Strength Development for Weightlifting

Citation preview

Table of Contents Introduction Systems Versus Principles Outline of the book About the author Chapter 1 Scientific Principles of Strength Weightlifting & Strength Strength Adaptations Governing Statement on Strength Chapter 2 Methods and Means Methods (Loading) Means (Exercises) Chapter 3 Structure of the training process Qualification of the athlete Long term development considerations Structure of the training cycle Training Phases Training blocks Training weeks Training days Chapter 4 Steps to constructing a training cycle Step 1. Define a training objective Step 2: Finding your individual weaknesses Step 2: Finding your MEV Chapter 5 Putting the pieces together Step 1. Selecting the weekly structure Step 2. Distribution of volume Step 3. Exercise selection Step 4. Loading (intensity/reps per set) Sample programs Beginner Intermediate/Advanced Advanced Conclusion

4 6 7 8 8 11 13 14 15 15 16 22 38 38 38 40 42 43 50 51 54 56 56 56 57 61 66 66 66 67 68 69 71 71 72 78 84

Systems Versus Principles The goal of this book is to provide a useful guide to developing strength in the sport of weightlifting for new coaches and self-coached athletes. The rapid growth of weightlifting in the United States has brought athletes from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to the sport. The continual increase in qualifying totals at national meets and winning of international medals are a testament to the benefits this has brought to weightlifting in the United States. However, this growth has also lead to misapplication of weightlifting training principles by both athletes and coaches. This is not the fault of any one person or organization, and at times a diversity of training methods can be helpful, but without an approach that addresses the sport-specific needs of weightlifting there will always be untapped potential left on the table. The biggest mistake I see new coaches and self-coached athletes make is a reliance on training systems rather than training principles. The history of weightlifting training is full of systems; the Soviet system, the Bulgarian system, the Chinese system, etc. It is not uncommon to hear coaches debating about which system is best, or athletes discussing which Russian squat program to do next. The intuition of these coaches and athletes is right, we need a framework to organize our training. However, this is best achieved through training principles rather than following a training system. The reason for this has to do with the concept of generalizability. When evaluating scientific research, one of the many questions researchers may ask, is how well the results from a study may generalize to other populations than the one being studied. A common example of this is studies done on rats versus humans. If a study done on rats shows a link between artificial sweeteners and cancer, this does not immediately mean the same link will appear in humans. A central question researchers should ask is if the rat results generalize well to humans. In some cases they do, and in others they do not, but more research is often needed to confirm that. For weightlifting systems, we should ask ourselves whether or not the populations studied to develop these systems are similar enough to American weightlifters today to make the results generalizable. Let’s begin by comparing the populations. America has inherited weightlifting systems from countries with massive public investment, with the goal of developing weightlifting as a national sport. It is not just that these systems were developed with full-time weightlifters in mind, but they were state-sponsored, full-time athletes. This means that training facilities, coaching, food, massage, sauna, and lodging were all provided for the athlete so they could dedicate all of their mental and physical energy to training. Despite many elite American weightlifters training full-time today, even with private sponsorships, it is rare to see conditions that rival those of state-funded training systems. Not only was the average Soviet lifter a full-time athlete, they were also all men, and likely using performance enhancing drugs. [add stat about women usaw members and general USAW demographics] With these considerations in mind, we should be skeptical about the generalizability of past weightlifting systems for American athletes. Next we need to evaluate the goals of weightlifting systems to see if they align with ours. Since these training systems were developed at the national level, they were only concerned with the success of individual athletes as a means to national success. The goal was not to develop you as an individual, but to develop a system that worked for most people. This is demonstrated by looking at the data used to support these systems. Most soviet texts provide guidelines on the monthly or annual tonnage load, offer guidelines of athlete qualification based on a lifter’s total, and prescribe mesocycles of predetermined length. All of these recommendations come from research that evaluated the best performance of the average soviet lifter.

The USSR was a massive state with tens of thousands of weightlifters, so developing a training system based on best average performance was a logical, and very successful, decision. However, as discussed above, it is silly to think that the average American weightlifter today would look anything like the average Soviet lifter of the 1960’s. Not only are the populations drastically different (which reduces generalizability), but the goals are not aligned with those of the average American weightlifter. The average USAW coach is not responsible for hundreds of different athletes, which means that personalized training programs based on scientific principles are not only possible, but recommended. The same is true for self-coached athletes. The final consideration for training systems is how they were actually applied. American weightlifters are historically terrible at putting these systems into context. Every single forum thread, Youtube comment, and Reddit post about the Bulgarian weightlifting system is a testament to this. Many Americans have spent large portions of their career training to maximum, but next to none have had their access to food and shelter be determined by their competition results. The same can be said about the Soviet system or the Greek system or whichever other system you fancy. Despite our willingness to use these systems with our athletes, we have relatively little knowledge of how these systems were applied to individuals. We know the theoretical approach, and we know that all these systems produced great results, but we have less clarity about how the daily practices turned theory into gold medals. Despite all of the above differences between principle and system-based approaches there are many similarities. The reality is that systems have been so historically successful because they themselves are principle-based. Different systems will emphasize different principles (for a detailed account of the Bulgarian system, see here) but in the end, no successful system is in violation of the majority of the scientific principles. The case for a principle-based approach is that it frees us from the unnecessary constraints of a system which allows us to focus on personalized, daily practices that have individual results as an end goal, rather than a means to national sport success.

Outline of the Book This book is broken up into five chapters, each addressing a different aspect of strength development in weightlifting. The chapters are ordered such that the broader and more theoretical ones are first, followed by the more specific and applied chapters. We have arranged the book in this way to be as inclusive as possible to readers who may not be familiar with Olympic weightlifting or strength training. As an added bonus, starting with the general concepts and ending with the specific ones allows the book to mimic the direction of a properly programmed training cycle, which we will learn more about in the coming chapters. The first chapter introduces and defines the Scientific Principles of Weightlifting that we will use to guide our training. For people familiar with the the Scientific Principles of Strength Training by Israetel et al. (2015), this chapter is a review of these principles for the sport specific context of Olympic weightlifting. The second chapter explores the exercises we use to get strong, providing comprehensive charts on loading, training frequency, and exercise variations. Along with specific exercises, this chapter also covers some basic concepts in strength training programming including periodization, training volume, and intensity. Chapter three elaborates on the basic concepts in the previous chapters by outlining how we qualify liters by experience level, and how we program an effective training cycle. Each component of the training cycle is broken down into its individual parts and explained in detail. The fourth chapter introduces the self audit. This is a tool we developed to help lifters identify their training needs, which we can then use to write an individualized program. The final chapter presents multiple sample programs that can be used as a guideline for developing an individual training program. While we are careful to define all the terms when they are first introduced, we have also provided a glossary at the end of the book so that all the terms and their definitions can be found in one place for easy reference. The information provided in the subsequent chapters is not meant to be an encyclopedic account of all aspects of strength training, but it should provide everything that a coach or athlete needs to get stronger. This book is not an exercise science text produced by an academic publisher, nor is it another gym rat memoir with a spreadsheet program attached. Ultimately, this book is meant to be a practical guide to strength training in weightlifting for coaches and self-coached athletes. I hope that this book can help provide a roadmap to a higher competition total for lifters in all stages of their careers. Taking a principle based approach to training requires a bit more thinking than just following a random program on the internet, but I promise that learning how to apply the scientific principles to your training will be well worth the investment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Max Aita is the Head Coach of Team Juggernaut Weightlifting. He has been involved in The Sport of Weightlifting as both a coach and an athlete for more than 20 years. As an athlete, Max spent the majority of his career learning from some of the best coaches in the world, including Steve Gough (USA) and Ivan Abadjiev (BUL) Boris Sheiko (RUS), training in the American, Russian and Bulgarian Systems. As a coach, he has put his vast knowledge and experience gained as an athlete in the sport to practical use by developing some of the best athletes in the United States. He is the only current coach in the country to produce 3 separate Senior American Record holders. His coaching accomplishments also include: Senior American Open Champions and Medalists Senior National Champions and Medalists Pan-Am Medalist World Team Member Senior American Record Holders Masters National Champions Masters World Champions Masters World Games Champions Masters World Record Holders Max is also the author of: Weightlifting Technique Triad: Exercise Classification & Selection Beginner’s Guide to Weightlifting

