At Austin Barbell, team training isn’t just a scheduling option, it’s the backbone of how we’ve been developing athletes for nearly a decade. You can lift a barbell anywhere. You can follow any program. But what you can’t replicate on your own is the energy, accountability, and relentless pursuit of excellence that comes from training as part of a team.

Olympic weightlifting—comprises the snatch and the clean & jerk—is one of the most neurologically demanding and biomechanically complex methods of force expression available to the strength and conditioning coach. Unlike ballistic movements such as throws or jumps, the Olympic lifts require athletes not only to project a load vertically, but to receiveit under high velocities in mechanically vulnerable positions. This dual demand—propulsion and absorption—is what differentiates weightlifting from other modalities.

Powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting recruit muscle fibers differently because the demands of each sport sit on opposite ends of the strength-speed spectrum. Powerlifting leans heavily on Type IIa fibers—strong, powerful, and built for sustained tension under heavy load. The lifts are slower, more controlled, and rely on grinding through maximal resistance. Olympic weightlifting, on the other hand, forces the nervous system to light up all three fiber types—but especially the fast-burning Type IIx fibers.

There’s a moment in every athlete’s journey when the bar stops cooperating. You’re training hard, hitting percentages, eating your chicken and rice—and yet, nothing’s moving like it should. Worse? You’re running yourself into the ground trying to figure out why.

This could be you, Or maybe not yet. At some point in your weightlifting career your progress will stall: doubling down on discipline, ignoring the fatigue, and telling yourself to “push harder.” Classic ego-based logic

CrossFit athletes are built different. They’re tough, athletic, and they live in the pain cave more days than not. Most have strength, decent mobility, and conditioning levels the average gym-goer couldn’t dream of. But there’s one piece of the puzzle that’s usually that never quite fits is Olympic lifting.