger numbers?
Yep, pretty much hit the nail on the head. Obviously you shouldn’t purposely lift with poor technique - nobody does that and Karlos has still put in more hours to training than most people have on the planet (per unit age) so it’s not like he hasn’t got the reps in, more so that it doesn’t always have time take precedence over weight.
I’m not that much of a weightlifting historian, so I wouldn’t be able to give you many names, but it’s definitely happened.
I’ve watched a lot of Klokov’s stuff from when he was younger and you can see a pretty drastic change in overall technique and style - mainly when he blew up in bodyweight around the age of 20. He also had to change his technique around the early 2010’s iirc due to a shoulder injury, but this wasn’t as big of a change. He has a lot of it posted on his instagram so I’d recommend to have a look.
Most of the time it’s as a result of an injury as you’d expect, although granted that’s not really what you are asking. It’s not uncommon to see technical changes when looking at athletes who have had a long career in the sport, specifically ranging from Youth / Junior to a point much later down the road. It’s not normally a massive difference, but you will notice changes.
I’d recommend to make another post asking the same question as I’d definitely be interested in the answers to have a look for myself. I’m sure you’d get some more.
In addition to pure strength, the compounds these athletes are taking are going to enable levels of tenacity you just won't get without hormones, not to mention clen, meth-like stims, etc.
I still agree that you need to have a drive to get after it and hit certain numbers. WLers get in their own heads too much.
Yeah, the reality with high level weightlifting is drugs are a part of the conversation. For amateurs though I think with proper periodization and rest you can still train pretty damn hard.
Speaking for myself as an amateur and based on posts I’ve seen here lots of folks and I can be in a paralysis by analysis situation. There’s a lot of info out there regarding programming, nutrition, technique, etc. which is hard to navigate if you don’t have a coach. At some point ain’t nothin to it but to do it. Lift heavy and embrace the suck a bit while still maintaining an acceptable level of form.
I think you're spot on. I sound like I'm nay saying but just wanted to add colour around doping and mental state.
I've seen enough struggle bus 60kg snatches here to agree.
As it happens, I'm starting a new training block and my focus will be loosening the inner reigns to let my coach correct technique breakdown. Going to focus my energy on showing up and hitting numbers.
Sure, but when I came to weightlifting from powerlifting, I had a 182 squat, a 130-135 front squat, and a 240 deadlift. I spent all my time working on snatch technique but didn't get any better than an 80kg snatch because I was convinced that just working on technique at light weights was the correct way for me to develop.
If I had it to do over again, I would've spent longer learning to snatch without wrist wraps, but after my wrists adapted, I would've trained a lot harder.
I don't think there's nearly as much individual technical concerns as people say, it's all the same guidelines. It's only when you compare say the smallest to the biggest that it's different enough to be significant. Like tiny 45s who don't need to do a first pull, or Lasha being Lasha.
I don’t know him personally like that to assume anything, but I do agree his lifts border on the beautiful, skillful but also provocative haha
Sometimes on videos, I see his team mates on the back staring, and in their faces you see them doubting how straight they really are. He’s just beautiful! And also such a sweetheart on interviews. One my fav lifters
I would say for long femurs and arms, Syzmon Kolecki from back in the day. I would actually say the Polish technique in general is the best technique for European people.
There’s no such thing as “perfect technique” if you watch most pros in slo mo, the fundamentals of weightlifting or sports they do are there 200% .
If you watch in normal speed, these athletes make it look “effortless” and when an amateur try to copy the same move, they can’t replicate or mimic it.
There are probably athletes who have what you might consider "textbook" technique. Lasha, Kuo Hsing Chun, Li Fabin, Keydomar Vallenilla are a few that come to mind for me.
Then there are athletes who are just super fun to watch, because of technical idiosyncracies, history, and personality. Some of my favorites:
Loredana Toma: her massive lean back in the snatch and the way she slingshots under the bar are so cool. Plus the intensity she brings to every lift.
Mihaela Cambei: quite possibly the most explosive footwork in the sport. Her feet come up off the platform like rockets.