Chapter 1 Scientific Principles of Strength

The principles of strength used in this book are drawn from the Scientific Principles of Strength Training by Israetel et al. (2015). For fans of Juggernaut Training System and Renaissance Periodization, they should be fairly familiar. These principles are the foundation of modern strength training programs, with each violation of a training principle risking a decrease in the program’s potential. Despite a consistency in principles across disciplines, be it weightlifting, powerlifting, or strongman, each sport requires a specific application of these principles. This book presents a sport-specific application of the scientific principles of strength to weightlifting. In other words, training will be organized such that no principles are violated and that maximum snatch and clean and jerk results are achieved in competition. The seven principles of strength are defined below and listed in their order of importance:

Specificity

The degree to which a training stimulus is relevant to the sport. In the example of a weightlifter, the most specific exercises are Snatch and Clean & Jerk. Slightly lower specificity would be Front Squat for instance. And very low specificity would be long distance running. Specificity is a spectrum with most specific being the sport itself and least specific would be cross-training a different sport. Overload Training must become increasingly more difficult in order for the athlete to improve fitness. Fitness is defined as the ability of the athlete to perform a specific task. The most basic example of overload would be if a lifter did 5x5 squats every week and added 5kg to the bar each week.

Fatigue management

The organization and planning of training stressors to mitigate the negative impacts of fatigue. Fatigue is defined as a reduction in the ability of an athlete to perform a specific task. Much like the example above if a lifter does 5x5 squats every week and keeps adding weight they will eventually become too fatigued to increase, at this point they need to rest and decay any fatigue they have before returning to training. This is the essence of fatigue management.

SRA (Stimulus, Recovery, Adaptation)

The process in training where a stimulus is applied to the body that disrupts homeostasis and the following Recovery and Adaptation that occurs. This positive adaptation is called supercompensation. The more significant the stimulus the larger (longer time) the SRA curve is. A heavy squat takes longer to recover from and adapt to than a few sets of curls. SRA is the basic idea that when you apply a stressor in training it takes a certain timeframe for the adaptations to that stressor to happen.

Variation

Strategic changes to training means, methods or structure that magnify the long term training effect. An example of variation is when you switch exercises or set and rep schemes to improve your training and avoid adaptive resistance. Adaptive resistance is when the body has a diminished response to a continuous stressor. When you do the same thing over and over and over again your body has responds less and less to the training and you eventually stop making progress.

Phase Potentiation

The strategic sequencing of training to enhance the potential of subsequent phases. A great example of this principle is when you switch from doing high volume training in one phase to lower volume training in the next phase.

Individual Differences

Each individual’s response to developing fitness is unique and factors such as age, gender, genetics, size, etc play a role in that response. The amount of training that a small 49kg lifter does should be different than the amount of training that a large 150kg male lifter does. These concepts may seem abstract right now, but don’t worry! The goal of this book is to contextualize these principles and make them easy to understand so we can use them to build an effective training program. I would also recommend watching my Youtube series titled “Scientific Principles of Weightlifting” where I explain each principle in detail.

Now that we have defined the principles, we need to understand the concept of Directed Adaptation, which is the sequential and continuous arrangement of stressors toward a specific goal or in more simple terms its the process of training. All of our principles need to be adhered to and organized in such a way that we get the adaptations we need for Weightlifting. When we are making a training plan we need to always be considering how our choices are governed by the principles. Below are a few of the questions we ask ourselves as coaches. What Exercise should I do? How much should I train? How often and how much should I rest? When to change training variables? How do I make a program more individualized to me or my athlete? The principle-based approach I propose relies on trial and error. The principles will give you a guideline for what to try, but they will never tell you what exactly will work for you. The more experienced you become as an athlete or coach, the better you will become at applying the principles to training. If you are not doing so already, having a detailed training log is an invaluable asset for developing a successful training program for yourself or your athletes. Now that we are familiar with the scientific principles of strength and some of their implications on training, it is time to define what we actually want to accomplish. This means setting goals and properly aligning our priorities in training.

Weightlifting & Strength So far, we’ve talked a lot about training being goal-oriented, but what does this mean for weightlifting? All Olympic weightlifters share one sport-specific goal, which is to lift the heaviest barbell possible on competition day. Despite the destination being the same, not every athlete will take the same route to get there. At an individual level, goal setting is about assessing what qualities the lifter needs to improve so that maximum performance can be achieved. While there are many athletic qualities a weightlifter can train, for the purpose of this book we will focus on strength most important ones. Individual circumstances will determine how much time is spent on each quality. These qualities are: Strength Technique Speed These three athletic qualities are all interconnected which means that even if we want to focus on strength, the changes we make to our strength levels will also impact our technique and speed qualities. While we will only be talking specifically about strength in this book, it is important to note the other training objectives, so we are aware of all the different factors that go into developing a training program. A helpful way to visualize how all of these athletic qualities fit together is by placing the sport of weightlifting on the Force-Velocity curve.

While an in-depth discussion of the science behind the Force-Velocity curve is beyond the scope of this book, there are valuable implications of this inverse relationship for the sport of weightlifting. The first observation is that movements which require the most force production, like a maximum attempt in the deadlift, will produce little velocity, and movements which require a lot of velocity, like a high jump, require relatively little force production. This is why the sport of powerlifting is very high on the Y-axis and far to the left on the X-axis, but jumping is low in the Y-axis and far to the right on the X-axis. When we think about the athletic demands of weightlifting, the snatch and clean and jerk (also known as the classic lifts) can be thought of as movements that fall somewhere in between a very high force and very high velocity, with a bias toward force. Since the goal of weightlifting is not to lift the barbell as high as possible, but rather to lift the heaviest barbell, weightlifting is dependent on force. A primary goal of strength development in weightlifting is to improve an athlete’s force production as high as possible while maintaining their ability to apply that force with significant velocity. If we only trained weightlifters to be more force-producing at the expense of all other training qualities, then they would basically just be powerlifters. Conversely, if we do not try to improve an athlete’s ability to produce force we would have a useless lifter. The principle of specificity tells us that if we only focus only on developing more force we will inevitably become slower. So what can we do to both develop strength and speed all while maintaining technique? We have a couple of options to try and solve this problem. The first is to divide our training evenly across all athletic qualities at the same time, without prioritizing one over the other. This option sounds really appealing, why not just train all things equally and be done with it? The main issues with this are that as a lifter becomes better and better they need to do more and more training to improve (the overload principle). We are also limited by the amount of energy and training we can actually do before becoming too tired (principle of fatigue management). The second option is to divide up our training into different phases that focus on overloading only one quality at a time while we maintain the other. This option allows us to satisfy overload and have almost all of our resources available to devote to a single training quality. It also allows for fatigue management because we will not have to train as much to develop all qualities simultaneously. This simple idea is the backbone of a phasic training structure. Overload one quality while we maintain others, and rotate from less specific training to more specific training in each subsequent phase. The following sections and chapters of this book aim to define strength as an athletic quality and demonstrate how best to train for it as a weightlifter.

