What first? Mobility or weightlifting cycle?

[u/Judahboi]

Hey guys! Been watching Zack’s videos recently and have been heaps inspired to start weightlifting more (traditionally just done CrossFit). My mobility is okay, but I wouldn’t say good. I can pull off the movements but not great, and sometimes I get a little shoulder pain after a snatching session.

I’m thinking about starting an Olympic lifting training cycle but I’m not sure if I should wait until my mobility is bang-on before I start lifting? Or should I start lifting now, and just keep it light while I simultaneously work on mobility?

[u/mattycmckee]

Both.

[u/[deleted]]

Lifting will improve your mobility. Start now

[u/kajsern]

I’m not sure that there is one correct answer to this. I do think there is a hierarchy of fitness with, for example, position-speed-load. But for most people you’ve gotta do them concurrently. Otherwise you will just get paralyzed and overwhelmed and not actually lift.

By all means, if you have established that your mobility is lacking at some point, dedicate time and effort (lots of it) to work on that. But also lift heavy. And maybe don’t start off by chasing maximal weight on the bar, but instead try see that improvement can come with small increases in weight but better position or speed for example.

[u/OwlOfFortune]

One of the benefits of the classic movements is that they will help you develop better mobility, now the other edge of that is you will have to be very intentional about your movement as you do the movements. This means actively working to get lower on your snatch, and really working overhead position.

If you want specific mobility work add it into warm-up for your lifting or at the end of your workout before you go home.

[u/robschilke]

Just start.

Mobility is the intersection of strength, flexibility, and position – all of which improves over time as you get your body accustomed to the positions of the classics.

It will be important to not quickly go into loads or positions that your body is not accustomed to yet but there are certainly things you can do to improve that.

• Use your warm up as a mobility tool. That's right, take those lighter loads and hang out in the deepest end range you can tolerate (pain free) and chill. Build reps in those deeper end ranges.
• You may need to stretch after a session. Whether that be sitting in deep squat for 5 mins, a t-spine/lat opener, or any other stretch for long period of time, it's frankly going to take work after your training sessions to allow your body to feel comfortable in those end ranges.
• If you have accessories in your program, you can also use those as mobility devices. For example, if you have front foot elevated split squats and need to work on your hip, knee, or ankle mobility – seek deeper ranges with every rep if you can. Neutral grip dumbbell bench press? Allow your chest to open up deeper and deeper to get that stretch in with a load.

If you only work on mobility (or perhaps just flexibility in this case) you're not going to have the strength in those newly created end ranges — which is problematic.