Lesman Paredes: the longest limbs in history. Apparently, having the worst leverages ever isn't an impediment to winning multiple medals. Just a remarkable lifter.
Marin Robu: adapted his technique around a serious ankle impingement. He's won medals working around what's basically an uneven catch position.
Gor Minasyan: I doubt he'll even beat Lasha but the guy is an absolute beast. The fact that he barely breaks parallel snatching over 200kg is just insane.
Hidilyn Diaz: a hugely inspirational athlete imo. She dealt with some crazy things leading up to the 2020 Olympics (stranded in rural Malaysia with no equipment during lockdown, falsely accused by the Duerte administration of being part of an anti-govt conspiracy) and then went on to win the Phillipines' first Olympic gold medal in any sport. Also a fantastic technician. The way she handled her final C&J at the last Olympics was 🤌
All good! Hope you enjoy the list. Honestly there are so many beyond who I wrote about here, and every year new athletes make their way into the elite levels of the sport.
If you want a regular stream of athlete stories and big moments in WL, Weightlifting House is great to follow on Insta and/or YT. High production value and deep knowledge of and passion for the sport.
I’ve been following WH for a while, I like Zach Telander too for weightlifting content. Slowly curating my feed to give me better weightlifting content
I would name 2 athletes whose technique i like the best.
Jeison lopez, i love how he changes his grip from the clean and switches to a more wide one when he jerks.
And obviously Lu’s snatches.
Off the top of my head, my favorite technical models are myself, kolecki, zakhrevitch, aramnau, sincraian, and rakuei.
I am about 183cm, i weigh 97 ish kg, I have slightly long legs and arms.
It is very hard, probably impossible, to truly copy technique. Every lifter has quirks and compensations, and the difference in proportions, strength, size, mobility, health/injury history, raw athleticism, grip, etc. can all result in massive changes to technique. Look at what each lifter does well and see how you can apply that to yourself. Get the fundamentals down too of course.
An example
Szymon Kolecki and Yuri Zakharevitch have very different 2nd pulls. Kolecki has a very exaggerated "scoop" and extension, while Zakharevitch is much smoother with a much more patient scoop.
Both techniques can work great. But for me, through trial and error, I have found that the smooth transition of Zakharevitch works far better with a couple of tweaks (high contact, less lean back at the top) and is much more natural.
It's also worth repeating what others have said: grit. Dont think that technique will make lifts easy. It will make them feel more natural, but they will still feel hard. Also, simply training with all kinds of variation is the greatest way to improve your technique.
Twice I have had technical epiphanies due to doing cleans barefoot that enabled me to break plateaus. Even consider changing your clothing around sometimes: for a long time, i would only lift in joggers, but after I switched to shorts, it felt as if my contact quality and consistency both improved.
Nobody mentioned Sincraian.
I want to say Yeison Lopez has pretty sharp technique.
And nobody mentioned Tatiana either.
Aramnau? Ruslan? Akkaev?
For Americans, Alex Lee is who I watched a lot back in the day.
Not an answer to your question but as someone that's 186, I look at lifters like Bohdan Hoza, Redon Manushi and Aleksey Lovchev to see someone with similar proportions.
North Koreans exhibit the qualities of being sharp/tight/fast/controlled/efficient and moving with conviction better than anyone else. They show how to be supernaturally explosive in an incredibly accurately applied way, as opposed to say some of the South American lifters who are very dynamically explosive but it's applied more broadly.
I also think the specific clean recovery into jerk technique some of their women do is the most optimal. The consistent hard step of each foot inwards, creating a ton of whip, and going immediately into the jerk with perfect timing.
I like Kuo in general, that's the closest, but remember anatomy and approach matters. There are aspects of other lifter's technique I like too- I like Line Gude's split technique, although some might say it's too long. I love Mattie Rodgers' extension position and bar path in the snatch, so I might show that vertical drive piece to lifters having trouble with it. I'll show Milko Tokkola or Luis Mosquera when I talk about speed.