Defining Strength

So what actually is strength? For the purposes of this book we will discuss two types of strength: Absolute Strength and Explosive Strength. Absolute Strength: Absolute Strength is essentially an athlete’s ability to produce as much force as possible regardless of how long it takes. For example, imagine a lifter who takes ten seconds to grind through a maximum effort squat. This is an expression of absolute strength because they overcame the weight on the bar, but it took them ten seconds to do so. Explosive Strength: Explosive Strength is the ability to produce a large amount of force in a small amount of time. This concept is also known as the Rate of Force Development (RFD). The less time it takes for an athlete to generate maximum force the more explosive strength they possess. Using the same example from above, if the same maximum effort squat only took four seconds to complete, the RFD would be much higher, demonstrating more explosive strength. Strength Adaptations What is actually going on inside our brain and muscles when we get stronger? Beyond simply defining what strength is, we will briefly describe the mechanisms behind how we get stronger physiologically. The two physiological adaptations we are most concerned with are morphological adaptations and neurological adaptations. Morphological Adaptations Morphological changes are changes to the muscle on a structural level, meaning either an increase or decrease in the cross sectional area of a muscle due to either the hypertrophy or atrophy of muscle fibers. In most cases, although not all, as we get stronger we see an increase in the cross sectional area of our muscles. We do not mean to suggest that there is a direct relationship between strength and hypertrophy, but rather to note that the morphological adaptations made over a lifter’s career will influence their potential for strength development. Is this just a fancy way of saying that getting stronger will probably get you more jacked? Yes it is. Neurological Adaptations Neurological adaptations are changes in the body’s ability to effectively use muscles to produce more force, or produce force over less time. Continually exposing ourselves to heavy loads improves our brain’s ability to recruit and synchronize the motor units in our muscles. This essentially means getting better at using the muscles we already have. As mentioned above, the relationship between morphological and neurological adaptations is not direct, but they are related. While morphological changes (or having bigger muscles) sets the upper ceiling for how strong you can potentially become, the neurological adaptations determine how close you can get to that ceiling. To a large degree how strong a lifter can become will determine the upper limit for their classic lifts. A very efficient lifter might be able to clean the same as their max front squat, but if their front squat is 150 kilos, that is their upper limit. On the other hand, a lifter with a 200 kilo front squat but only a 150 kilo clean has a higher ceiling.

They have the potential to lift more, even if their technique isn’t quite there yet. An example of an athlete with a large amount of muscle mass but relatively low neurological adaptations is a bodybuilder. Their main goal is to have bigger muscles, with strength gains only coming as a by-product of the work they need to do to increase their muscle mass. An opposite example of an athlete with high neurological adaptations and relatively lower morphological adaptations is a long jumper. Their very high levels of neurological adaptations allow them to display explosive efforts in the long jump, without excess muscle mass that might weigh them down. For weightlifters, the ideal mix of muscle mass and neurological adaptations is externally limited by the weight class. Once a lifter has determined their weight class, the goal for all lifters is to be as muscular as possible at the appropriate body weight. The more muscle mass a lifter has, the higher their strength ceiling is. This is evident by the fact that the world records for each weight class increase as the weight classes get heavier. Maximizing muscle mass gives the athlete the best chance at maximizing their strength potential through neurological adaptations, which in turn provides the strength necessary to achieve high results in the classic lifts. Governing Statement on Strength Strength development in weightlifting is hotly debated topic among coaches. Some will say that you can never be too strong, while others think that strength should only be minimally developed to support the classic lifts. There is no universal right answer to this question, as the answer generally depends on the specific situation of the athlete. My answer to this question is summed up in the governing statement on strength that I adapted from my friend Mark Bell:

Strength is never a weakness, but it isn’t always the answer In order to increase your results in the classic lifts you can either become stronger, or more efficient. Getting stronger in weightlifting generally refers to improving results in lifts that are not the classic lifts, such as front squat, back squat, pulls, and push press. Becoming more efficient means reducing the difference between your maximum results in the classic lifts and your strength lifts. Practicing the classic lifts will increase your efficiency and your skill, but your absolute strength will always be the upper ceiling of your possible competition results. For example, a lifter that only front squats 100 kilos will never be able to clean 115 kilos, even with the most efficient technique imaginable. Due to the time and work necessary to develop the levels of strength required to be successful in weightlifting, strength development must be a primary goal.

Chapter 2 Methods and Means

This next chapter explores the methods and means we use to get stronger. The methods are how we apply exercises in training, and the means are the exercises. While the answer may be clear to some, it is worth asking why we need to consider methods and means in the first place. If specificity and overload are the two most important scientific principles, why not just perform the classic lifts at maximum intensities everyday? The simple answer is that this approach fulfills the most important principles, but violates almost every other one, resulting in sub-par results. While this approach is largely analogous to the Bulgarian system that produced many of the world’s best weightlifters, we often forget the even larger proportion of lifters the system has failed. A common experience for those that have tried this method is to have a relatively sharp increase in performance at first, followed by a plateau or decline in performance due to adaptive resistance. This example of the Bulgarian method highlights an important aspect of the scientific principles, which is that they present us with a set of contradictions that must be managed through strategic planning of our training methods and means. If we focus too much on providing Overload, we violate Fatigue Management, and vice versa. If we focus too much on Specificity, we violate Variation, and vice versa. In the same way that we have to manage different athletic qualities like Strength, Technique, and Speed, we also have to manage the scientific principles. Our ultimate goal is to produce positive, directed adaptations in the classic lifts, but if all we do is go to maximum in the classic lifts everyday we run into adaptive resistance and fail to adapt efficiently. So, how do we create directed adaptation without running into the issue of adaptive resistance?

Methods (Loading) Before we talk about specific exercises we need to talk about methods, or how we load exercises in order to produce the desired adaptation. Once we understand the ways that different loading can be applied to produce specific training outcomes, it’s much easier to understand the role of specific exercises within the training program. Even if you’ve only spent a few months or a year weightlifting, chances are you’ve heard the word periodization before. This fancy word seemingly turns every gym rat into a genius Soviet scientist once it graces their lips. Is periodization the secret to unlocking hidden athletic potential, or a bunch of theoretical garbage that people use to justify not pushing themselves as hard as possible every training session? The truth is that periodization is neither of these things. In order to demystify this term, let’s turn to the definition of periodization presented in Greg Nuckols’ fantastic article titled “There is Only One Type of Periodization”. Nuckols defines periodization as, “organizing training, and making decisions about when and what types of stress you place on the body.” In my Scientific Principles of Weightlifting series, I also refer to periodization as the intelligent structuring of different workouts. Knowing this, we can already tell that the appropriate question to ask of a training program is not whether the program is periodized or not, but rather how it is periodized. Every training program makes some decision about the timing and amount of stress, and our goal is to make the decisions that will most effectively allow us to achieve the best results.

Let’s go over the of the different variables of training that we manipulate to create the desired training effect.

Intensity

Intensity is defined and measured in a few different ways, but for our purposes we are interested in relative intensity, meaning how heavy someone is lifting relative to their 1RM. We measure intensity in two ways. The first is as a percentage of the lifter’s one repetition maximum. This gives us a measure of the magnitude of the weight on the bar relative to our absolute best result. The second way is the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. While percentage of a one rep max (1RM) is probably familiar to most weightlifters, the use of the RPE scale is slightly less common. The differences between the two measures of intensity is that the percentage of 1RM identifies the absolute weight on the bar, while the the RPE identifies how difficult the exercise feels on a given day of training. For those interested in learning more about the origins and applications of the RPE, I recommend this article by Dr. Eric Helms. Below is a chart from Dr. Mike Zourdos and colleagues about how to translate the numerical values of the RPE scale into the difficulty (perceived exertion) of a set of repetitions.

