Posted by: Ronnie (rwynn@comsouth.net) on Tue Jan 5 18:22:23 2010

Not knowing your age, here is a word of caution. This are very dangerous lifts for adolescent athletes although many high schools do them (ours does, I know of several injuries).
see link:
http://www.hughston.com/hha/a_15_2_2.htm
Quote:
"Olympic-style and competitive weightlifting are very dangerous for any age group and should be avoided entirely in the prepubescent and adolescent age groups. Olympic lifting movements, such as the power clean, "snatch," and clean-and-jerk, are associated with low back injuries and spinal defects such as spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis and are not appropriate for these age groups."
Here is what I saw with my son at 14 and (now) 15 years old at his high school:
Distance of average BP homerun was 400 feet with some to 450 and one BP with 5 around 500 feet when not lifting weights.
When lifting weights the average BP longest hit is around 300 feet.
If he had not lifted in 4 days he would hit max distance to 350.
When off the weights for 7 or mare days the 400 footers came back.
It did not seem to matter heavy or light weights - the results were consistent.
Pitch velocity showed about a 7-8% drop with a 2 week minimum for velocity to return.
This was for 2 years straight. I like the idea of light weights but that is an individual perspective on what light means.
Needless to say we are not doing the weight room lifting at school anymore.
If you lift and hit, please let us know your results.
Jack's advice on hand and elbow position put the puzzle together for my son.