Perfect is hard to ascribe to varieties or body sizes. Consistently sound technique amongst a group though, Russian weightlifters. Okulov, Apti, Kashirina, etc all come to mind when it comes to technical perfection
"Perfect" technique is a bit subjective and hugely dependent on the specific proportions of the athlete. There's lots of lifters with very good technique but if you aren't built like them then trying to lift like them will be frustrating.
Might be somewhat controversial and against the grain advice, but I think a lot of people would benefit from just knuckling down and training with more grit rather than focusing so much technique. Once you have the fundamentals down, technique refinement will take a very long time and is something you have to figure out with a coach. Look at Karlos Nasar. Most people would consider his technique fairly unrefined, there’s technical issues with his snatch, clean and jerk - yet he’s a world record holder and will certainly set more in the future. That’s because he just gets after it. That’s not to say you should just max out every day, but just worry less about technique as it can hold you back. As others have said, there is no such thing as ‘perfect technique’ to begin with. Its very much depends on your proportions as to what lifters you should try and learn from. In general, almost all elite weightlifters adhere to the same basic principles. They’ll then work around those principles and move in such a way that makes sense for them. With that said, just because you have the same measurements as someone else doesn’t mean you should try to emulate their technique. I could watch Tian Tao all day, but trying to move exactly as he does simply wouldn’t work as well for me. I do think there’s still lifters that move well enough that they are a good model for anyone. Lasha and Kuo come to mind, but not all aspects. Lasha has a very nice snatch and clean, although his jerk isn’t as ‘perfect’. Kuo has an excellent jerk. I think in general the Soviets have some of the best jerks all around.
The grit partially comes down to strength and such, correct? Much easier to lift heavy with “poor” / not aesthetic / non ideal form if you’re yoked. From a coaching perspective I guess there comes a point where the technique is good enough and that’s when you can start pushing a bit more (while still refining your technique over time). Increasing strength, focusing on making lifts, etc would be this form of grit I suppose. An interesting question would be what high level lifters saw a large difference in technique between performances? Are there any examples of someone completely reworking their technique and having vastly different looking lifts which led to them hitting bigger numbers?
Yep, pretty much hit the nail on the head. Obviously you shouldn’t purposely lift with poor technique - nobody does that and Karlos has still put in more hours to training than most people have on the planet (per unit age) so it’s not like he hasn’t got the reps in, more so that it doesn’t always have time take precedence over weight. I’m not that much of a weightlifting historian, so I wouldn’t be able to give you many names, but it’s definitely happened. I’ve watched a lot of Klokov’s stuff from when he was younger and you can see a pretty drastic change in overall technique and style - mainly when he blew up in bodyweight around the age of 20. He also had to change his technique around the early 2010’s iirc due to a shoulder injury, but this wasn’t as big of a change. He has a lot of it posted on his instagram so I’d recommend to have a look. Most of the time it’s as a result of an injury as you’d expect, although granted that’s not really what you are asking. It’s not uncommon to see technical changes when looking at athletes who have had a long career in the sport, specifically ranging from Youth / Junior to a point much later down the road. It’s not normally a massive difference, but you will notice changes. I’d recommend to make another post asking the same question as I’d definitely be interested in the answers to have a look for myself. I’m sure you’d get some more.
In addition to pure strength, the compounds these athletes are taking are going to enable levels of tenacity you just won't get without hormones, not to mention clen, meth-like stims, etc. I still agree that you need to have a drive to get after it and hit certain numbers. WLers get in their own heads too much.
Yeah, the reality with high level weightlifting is drugs are a part of the conversation. For amateurs though I think with proper periodization and rest you can still train pretty damn hard. Speaking for myself as an amateur and based on posts I’ve seen here lots of folks and I can be in a paralysis by analysis situation. There’s a lot of info out there regarding programming, nutrition, technique, etc. which is hard to navigate if you don’t have a coach. At some point ain’t nothin to it but to do it. Lift heavy and embrace the suck a bit while still maintaining an acceptable level of form.
I think you're spot on. I sound like I'm nay saying but just wanted to add colour around doping and mental state. I've seen enough struggle bus 60kg snatches here to agree. As it happens, I'm starting a new training block and my focus will be loosening the inner reigns to let my coach correct technique breakdown. Going to focus my energy on showing up and hitting numbers.
