From First Lift to First Platform: The Excelsior Pathway
Encourage, support, nurture novice weightlifters
Unlike NGBs with their ‘top-down’ linear pathways that look good on PowerPoint, our experience with real human beings at our club is that every young person is different. It’s what makes coaching fun (and frustrating at times).
Our weightlifting academy girls.
Many people don’t choose to compete in weightlifting; they take up the sport for different reasons. The i9 sports survey, “Shaping the Future of Sports for Girls”, 1500 parents and girls about their attitudes to sport.
You can see the results below:
We would be foolish to emphasise medals at the expense of having fun and building confidence, and yet, guess what NGBs focus on?
Yep, which is why we don’t receive funding from the top. Luckily, we did receive some funding from Devon County Council to run our weightlifting academy. Here’s an overview of our club philosophy and processes.
(N.b. there are flaws in here, but this is our real-world club environment. Before you criticise, ask yourself, ‘What have I done lately to help a real human person?’ It’s easy to criticise from the safety of your keyboard.
1. The Philosophy: Movement Before Loading
Athletic longevity is not built on the weight of the barbell, but on the integrity of the movement. At Excelsior, we adhere to a non-negotiable rule: movement before loading.
Many novices arrive with a “full cup”—preconceptions from social media or experience with the “C-word” (CrossFit). They often want to jump into “bad power cleans” just to move weight. True mastery requires emptying that cup.
We prioritise “movement over muscles”; our gym has no benches because we aren’t interested in lying down to push things. We are interested in picking heavy weights up—defining “heavy” as anything challenging, but looking to lift weights exceeding your body weight eventually. Squatting body weight is a milestone, then cleaning it, then jerking it, then snatching it.
The core values of our club guide this journey:
Patience: Weightlifting is a late-development sport; we are in no rush to load a stiff frame.
Empathy: We meet you where you are, acknowledging that every athlete’s coordination fluctuates (and that young people often arrive physically illiterate).
Technical Mastery: Focusing on the “how” creates a higher ceiling for the “how much.”
4 women at our club: all very different people.
2. The Architecture of a Session: Technique and Mobility
A specific warm-up is a strategic tool, not a time-filler. We follow a "general to Specific” progression, starting with movements such as skipping and then bodyweight exercises such as multi-directional lunges to get the mind and body working.
The first time we touch the barbell, we often perform a specific sequence: the Hinge, Press, and Overhead Squat. This establishes balance before any speed is added. For beginners, we use wooden sticks, med balls and aqua bags to provide variety within the same movement.
We use 10kg bars and wooden disks (0.75kg) to practise pulling from the floor without excessive load. We prioritise the “Snatch-First” methodology because the snatch is the most complex lift; it requires a fresh mind and peak speed.
Building the movement and confidence with an appropriate load.
While the clean is vital, it is often “caveman stuff” in relative terms—simpler to load for strength—whereas the snatch and jerk require deep technical precision.
3. Taking Care of Business: Preparing for Competition
The bridge to the competition platform begins with our “P.B. nights", where we encourage our members to ‘go heavy’ in front of their peers. This causes some pressure, but in a supportive environment.
We then encourage entry to our club competition so that they get used to weighing in, having three attempts at each lift, and knowing what a total is!
The transition to an official competition and a new venue is "frenetic". There is a lot to take in. We use checklists to help the lifters (and parents) get organised.
While the lifters have been preparing for weeks and months, the parents are often caught unawares as to the importance of things like food, transport and organisation to give their child the best opportunity to succeed. I made this video to help them:
All the preparation in the world doesn’t help with the experience of the back room for the first time! We use the TCB (Taking Care of Business) mantra to “Control the Controllables.” During the event, the coaches act as the “thinkers”—managing the clock and the board—so our lifters can simply be the “lifter.”
Helping two of our lifters warm up at a recent competition.
Summary of the Journey
Weightlifting rewards those with the patience to build a broad base of coordination. We aren’t looking for quick fixes; our goal is to develop happy, healthy movers who are competent and confident.
If they do choose to compete, then we encourage the lifters to trust the framework, embrace the process of learning, and enjoy their first time under the lights.
The primary goal of their first competition is simple: have a positive experience and a bit of fun. Medals are a bonus.