Dead lifts & clean and jerks

If you gave me a lifter's deadlift and asked me what their clean and jerk was, well, it could probably be anything below their deadlift weight. Now, if you gave me the lifter's back squat, I could predict rather accurately what they do clean and jerk or, rather, their potential for the clean and jerk.  

There is a common misconception that deadlifts are a predictor and assistance exercise to the clean and jerk.   Some lifters believe that the deadlift gives them confidence in lifting their clean and jerk off the floor.   

In reality, the deadlift is an exercise in static strength. In the realm of Olympic lifting, it is not a technical exercise and it is much too slow to excite the muscle micro fibers in the same way that a clean and jerk does.

If you are looking for a good assistance exercise to the clean and jerk, then Squat:

Empirical studies done by the Soviets, on the other hand, show that the back squat is the best predictor of snatch, clean and jerk, and total.  

When should an olympic lifter deadlift ?

Weightlifters really don't need to deadlift. [Gasp] At Risto Sports, we just had an elite level lifter train with us, whose training had not been consistent after the Olympics.  In effect,they really wanted to dead lft, just to feel strong again. Against their comfort zone,  we did not let them deadlift for 2 months!  And guess what, they had hit new C&J heights with great confidence, sans deadlifts.

Sure, you can see photos of Dmitry Klokov looking cool doing a snatch grip deadlift.  You can also see photos of him bench pressing. This does not mean it is a staple of olympic weightlifting training.

Further, my BWFF, Nick Horton, the iron samurai, said something really smart on twitter. Recently, he noted that his lifters deadlift more out of fun than out of it actually helping their lifting.  You can do this too.

In other words, if you are looking to pare down your olympic lifting exercises to the few essential ones, then don't deadlift.  If you're just lifting to feel really strong and to get size, sure, deadlift all you want.