The Scoop & The Second Pull, Greg Glassman, Jan 06 CFJ

Olympic weightlifters have been found to have higher vertical leaps and quicker 25-meter sprint times than any other athletes, including Olympic high-jumpers and sprinters.

The technical explanation for this is that the weightlifters have better "speed strength" than any other athletes. Speed-strength is defined as a combination of starting strength (ability to fire many muscle units instantaneously) and explosive strength (ability to keep these motor units firing once turned on).

The more useful explanation as to why they can out sprint and out leap all others is, quite simply, because they weightlift. (Weightlifting, remember, is the sport of Olympic lifting: the clean and jerk, and the snatch.)

So, weightlifting is unsurpassed in developing lightning-quick athletic movement and has enormous carryover to all explosive sport.

This entire article is available in the CrossFit Store.