Paul Comfort, G. Gregory Haff, Timothy J. Suchomel, Marcos A. Soriano, Kyle C. Pierce,
W. Guy Hornsby, Erin E. Haff, Lesley M. Sommerfield, Shyam Chavda, Stephanie J. Morris,11
Andrew C. Fry, and Michael H. Stone (2023).
“The origins of weightlifting and feats of strength span back to ancient Egypt, China, and Greece, with the introduction of weightlifting into the Olympic Games in 1896. However, it was not until the 1950s that training based on weightlifting was adopted by strength coaches working with team sports and athletics, with weightlifting research in peer-reviewed journals becoming prominent since the 1970s. the ability to manipulate barbell load across the extensive range of weightlifting exercises and their derivatives permits the strength and conditioning coach the opportunity to emphasize the development of strength-speed and speed-strength, as required for the individual athlete. the results of numerous longitudinal studies and subsequent meta-analyses demonstrate the inclusion of weightlifting exercises into strength and conditioning programs results in greater improvements in force-production characteristics and performance in athletic tasks than general resistance training or plyometric training alone.”