Volume

Volume is another concept that can be measured and defined in various ways. For our purposes we will define volume as the quantity of training done by an athlete, or simply how much you train. We borrow this definition from Dr. Mike Israetel and Dr. James Hoffmann’s aptly titled book about training volume, How Much Should I Train? Much of this section on volume is adapted from this book, and it is a recommended read for anyone interested in further pursuing the concept of training volume. Our goal is to summarize some of their core arguments and adapt them specifically for the sport of weightlifting. In line with Israetel and Hoffmann, we measure training volume by the amount of sets performed. When calculating total volume for the week or month we do so by adding up the total working sets from the individual workouts to get our total. For those familiar with more traditional soviet texts, it is important to note that we are using a different definition of volume. Most of these texts will define training volume as the total tonnage of a training cycle and define that by multiplying reps by sets by weight. While this is not a wrong, or bad way to define and measure volume, I prefer measuring working sets for a few reasons. First, it is a much more convenient way to measure training volume without a lot of calculation. Second, overall tonnage isn’t the best way to measure volume because it can be confounded by the addition of intensity into the measure. We don’t measure repetitions or intensity when calculating volume because it does not do an adequate job of identifying different training stressors. Training at different intensity levels requires a change in repetition range, which affects the degree to which the training stimulus is either morphological or neurological as we described above. By only measuring working sets we can better determine the appropriate volume for each phase of training. How different phases of training affect morphological and neurological adaptations are addressed below. Finally, we need to think about the spectrum of volume that can be handled by each lifter, also known as the volume landmarks from Israetel and Hoffmann’s How Much Should I Train? While more on this subject can be found in their very detailed book, we should know that the amount of volume a lifter performs is correlated with their results. Too little volume will not allow the lifter to progress, and too much volume will overtrain them. While this is not a complete list, here are three important volume landmarks to help guide us through training: Maintenance Volume (MV), Minimum Effective Volume (MEV), and Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV). MV is the minimum amount of volume needed to maintain fitness, be it strength, speed, or hypertrophy. MEV is higher than MV and represents the least amount of volume needed to make progress. Finally, MRV is the maximum amount of volume that will lead to progress. In order to not violate the principle of Fatigue Management, we can’t always train at our volume ceiling (MRV), while at the same time in order to not violate the principle of Overload, we can’t just continually hang out on the bottom floor either (MV). We need to strategically move between the least amount of volume required to progress (MEV) and the most amount of volume we can do (MRV) in order to get the best results. The strategic movement between MEV and MRV can be another way to define the concept of periodization we have discussed above.

Despite the importance of MEV and MRV, MV is still important for weightlifting training because if we know our MV for both the classic lifts and strength lifts, it allows us to easily transition between periods of training where we can focus on either strength or technique. For example, if a lifter is very technically proficient but weak, it is clear they need to devote more training time to strength work, and less on technique. This is the obvious part, but what isn’t so clear is exactly how much more strength work and how much less technique work? While there is no universal answer to this, we can say that technique work (or work on the classic lifts) should be brought down to MV so more energy can be devoted to moving through the cycle of MEV to MRV on strength exercises. The opposite is true for an inefficient lifter that is unnecessarily strong for their current classic lifts. Below are some of the many factors that affect MEV.

Deloading and Overreaching

The final part of this equation is overreaching and deloading. As we move from our bottom floor to our ceiling, we will eventually spend time pushing against the ceiling, or our MRV. These are called periods of overreaching and can be used strategically and effectively to maximize results. Once the exposure to the ceiling of volume and intensity no longer produces positive adaptations, it is time to take a deload. Deloading is the strategic application of fatigue management. A deload is a period of training that is reduced in loading to the point that no new adaptations can be made (because no overload is present) and serves to decay any fatigue that was accumulated from previous training. Having periods of planned overreaching and deloading satisfies the principle of overload as well as fatigue management, since we heavily load our training for a short period of time, and then take a subsequent period of light training that allows us to manage fatigue from the previous overloading.

Frequency

We define frequency as the time between individual training sessions or exercises that are of a similar nature. For example, doing Back Squats on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would be a frequency of three times per week. Front squats on Monday, Back squats on Wednesday, and Safety Bar Squats on Friday would also be considered a frequency of three times per week despite different exercises being done, since all three exercises are variants of the squat and have generally the same impact on fatigue. The more fatiguing the training the less frequent is needs to be. The SRA curve plays a role in determining training frequency because it gives us a guideline for how fatiguing certain training is going to be, which determines how often it can be done. Frequency remains fairly stable in the training program because our weekly structure does not change in most blocks of training. However, in some cases, frequency will change to accommodate a specific goal, such as an upcoming competition.

Undulation

Undulation refers to changing training variables in order to train different qualities (like hypertrophy and absolute strength). These variables include all those discussed in this chapter such as volume, intensity, frequency, etc. Chapter three provides more detail about how I use undulation to train different athletic qualities throughout the entire training cycle. The most obvious use of undulation in our training comes from the use of large, medium, and small workouts interspersed throughout the training week. For example, if we were to have planned a total of 18 sets in the week and those 18 sets were broken up over 3 workouts we might have one large workout that was 8 sets, a medium workout of 6 sets and a small workout that was 4 sets. We may also use undulation from day to day. Let’s take the same example of our 18 sets week from above. On the large day we may use sets of 3 reps, on the medium day use set of 2 reps and on the small day we may use sets of 4 reps. In this example all rep ranges are closely related to the same training quality but the undulation between them is enough that it creates some variation. The final way we see undulation in the program is on a large scale from training phase to training phase. One training phase of 4-5 weeks may be made up of mostly sets of 8-10 reps and the next is made up of mostly sets between 4-6 reps.

Below is a chart that shows the general guidelines for developing the main strength qualities discussed in this book.

In the first column we find the different types of strength qualities from chapter one. In the second column we have placed the recommended intensity and RPE measure in the same window. This is important for two reasons, the first is to show that there is no specific percentage that magically produces the right adaptations, but rather a range of intensity that will generally have the effect we want. The second reason is because neither the percentage range nor the RPE range should be violated in order to achieve the desired training effect. Some practical examples of loading strategies: Sets across: This method is characterized by having all work sets of the same intensity and same volume repeated. This method is good for all blocks and is universal for all applications. For example 80% 3 reps 5 sets, or 90% 2 reps 3 sets Down sets method: This method is characterized by a doing a “top set” at a given intensity then reducing the intensity and repeating “down” sets for the rest of the total sets. This method is very well suited to Hypertrophy and Absolute strength because it allows for a heavy set first which allows for more volume to be accomplished aftward, there is a potentiation effect from the top set that facilitates this. For example: Work up to a top set of 10 @ RPE 9 then down sets at -10% less for 10 reps 3 sets Escalating sets: In this method there is an increase in intensity from set to set ending at a top weight. This method is best suited to Intensification blocks where we want to increase intensity without having too much fatigue from the previous worksets. For example: 75%/2, 80%/2,85%/2, 90%/2

Means (Exercises)