Bear in mind Karlos isn’t particularly stronger than anyone in any aspect. He’s squatting about as much as everybody else.
Sure, but when I came to weightlifting from powerlifting, I had a 182 squat, a 130-135 front squat, and a 240 deadlift. I spent all my time working on snatch technique but didn't get any better than an 80kg snatch because I was convinced that just working on technique at light weights was the correct way for me to develop. If I had it to do over again, I would've spent longer learning to snatch without wrist wraps, but after my wrists adapted, I would've trained a lot harder.
I whole heartedly agree with this statement
I wanna give cj cummings an honorable mention for lifters with unorthodox technique that clearly works for them
A lot of people would say kuo hsing chun
Those people have short femurs.
What if op has short femurs?
Good example then
Short femur gang
The Queen!
Deng Wei had better technique
Liao Hui. My captain , my king ! 🫡
This sport doesn't work like that. If you're built like Lesman, you can't study Lee Sang's technique for improvements
I don't think there's nearly as much individual technical concerns as people say, it's all the same guidelines. It's only when you compare say the smallest to the biggest that it's different enough to be significant. Like tiny 45s who don't need to do a first pull, or Lasha being Lasha.
I’m not sure if perfect, but love Sergio Massidda. I could watch him lift all day long, the guy just makes lifting an art. It’s beautiful to watch him
Idk how else to describe it but his snatch form is zesty as hell
I don’t know him personally like that to assume anything, but I do agree his lifts border on the beautiful, skillful but also provocative haha Sometimes on videos, I see his team mates on the back staring, and in their faces you see them doubting how straight they really are. He’s just beautiful! And also such a sweetheart on interviews. One my fav lifters
Rebeka Koha
man do i miss her
That South African dude who uses sumo stance
I would say for long femurs and arms, Syzmon Kolecki from back in the day. I would actually say the Polish technique in general is the best technique for European people.
Currently coaching a Polish guy but though he is tall, he doesn't seem as long limbed as them. Maybe it's just the camera lense
I don't know what happened to Polish weightlifting in the past decade
Norik's snatch is a thing of beauty
Indeed.
It’s subjective depending on your body proportions but Nathan Damron is probably my favorite when it comes to beautiful technique.
The most vertical snatch
That's Norik Vardanian
There’s no such thing as “perfect technique” if you watch most pros in slo mo, the fundamentals of weightlifting or sports they do are there 200% . If you watch in normal speed, these athletes make it look “effortless” and when an amateur try to copy the same move, they can’t replicate or mimic it.
There are probably athletes who have what you might consider "textbook" technique. Lasha, Kuo Hsing Chun, Li Fabin, Keydomar Vallenilla are a few that come to mind for me. Then there are athletes who are just super fun to watch, because of technical idiosyncracies, history, and personality. Some of my favorites: Loredana Toma: her massive lean back in the snatch and the way she slingshots under the bar are so cool. Plus the intensity she brings to every lift. Mihaela Cambei: quite possibly the most explosive footwork in the sport. Her feet come up off the platform like rockets. Lesman Paredes: the longest limbs in history. Apparently, having the worst leverages ever isn't an impediment to winning multiple medals. Just a remarkable lifter. Marin Robu: adapted his technique around a serious ankle impingement. He's won medals working around what's basically an uneven catch position. Gor Minasyan: I doubt he'll even beat Lasha but the guy is an absolute beast. The fact that he barely breaks parallel snatching over 200kg is just insane. Hidilyn Diaz: a hugely inspirational athlete imo. She dealt with some crazy things leading up to the 2020 Olympics (stranded in rural Malaysia with no equipment during lockdown, falsely accused by the Duerte administration of being part of an anti-govt conspiracy) and then went on to win the Phillipines' first Olympic gold medal in any sport. Also a fantastic technician. The way she handled her final C&J at the last Olympics was 🤌
Thank you so much, I can’t wait to get into this!
