The Olympic Lifts could be viewed as the most ludicrously cheated deadlift-upright-row-standing-presses possible. But nobody criticises the bad form, lack of muscular involvement or the injury potential of the olympic lifts. Instead, people respect that the olympic lifts require more precise form, skill and athleticism than any other barbell exercise.
If an athlete were to regularly injure themselves on a clean & jerk or a snatch, people would correctly recognise that the athlete was at fault. And if a coach tried preaching that the olympic lifts should always be performed slowly with light weights because injury cannot be avoided otherwise, they would rightly be recognised as horribly incompetent.
There are ways to lift heavy weights, safely and consistently for dramatically more rapid strength and muscle development, to a level that would be unobtainable otherwise. And then there are ways to not lift heavy weights because performance would be inconsistent and/or injury would eventuate.
Anybody who warns against ever lifting heavy due to the inevitability of injury is stating that they are completely incompetent and that the form they teach is injurious an inappropriate for making progress on. Avoid their advice!