The point of using a variety of exercises in training is so that we can load different muscles and train different movements that align with our training goals. In the section below we will classify the different strength exercises we use based on their inherent characteristics and role in the training program. First we will introduce the “transfer of training” concept which will help explain the relationship between a certain exercise and increased results on the competition platform. We will then divide the exercises by body part, and address each specifically. It is not my goal to define every possible exercise a weightlifter could do, but rather to give a list of the exercises I use regularly with my athletes. Understanding how to employ training means can also clarify the common misconception that specific exercises themselves produce positive adaptations. There is nothing inherent about a back squat or a deadlift that will make you stronger. Exercises simply produce a local effect on the muscles involved and the movements done. The loading of the exercise determine adaptations. For example, if your maximum back squat is 100kg, squatting 30kg once every day will not stimulate your body enough to result in positive strength adaptations because the load is insufficient. On the other hand, doing bench presses with maximum weights everyday will make you very strong but only in the muscles that are affected by bench pressing. This is important to understand because too often athletes and coaches overemphasize the value of certain exercises and underemphasize the value of properly applying training loads. Strategically modifying the training load is the best way to provide the necessary training stimulus for positive strength adaptations. Specific exercises are the means through which the necessary training load is achieved, and how training load is applied effectively is the method. A couple of terms that will be helpful for this chapter are GPP, and SPP. GPP stands for General Physical Preparation, and is a term for exercises that do not mimic the identical actions of the sport. They develop general physical qualities that can be beneficial to an athlete’s long term success, but may not be sport specific. SPP stands for Special Physical Preparation, and is used to define exercises that are more specific to the athlete’s sport. For weightlifters, this means any exercises that mimics the movements and/or muscular action of the classic lifts. For example, snatches from the hang or from blocks would be considered SPP because they mimic part of the snatch with the same explosive muscular action. Stiff leg deadlifts would be considered GPP because they use the same muscles as the classic lifts, but not in the same muscular action, (it is not explosive) or the same movement pattern.

Exercise Groups

All strength exercises are divided into three primary groups. Lower body: All squatting, jumping, and unilateral leg exercises Pulling: All pulls, deadlifts, low back, and abdominal exercises Upper body: All pressing, push pressing, and overhead exercises We divide exercises in such a way so that they correspond to different areas of the body that might need development. Once the weak area for the lifter is identified, they can easily refer to those exercises which address the weakness. Each group is then sub-divided into two classifications of exercise. Primary Exercises: Primary exercises generally have high positive transference to the classic lifts because they mimic similar muscular actions and movements. The volume of these exercises should be accounted for and programmed thoughtfully to fit with the specific goals of training. Primary exercises are well suited to be used for most training ranges including maximum intensities and high volume sets. As their name suggests, primary exercises will generally make up the majority of your total training volume. Progression in these exercises are most likely to lead to increases in the classic lifts. Supplementary Exercises: Supplementary exercises are GPP exercises that fall into two groups: General strength/hypertrophy Jumping exercises and explosive strength. Group 1 supports the primary exercises by offering additional means of loading and isolating smaller muscle groups or single joints. These exercises do not replicate the movements of the classic lifts. Despite having little or no transference to the classic lifts, the first group of exercises accomplishes basic GPP tasks such as correcting muscular imbalances, strengthening weak muscle groups, and developing hypertrophy. They are usually not well suited for maximum intensities, as they are often single joint movements or unilateral exercises that would not be safe to execute with very heavy weights. Group 2 serves to develop explosive strength qualities. They do not mimic the structure of the classic lifts but do mimic their muscular action. These exercises facilitate the development of GPP and work capacity. Jumping exercise progressions It is important to sequence your jumping exercises properly in order to condition yourself to tolerate the intensity of the plyometric exercises used at more advanced stages of training.

General guidelines for all supplementary GPP exercises 1. Supplementary volume should complement primary exercise volume and be in proportion throughout the training phases. The main purpose of GPP is to develop the qualities that are not developed by the classic lifts. The proportion of supplementary work to primary work depends on the lifter’s level of GPP. The more advanced you are the less GPP necessary. 2. At least half of all supplemental volume for the lower body can be jumping exercises. If you are more explosive, you can shift this lower. If you are less explosive, you can shift this ratio to higher. 3. If you need to improve a specific weakness, direct most of the supplementary GPP volume for the day and week toward that weakness. 4. Reduce supplementary GPP volume if it negatively impacts your primary lifts. Supplementary work is the lowest priority (barring special circumstances like fixing a severe weakness).

Since supplementary exercises are by definition supplementing training, it is important to not exhaust too much physical or mental energy on them. If you are the type of lifter or coach that immediately programs whatever exotic looking supplementary exercise you saw in the latest Hookgrip or All Things Gym training hall footage, then you’re probably focusing too much on supplementary exercises. Pulls with a rounded back, pancake good mornings, and partner-assisted handstand push ups are probably all fine exercises, but I promise that their absence in your training program is not what is keeping you from making it to an international competition. Supplementary exercises serve the same role in training as supplements do in diet. There is no special vitamin (unless we’re talking about soviet sports supplements) or amino acid mix that can replace an adequate intake of calories and protein, just as there is no amount of supplementary exercises that can replace a steady progression in the primary exercises.

Lower body exercises General guidelines The primary squatting exercises are the back squat and front squat. These exercises are the backbone of strength development in weightlifting programs. The squat and its variations are the most commonly used exercises to develop absolute strength in the lower body because they transfer so well to the performance of the classic lifts. General Loading recommendations: Squatting movements are well suited to high volumes, and work well in all phases of training, with a variety of repetition ranges and intensities. Volume Squatting exercises will generally comprise the largest volume of training outside of the classic lifts. The total volume can be as high as almost half of all the volume in a program,including the classic lifts, for very advanced lifters. However, just because that amount of volume can be tolerated, does not mean that it will necessarily be beneficial. Too much work devoted to squatting can be a serious detriment to the development of other qualities, as well as create large imbalances for the lifter. As always, the total squatting volume in a program should be tailored toward the goals and needs of the athlete. MEV considerations Squatting movements in general are very stimulating because they have a large range of motion, involve many muscles, and can be loaded with heavy weights. MEV for squatting exercises should generally be lower than pulling and upper body exercises.

How important is squatting? Anyone who is familiar with the infamous Bulgarian training method knows the significance of the squat in their program. When I was training with the former national head coach of Bulgaria, Ivan Abadjiev, the structure of the program was unique in that most of the training volume was coming from squatting. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we would do 6 exercises, 2 of which were squats. On Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday we did 8 exercises, 4 of which were squats. Out of 42 exercises performed each week, 18 of them were squats. Since each set of every exercise was just 1-2 reps and every workout was the same level of intensity, roughly 42% of the total training volume was devoted to squatting. While this is not an approach I would recommend, it illustrates the significance and transference of squatting to weightlifting.

Squatting and SRA Depending upon the individual workload used, squatting and other leg exercises generally have a short SRA curve allowing for a relatively high frequency of training. It is not uncommon to see squat workouts programmed 3+ times in a week.

Developing balanced strengths Squatting and pulling strengths need to be identified and balanced properly for every lifter. While some lifters may not need to do many squats in order to achieve adequate leg strength, some will need to focus on them considerably more. Lifters with strong backs that are more suited to pulling movements and struggle to recover in the clean will generally see benefits from more volume focused on squatting as it can help to bring balance to their lifting. For those of you interested in learning more about balancing leg and back strength, I recommend watching this video with myself and Chad Wesley Smith.

primary Exercises Category 1

Squats: Squats should be performed with the basic technique for weightlifting, which means squatting with a full range of motion with a controlled descent and an explosive ascent. The squat stance should be similar to the foot placement of the lifter in the receiving position of the clean and snatch. For more information on squatting for weightlifting, refer to these videos here, and here. Back squats Back squats are the primary leg training exercise for weightlifting. They should always be performed with the barbell high on the back, with as much of an upright torso as possible, and with technique that allows for full use of the leg muscles. Front squats Front squats are the most highly specific exercise for developing strength in the clean and jerk. Front squats are suited well to medium and low reps and and all intensites. They are not well suited for high rep sets (over 6 reps) because the ability to maintain posture and breathing for such a long set becomes the limiting factor and reduces the effectiveness. For developing hypertrophy it is best to overload volume with more sets rather then higher rep ranges.

