Hey Anthrax. This is the former Steelweaver. I quit bodybuilding and took up OL. You do need to be young to start (and probably have great genetics, and a great coach, and sponsors) if you want to become world class, but with patience and time, any age can learn. I started at 30. It's very difficult without a coach, but possible. I know one Austr guy on the boards who taught himself from vidoes and books. Buy the Weightlifting Encyclopaedia by Arthur Drechsler. It's brilliant and breaks every lift down into its components. It covers everything you ever needed to know about OL. Also try and see if you can get any of Mel Siff's books, or any of the Russian or Bulgarian coachs' books.
It's better to learn the full lifts first before you do power cleans and snatches. The hips are in a different position on the power moves, and if you learn with power moves, there's a good chance you'll get into a habit you can't break, and will never get the full moves right. Then you'll never catch a max lift, since those are caught right at the bottom.
Overhead squats (snatch grip and clean grip), front squats (NOT the crossed arm type) and high bar back squats are great. Skip DL for now and start learning second and first pulls (shoulders are in a diff position with pulls, and doing DLs too pulls your line out). Learn second pulls first, then ground work for first pulls. After you master 2nd and 1st, you put them together for a smooth pull, then add in the rest of the move. But DO squat down every time. My coach wouldn't let me do power moves for the first 1.5 years!
Do push presses, and graduate to power jerks. Full jerks are hard to learn. You'll need books and videos. Can't you find a coach? The local university (if you have one)should have someone who knows something, no???
Fortified Iron and GoHeavy.com are both OL sites. You'll find advice there. If you remember spatts, her own site now has a good OL coach visiting there sometimes. But you'll have to contact her privately through Irontrybe, I think.
Good luck man! Welcome to OL! It's a thrilling and satisfying sport you'll either fall completely in love with, or will quit within months from aching joints (that's the age bit ... it's very hard on the joints).
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