Teaching Olympic Weightlifting Movement Patterns

Most people develop the bad habit of using their arms to lift objects.  One technique that I use to re-wire these patterns is the use of the Dumbbell Jump Shrug.  I prefer the dumbbell version over the barbell one because it's easier to  keep the body and weight close to the center of mass using a neutral grip (palms facing each other).  The exercise is performed with the following set-up:

• Feet hip width apart and facing forward
• DBs held with neutral position at sides of thighs
• Keep the core tight
• Upper back slightly arched
• Chest a bit expanded
• Initiate move by moving the hips backwards, try keeping the upper body as upright as possible, knees will start bending slightly as glutes move back (the lowest position of the move should roughly match that of the bottom of a Vertical Jump).
• When the bottom position is reached, reverse the direction by thrusting the hips forward, as this happens the back and knees will naturally start to straighten
• Once the knees, hips and upper body are in the upright position continue the upward movement by raising on the toes and shrugging the shoulders at the same time.

Key Points:

• Keep the arms straight and loose as you travel upwards, once you're  fully extended (on tippy toes and shoulders shrugged as high as possible allow momentum to carry the DBs upward by allowing the elbows to bend.  DO NOT USE YOUR ARMS TO MOVE THE DBs UPWARDS!!!!.
• Start with fairly light DBs, the move should feel smooth and the DBs weightless at top position
• Keep repetitions at 3-10, but stop well short of form breakdown we're using this to engrain good movement patterns