Category 2

Modified squats: This category of squatting exercises includes squats with modified execution. For example, pausing at various points in the movement, or changing the time and/or tempo of execution. Often modified squats are significantly more challenging than regular squats which means they will have a larger SRA curve. Special attention needs to be given to how modified squats are programmed into the weekly structure, so they don’t interfere with other training elements. One example might be to have fewer repetitions per set of modified squats than you would have for regular squats in order to account for this extra difficulty. Some modified squat exercises we use are: Pause squats (front and back): pauses can be incorporated at any point in the lift but the most common place is at the bottom of the descent. Squats with a slow eccentric (6-10 seconds lowering) These squats are more stimulating and for this reason generally they are done with less reps per set. They are also not a good choice of exercise as you get closer to competition because of the very slow nature of the movement. Safety bar squat This is a special bar that allows you to squat with your hands in front of you on handles. It is excellent for people with upper body injuries. It also is very beneficial for the upper back as it pulls the lifter forward forcing them to fight to maintain posture. Category 3

Jumping exercises: This category consists of jumps and bounding exercises. These exercises facilitate the development of explosive strength in the legs, and fall into the category of supplemental exercises. General guidelines for all jumping exercises The general progression for jumping exercises should be: Bilateral before unilateral Slow before fast Low before high Short before long This needs to be adhered to for people new to jumping exercises so that tendons and ligaments can properly adapt to the stress of these exercises. The skill aspect of jumping, landing, and rebounding should also be practiced early on in the training cycle to ensure that these exercises are performed safely and productively later in the cycle.

The most common variations of jumps we use are for GPP purposes and developing explosive qualities: - Vertical Jumps - Box Jumps a. Jumping on a high box and landing in a deep squat i. This method puts a premium on dynamic flexibility and mimics some of the positions of the snatch and clean receiving positions. b. Jumping to a box or bench and landing with straight legs i. Emphasizes hip displacement and de-emphasizes hip flexion. c. Single leg i. This is a good variation for eliminating unilateral weaknesses - Standing Broad Jumps Start with one jump at a time and then progress toward linking multiple jumps in a row. - Squat Jumps These either are done unweighted or with weighted with either dumbbells or barbells. This exercise can be very taxing so it is best to not exceed more than about 20% of your best clean and jerk. Athletes should start with the unweighted version and then progress to the weighted version. If you are a very heavy lifter, you may not need any additional loading. - Depth Jumps Depth jumps are performed by stepping off of a box and landing on the ground briefly, then immediately jumping upward. Setting up a target to jump and touch is recommended as it reinforces maximum jumping effort. The target should be in front of the box so that the athlete jumps toward the target. Sufficient GPP to perform depth jumps is necessary before including them in the program. This means conditioning the legs for the jumps by starting the previous training blocks with lower height jumps, depth drops, and squat jumps. Depth jumps have a very large training effect and require full recovery between sessions that can take several days or more depending on the magnitude of the jumps and the fitness of the athlete. Depth jumps are usually employed in the first half of the peaking phase and/or the last part of the in tensification phase, and should be terminated with enough time for supercompensation to occur. This might look like 3-4 weeks of jumping followed by 7-10 days of recovery before a competition.

Lack of balance Too much work devoted to back squatting can also negatively affect the technique of the classic lifts. A lack of balance can be defined as an over-reliance on an excessively strong muscle group in order to execute the classic lifts. If a lifter has a large discrepancy between the strength of their legs and the strength of their low back they will often overly rely on the muscles of the legs which can cause technical faults. Incorrect execution Back squatting with bad form or squatting above parallel will deteriorate the quality of the training. Reducing the range of motion will diminish the training effect of the squats and can lead to a loss of transference because the smaller range of motion no longer mimics the classic lifts as closely. Using a very different foot placement, either extremely wide or extremely close relative to the receiving position of the snatch or clean may negatively influence the quality of training.

Pulling exercises General guidelines Pulls are often the most confusing exercise group to incorporate into a training program. Pulls are a difficult exercise category to understand because they can contribute to both strength development and direct technical practice of the classic lifts. If done without the correct plan in place, they can impact technique in a negative way and hinder the overall training process. In the section below, when we refer to pulls we mean both snatch and clean pull. All of the loading parameters and variations are based off of the 1RM of the corresponding classic lift. This means that a snatch pull at 95% is based off the 1RM of the snatch, and vice versa for the clean. When performing snatch and clean pulls, do your best to be in the same positions as you would for the snatch and the clean. As the weights get heavier, avoid changing your start position or rounding your back. General Loading recommendations:

Intensity If the goal is to develop strength through the use of pulls, then the general trend in loading should be skewed toward the higher side of the intensity scale relative to the classic lifts. Low intensity pulls (between 85%-95%) will not have a significant impact on strength qualities, and should only make up a small portion of your training. Most pulls should be done with 100% or more of your 1RM. Pulls with varying intensity have different effects on the lifter’s strength and technique. As we spoke about earlier in this book, the exercise itself is not what creates the adaptation, but rather the method of loading. Using heavy weights will develop more strength but will also distort the technique of the exercise. Using lighter weights will preserve or even develop technical skills, but they do not develop much strength.

Volume When pulls are done with higher intensities they are more fatiguing, and the technical breakdown occurs sooner with fewer repetitions per set. To accumulate the desired workload, volume should generally be made up through the use of more sets rather than higher repetitions per set. For example, doing seven sets of three repetitions will preserve the technical quality of the lift better than three sets of seven repetitions, while performing the same total amount of repetitions. This provides the opportunity to both practice more quality technical work, and facilitate the use of higher intensities for strength development. If one feels the need to use high repetition (over 5 reps) sets with pulls, they should modify them with either blocks, partial ranges of motion (pull to the knee, etc), or do them as deadlifts as this will deform technique to a lesser degree.

Developing balanced strengths Pulling and squatting strengths need to be identified and balanced properly for every lifter. While some lifters may not need to do many pulls, some will need to focus on them considerably more. Lifters with strong legs that are built to squat will generally see benefits from more volume focused on pulling as it can help to facilitate proper technique. When I was a young lifter I had spent a considerable amount of my training time squatting, and more precisely front squatting. This lead me to have a seriously unbalanced level of strength between my squat and my pulling strength. I could front squat 230 kg before I could deadlift it (the full story can be found here). Towards the end of my weightlifting career I became very frustrated with a lack of results and decided to make a change. I started to train my back more by doing pulling exercises three times a week and reducing front squatting to once per week. This small emphasis on pulling made an impactful change to my lifting by allowing me to stay in the correct positions and properly apply force through my legs. As a result I quickly moved my clean from 165 kg to 175 kg. Despite being anecdotal evidence, I frequently see a similar process in the athletes I coach.

