Apex Athletic Performance's main goal is to educate and instruct East Central Wisconsin High School Students on proper Strength and Conditioning Drills. This includes Olympic-style weight lifting.
Many schools in the area do not instruct their student-athletes on these lifts or functional drills. A high school student-athlete who plays at the collegiate level will have their coach hand them a lifting program for off-season work. If you are not properly trained in the lifts that you will see at the collegiate level of sports, a couple of things can happen:
1. You are already behind other new athletes on your collegiate team that may have several years of this type of lifting experience and you then need to try to catch up. This may jeopardize not only your spot on the first string, but a spot on the team all together.
2. The chance of injury for doing these power-developing lifts goes up with improper form. We drill on proper form to allow the most benefit for the lowest risk. A season-ending injury in college can not only ruin a season but any possible athletic future after college.
Another benefit from developing these skills at Apex is that we have a 22lb "Training Barbell" along with the standard 45 lb Olympic Barbell.
By using the Training Bar, Student-Athletes who are newer to lifting can develop proper technique, as opposed to fighting a much heavier bar. Wrestling with a bar that is too heavy can ingrain poor form. The newer, or younger, lifter can now develop proper technique first, and worry about loading on the plates later once good form is in place.
We also use Bumper Plates. Very few schools outfit their training room with bumper plates. I know it's subjective, but I feel that doing Olympic-style lifts with Bumper Plates just has the bar move more smoothly in space versus smaller, but denser, iron plates. Bumper Plates allow for good technique and will again be the plate of choice for most College/University Weight Training Rooms.