All good! Hope you enjoy the list. Honestly there are so many beyond who I wrote about here, and every year new athletes make their way into the elite levels of the sport. If you want a regular stream of athlete stories and big moments in WL, Weightlifting House is great to follow on Insta and/or YT. High production value and deep knowledge of and passion for the sport.
I’ve been following WH for a while, I like Zach Telander too for weightlifting content. Slowly curating my feed to give me better weightlifting content
I would name 2 athletes whose technique i like the best. Jeison lopez, i love how he changes his grip from the clean and switches to a more wide one when he jerks. And obviously Lu’s snatches.
Deng Wei
They are all different. I like learning from athletes who have similar body type/proportions as it's most relevant. Biology affects technique
Off the top of my head, my favorite technical models are myself, kolecki, zakhrevitch, aramnau, sincraian, and rakuei. I am about 183cm, i weigh 97 ish kg, I have slightly long legs and arms. It is very hard, probably impossible, to truly copy technique. Every lifter has quirks and compensations, and the difference in proportions, strength, size, mobility, health/injury history, raw athleticism, grip, etc. can all result in massive changes to technique. Look at what each lifter does well and see how you can apply that to yourself. Get the fundamentals down too of course. An example Szymon Kolecki and Yuri Zakharevitch have very different 2nd pulls. Kolecki has a very exaggerated "scoop" and extension, while Zakharevitch is much smoother with a much more patient scoop. Both techniques can work great. But for me, through trial and error, I have found that the smooth transition of Zakharevitch works far better with a couple of tweaks (high contact, less lean back at the top) and is much more natural. It's also worth repeating what others have said: grit. Dont think that technique will make lifts easy. It will make them feel more natural, but they will still feel hard. Also, simply training with all kinds of variation is the greatest way to improve your technique. Twice I have had technical epiphanies due to doing cleans barefoot that enabled me to break plateaus. Even consider changing your clothing around sometimes: for a long time, i would only lift in joggers, but after I switched to shorts, it felt as if my contact quality and consistency both improved.
Nobody mentioned Sincraian. I want to say Yeison Lopez has pretty sharp technique. And nobody mentioned Tatiana either. Aramnau? Ruslan? Akkaev? For Americans, Alex Lee is who I watched a lot back in the day.
Not an answer to your question but as someone that's 186, I look at lifters like Bohdan Hoza, Redon Manushi and Aleksey Lovchev to see someone with similar proportions.
For me the male snatch has to be Torokhtiy or Lasha
Lu Xiaojun
Torokhtiy and Meso, probably
Basically every single DPKR lifter. They’re the country with the most standardized technique among their elite athletes.
North Koreans exhibit the qualities of being sharp/tight/fast/controlled/efficient and moving with conviction better than anyone else. They show how to be supernaturally explosive in an incredibly accurately applied way, as opposed to say some of the South American lifters who are very dynamically explosive but it's applied more broadly. I also think the specific clean recovery into jerk technique some of their women do is the most optimal. The consistent hard step of each foot inwards, creating a ton of whip, and going immediately into the jerk with perfect timing.
Guy Malhieros. Textbook lifter
Akbar Djuraev
Kuo and Lu definitely.
I like Kuo in general, that's the closest, but remember anatomy and approach matters. There are aspects of other lifter's technique I like too- I like Line Gude's split technique, although some might say it's too long. I love Mattie Rodgers' extension position and bar path in the snatch, so I might show that vertical drive piece to lifters having trouble with it. I'll show Milko Tokkola or Luis Mosquera when I talk about speed.
Perfect is hard to ascribe to varieties or body sizes. Consistently sound technique amongst a group though, Russian weightlifters. Okulov, Apti, Kashirina, etc all come to mind when it comes to technical perfection
I agree with this sentiment also.
The only answer you need is Adam Maligov
What about Apti
You won't be able to copy it just keep that in mind. What you want are principles to follow
Kuo Hsing-chun
Max lang
I believe that Kuo Hsing-Chun has the most perfect clean and jerk ever. The most beautifully balanced and effortless looking split jerk.
Ruslan nuridinov? Besides His finger tip rack ofc