MEV considerations Pulling movements are the most stressful type of movements we use due to their large range of motion, recruitment of multiple muscle groups, and their ability to be heavily loaded. Due to these considerations, MEV for pulling exercises is generally lower than upper body and squatting movements. Additionally, pulls with pauses and eccentric variations will be lower than that of normal pulls. MV strategies Lifters performing maintenance volume for the pulling movements should focus on technique by selecting exercises that have the highest transfer to the classic lifts. Pulls and SRA Pulling exercises generally have a large SRA curve which grows significantly as the intensity of the exercise climbs. For example, a single maximum effort in the squat, even if it is a complete grinder, would take no more than a few days for most athletes to recover from. However, a single maximum attempt in a pulling exercise like a deadlift could take several weeks to recover from. We should be careful with how we build the weekly training structure so that the overloading of heavy pulling exercises interferes as little as possible with the rest of the training. Transfer of pulling movements The transference of pulls can be confusing because they have a much lower correlation to results in the classic lifts than, for example, squats do. Pulls still offer many benefits, but require proper application in order to maximize their transference to the classic lifts. Pulls generally fall into all three categories based on how they transfer to technique and strength development. Pulls with light and medium weights (90% and under) can be done in isolation or combined with classic lifts and variations. Executing pulls in this fashion can have significant impact on the technical skills of the classic lifts, as well as a minor impact on strength. Pulls with medium to heavy weights (90-105%) will be more beneficial in developing strength than the first category. Pulls with 90% weights strike the most balanced application of technical skills and strength development. Pulls with very heavy and maximum weights (105-120%+) will have the most significant impact on strength qualities but the least transference to technical skills. Understanding the relationship between developing strength and technique allows us to plan for how to direct the training based on what our goals are.

Primary Exercises: Category 1 Pulls: This category of movement is the closest to the technique of the classic lifts. They are taken from the same starting position as the classic lifts and include the explosion/contact phase. These can be done as a high pull (where the elbows bend and rise above the barbell), or a regular pull (sometimes referred to as an extension) where just the shoulders are shrugged. When doing pulls try to visualize them as though you are doing the actual lift but without the final turnover portion.

Category 2 Modified Pulls: This category of pulling exercises includes pulls that are done with conditions that modify their execution. For example, pausing at various heights in the movement, or changing the time and/or tempo of execution. As with modified squats, this category is significantly more challenging than the regular version and will have a larger SRA curve. Special attention needs to be given to the programming of these pulls. Similar to squats, one way to accomplish this is to reduce the number of repetitions per set, and program them far away from technical movements. Pulls with one or more pauses (or any combination of the following) - One inch off the floor - Below the knee - Above the knee - At the power position Pulls from the hang - Below the knee - At the knee - Above the knee Pulls with eccentric lowering (6-10 seconds lowering) Pulls with slow tempo (6-10 seconds up) Pulls with no hook grip Pulls from a deficit

Category 3 Partial Pulls: Partial pulls have a reduced range of motion or a simplified execution. Pulls with a reduced range of motion are generally less taxing than standard pulls which means they can be trained at a high intensity and or volume. Pulls from blocks/stairs (at various heights) - Below the knee - Above the knee Deadlifts (snatch or clean pull without an explosion) Medium grip deadlift (grip is halfway between snatch/clean) RDL (snatch or clean grip) Stiff-leg deadlift While RDLs and stiff-leg deadlifts look like they are the same exercise, there is a slight difference. RDLs are lifted into position at the hip and lowered to the floor at the start of each rep without taking any tension off the posterior chain. Stiff-leg deadlifts start on the floor each rep. Both movements have a similar level of specificity to the classic lifts so they are basically interchangeable. I would consider doing whichever one you feel benefits your specific weaknesses.

Common Pitfalls: There are a few misapplications of pulling in weightlifting programs. The first is programs that simply throw a few sets of pulls here and there on the end of a training session. In this case, the extra volume may not be significant enough to develop new strength or solidify technical changes which adds useless stress to the training process. The second is the overuse of variations, or including too many different pulling exercises into the training program. The most obvious issue here is that too many variations prevent directed adaptation from occuring. When programming pull variations, make sure you have a good reason for why you picked them, and make sure the variation is programmed consistently enough so that directed adaptation can take place before changing the variation. Using too many heavy pulls in training. The age old phrase “if a little is good a lot is better” seems to get the best of a lot of coaches and athletes. There is no question that doing heavy pulls will make the lifter stronger, however, we will eventually run into the same problems as squatting too much. First, heavy pulls have a large SRA curve which can interfere significantly with recovery for following workouts, violating the principle of fatigue management. The second issue is the loss of transference to the classic lifts that can occur with slow, technically distorted movements taking place on a regular basis. The loss of transference from the heavy pulls violates the principle of specificity.

Upper body exercises General guidelines Upper body exercises are important to include for balanced muscular development and to protect the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints in beginner athletes. Upper body exercises are often the most overlooked and misapplied exercises for general strength in weightlifting. Upper body strength contributes significantly to the stabilization of the bar in the snatch and jerk. The upper body is also very active in turning over the barbell and moving the athlete under the barbell in the classic lifts. Finally, additional strength training for the upper body will have a positive impact on the strength of the tendon structures in the elbows, wrists, and shoulders. In my lifting career I had to undergo two different shoulder surgeries both involving rotator cuff and labral tears. This was largely a byproduct of the fact that I did no upper body strength development and essentially no GPP for the upper body muscles. The lack of general strength and hypertrophy certainly did not help prevent these injuries. Neglecting to incorporate even just supplementary upper body lifts can potentially have negative consequences later on. The variety of exercises in this category make it difficult to assign broad loading recommendations, as some movements are very well suited to higher volumes or higher intensities while others are not. For example, pressing is a very simple exercise that is well suited to high volumes or high intensities. Overhead squats, on the other hand, put too much stress on the wrists and shoulder joints when done for high repetitions and not well suited to high repetitions like a press.

General Loading recommendations: The muscles of the upper body can be loaded across all intensity and rep ranges. Since the movements of the upper body do not allow for large ranges of motion, and have lower absolute intensities, they are not as stressful as the lower body exercises. This means the MEV for upper body movements will generally be higher than for lower body and pulling exercises. Volume Total volume of the upper body exercises should be enough to develop the strength necessary to eliminate any stability issues or significant weaknesses. Since we know that training volume is highly correlated with hypertrophy, we need to consider the potential drawbacks of too much muscular hypertrophy on the upper body. Too much hypertrophy can inhibit the speed of the turnover in the snatch/clean. Having huge biceps might be very cool, but it might also impede your front rack position.

Primary exercises: Category 1

Dynamic: Exercises in this category have a dynamic or explosive component involved. The bar is driven from the chest explosively. Push press: Like the muscle snatch, this exercise helps to develop the power of the drive phase in the jerk as well as the strength of the upper body. There is some skill component as well because the push press requires proper coordination of the legs and arms. Snatch grip push presses: These have a much lower transference to the classic lifts but they serve to develop strength in the receiving positions of the snatch. Category 2 Static: This category of exercises has no dynamic component. Seated Press: There is a good transference of pressing strength to the ability to impart vertical force to the bar in the jerk and to stabilize it overhead. The reason we do seated press as opposed to standing is that the movement is much more concentrated on the shoulders and prevents the athlete from using any body movement to help with the press. Overhead squat (OHS): The OHS is the primary strength developer for the upper body in the snatch position. However, strength in the overhead squat is not directly correlated to results in the snatch, since getting the barbell overhead in the first place is the hardest part of the snatch.

