USA Weightlifting Cert Level 1 (Sports Performance)

[keithsuth]

I have a few questions for anyone who has gotten the USAW L1SP Certification or any other cert by USA Weightlifting.

1. I'll be attending a 2 day certification in NJ in February, and I was wondering if anyone had insight into what I should be expecting?

2. Do you feel like the training and certification were beneficial?

3. Any other information about the certification or USAW that you can share.

[NorwichGrad]

I actually plan to get the same cert this May in Stroudsbugh, PA..

I have been getting coached by a competitive Olympic lifter for some time now. (He is not certified.) As a result of training as an Olympic lifter, I feel pretty comfortable teaching new lifters how to do the Olympic lifts. I only have ISSA now, and the head trainer at the gym wants me to officially get certified to make me and the gym more marketable.

I'm not sure if you have any Oly experience. From what I understand, this level will only teach you the basics fundamentals of the lifts, broken down into individual segments. In other words, they will teach you how to do high pulls, tall cleans, muscle clean, clean from high pull, etc.... prior to actually doing hang power cleans..

If you are a complete Oly newbie with zero experience, I would say a weekend course is not enough to be a proficient lifter and / or trainer, but it should be a good enough starting point..

But if you are an experienced lifter, it doesn't hurt to learn from different points of view.

Either way, getting this cert is win-win..

[dasixthsun]

imo it was a great course. Like the poster above stated it will teach you in steps from front squat to hang clean at mid thigh then below knee and then the power clean. the snatch will be taught in a similar fashion. Then they will go over power assistance exercises and on the next day plyometrics. Before you leave they will make sure you know how to perform the oly lifts as well as teach them or you will not pass. Dont worry though cause they spend a great amount of time practicing and making sure you have good form.

[keithsuth]

thanks for the input guys...you've both been repped.

[NikkiRe]

I am taking this course in a few days. Feeling really nervous because I have only done oly lifts for fun and have a basic ACE PT cert.
Can you give me more info on what this was like. Does the test go off of the manual or everything they teach at the course (or both)