Olympic Lifting Room Etiquette
by Coach Carrie Olson
As a Diablo Strong Weightlifting Coach, I am sometimes asked about the “unwritten rules” of weight room etiquette. “Where should I walk?” “When should I lift?” “Which weights are ok to use?”
So, here are some common sense rules for the Strong Room which can be boiled down to two main ideas:
- Be aware of your surroundings – keep your eyes up; look and listen to what’s going on around you.
- Treat the Strong room (and the equipment) like it’s your own. Would you want someone coming into your house, leaving things out and not putting stuff back where it belongs
Here’s some other things to keep in mind when you’re in Strong Class or just lifting in the Strong room:
- Load the bar properly. Try to use the largest plate possible. For example, use a 25lb plate rather than a 15lb and a 10lb plate. A bunch of 10’s looks awesome but it’s not good for the bar and others might need to use the plates, too. Sharing is caring!
- During a lift, try not to walk in the lifter’s line of vision. It can be distracting and dangerous, especially if it’s a max lift. Instead, stop and watch! You can learn a lot from watching others lift.
- Do not walk over someone’s barbell. This is similar to above but now we are talking about their actual barbell. Please walk behind the platform whenever possible. This is a safety concern. And, lifters can be very superstitious – you don’t want to be the blame for a missed lift!
- Keep conversations to the side or behind, especially if someone is taking a big lift. One of the best parts of Olympic lifting is getting to take a break between lifts.
- The Eleiko barbells and kilogram plates stay in the Strong Room. And never use an Eleiko barbell for CrossFit workouts. We have a variety of barbells to choose from for classes & open gym.
- Please clean up your equipment. Even better, help your classmates out and help them put away their stuff too!
- Finally, never drop an empty barbell! An empty barbell should never be dropped to the floor unless you are a world champion (it still hurts my heart when they do it).
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And, if you’re ever in doubt – just ask a Coach. They’ll be happy to make sure you’re on the right path to an awesome Strong experience.
Coach Carrie Olson