Supplementary exercises General guidelines for upper body supplementary exercises 1. Do more pulling than pressing 2. Split pulling exercises evenly between vertical and horizontal planes of movement 3. When possible use a supinated grip for pulling. a. I suggest this for weightlifters because all of the pulling done for the classic lifts is with a pronated grip. A supinated grip in supplementary pulling exercises adds variety that can prevent potential muscle imbalances. 4. Choose bodyweight/gymnastic type movements over traditional “bodybuilding” type lifts 5. Include some unilateral variations every week 6. Include preventative measures for the Rotator cuff once a week

Upper body exercises and SRA Depending on the individual exercise used, pressing and upper body exercises generally have a short SRA curve which allows for a high frequency of training. When compared to the legs and back, the upper body muscles are relatively small in size, require lighter loads, and often recover faster from training. Supplementary upper body exercises are usually programmed 2-3 times a week. It’s important to remember that while we do want to develop some muscular hypertrophy and strength in the upper body, but we are not trying to become bodybuilders. An aesthetic physique should not come at the expense of improved performance in the classic lifts.

Chapter 3 Structure of the training process Qualification of the athlete The qualification of the athlete is a way to categorize different lifters into groups based on their skill at weightlifting. Most soviet-based systems have a similar process that they call a classification system. In most cases these classification systems are based on factors such as age, years of training, and their best competition results. The soviets used this system to determine almost all aspects of training such as exercise selection, volume, intensity, and frequency. While providing different training programs to athletes with different needs is a very successful approach, most American lifters today will find little use in adopting the soviet classification system. Just to give a quick example, no soviet coach had to try and place a 35 year old woman with a collegiate swimming background and 5 years of Crossfit into their classification system. The soviet classification system worked for them because every athlete started as a young boy and was classified from the very beginning of their training career. One of the many benefits to using a principle based approach is that it allows for more training flexibility to address the unique needs of individuals. As the above example demonstrates, there are many training variables that need to be considered for your average American weightlifter. In order to adequately address these variables we need to qualify lifters in a way that is flexible in application, but simple in design. In my approach, lifters are qualified as either novice, beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Since weightlifting is skill based and revolves so much around the mastery of the movements, we define these different levels of athletes by how well they execute the Olympic lifts. Novice Novice lifters are simply defined as those that have no, or very little exposure to the Olympic lifts. This does not mean a Crossfit athlete that is transitioning to weightlifting. This means someone who needs to coached through the stages of the lift every time they lift, and has probably done fewer than 30 Olympic lifts in their life. Since novice lifters should be primarily concerned with developing their technique most of this book will not apply to them until they are at least a beginner. To learn more about how to coach a lifter, or yourself, through the novice and beginner stages of weightlifting, I recommend my book The Beginner’s Guide to Weightlifting. Beginner A beginner is a lifter that executes the technique of the snatch or clean & jerk with large variations. This means they may miss or make ten lifts and the technical fault they exhibit on all ten are different. For example, if a lifter misses behind them for the first three lifts in the snatch, then misses with a press out two times, then misses in front of them two times, then misses because they jumped forward three times, they are a can be considered a beginner. A lack of technical consistency is the defining characteristic of the beginner qualification level.

Beginners have the unique situation of needing to learn the technique of the lifts. Since learning the lifts is almost entirely a skill based endeavor, the amount of training time and volume devoted to strength development should be significantly less than for all other groups. In most situations, the execution of the lifts, as well as drills to teach technique, are a sufficient enough stimulus to build strength in the appropriate muscle groups. Only as the lifter becomes more solidified in their technique should they increase the amount of training devoted to building new strength. In addition to focusing on developing skill and technique as the main emphasis for beginners, attention to explosive strength needs to be considered a priority. This includes the use of explosive exercises and other ballistic forms of exercises for GPP including; jumping, sprints, throws, plyometrics drills, etc. Intermediate Athletes move on from the beginner level to the intermediate level as their technique becomes consistent. This means that if the lifter was to miss 10 lifts in training, the majority would have the same error. If they miss, they will miss forward, or backward, or they may jump forward, but they do the same mistake almost every time. This doesn’t mean that intermediate lifters can’t make different mistakes, but in most cases, their technique is consistent and has the same recurring errors. As a general tendency, not only should intermediate lifters miss with fewer errors than beginners, but they should also miss fewer overall lifts. This stage of development is where strength training can have a significant impact on both the results of the classic lifts and achieving technical mastery. Since the lifter now possesses consistent technique with a common error, targeted work can begin on the elimination of weaknesses that contribute to that error. At the same time, because technique is now consistent, work devoted to strength development will not disrupt the learning process of the lifts or create technical faults. The defining characteristic of an intermediate lifter is the fact that their technique is now consistent and their errors are due to a physical weakness rather than a lack of skill. Advanced The distinction between advanced and intermediate is less clear than between beginner and intermediate. The advanced lifter now has technique that has become solidified (nearly permanent) and intact regardless of time spent practicing the movement. A lifter of advanced qualification can take large periods of time away from the performance of the lift and return to training with almost identical technique. While the lifter’s speed and strength may be affected by the time off, the execution of the lift is not. The advanced lifter’s technique remains stable under significant fatigue during times of very hard training.

In most cases, the long training history of advanced athletes should have produced both solidified technique and sufficient levels of strength. However, there are certainly situations where an athlete can be classified as advanced but need to make improvements in either strength or technique. Due to this long training history, the more advanced the lifter, the more difficult it is to correct faults. This underlines the importance of developing excellent technique and balanced strength early on. Due to the varied possibilities that can exist between advanced athletes, it is difficult to assign broad guidelines for them as a group. With smart training and a strong work ethic, many self-coached athletes can take themselves through the beginner and intermediate stages, but will generally begin to stall as they transition into an advanced athlete. Both the margin of error and the room for improvement diminish as the athlete moves through the qualification stages, making it more difficult to address issues that are impeding progress. Long term development considerations It is important to discuss the role of strength training and the long term development of a weightlifter. The career of a weightlifter can be broken down into two distinct periods. The first period could be considered the developmental period. This period is defined by a gradual rise in total training volume from year to year up to a point at which the total volume being done yearly stabilizes and does not increase much further. This first period is the time for technique to be learned, developed and then stabilized. This period encompases the progression from beginner to intermediate to advanced. The growth of yearly volume should happen as a result of increasing the number of weekly training sessions, which can go from three times a week up to six or more as needed by the athlete. By the end of this initial developmental period the athlete should have solidified technique, stable training volume, no significant muscular imbalances, and enough GPP to tolerate training. This period starts the day an athlete enters the gym and can last up to 5-6 years depending on the age the athlete started, their response to training, and their overall maturation process. The goal for this period should be the development of the athlete’s physical qualities, technique, GPP, and solidifying the athlete into their final weight class. Competition results should not be a priority in this phase. The second period could be considered the intensification period. This period is defined by a stabilization and slight gradual reduction of total yearly volume in exchange for an overall gradual increase in overall intensity as well as an absolute increase intensity. This period only includes the advanced level of athlete because technical stability is a prerequisite to increasing overall intensity. The absolute rise in intensity comes as a byproduct of increasing strength work (squats and pulls are heavier than the classic lifts generally and because of this the average weight lifted goes up) and an emphasis on increasing near maximum classic lifts. Improving the psychological skills needed for competition, the absolute competition results are the priorities in this phase. It is very important to realize that this process of long term development needs to be taken into consideration when coaching youth and junior athletes. It can be very enticing to develop a youth by pushing them through the developmental stage at a rapid rate and enjoying all the fast progress. The major downside to this is that the athlete can end up with serious technical faults, an increased risk of injury early burnout etc.

Too much time spent on training for strength Negative repercussions of too much strength training occur when athletes and coaches develop absolute strength at the expense of explosive strength and technique. An example of this is a program that has a very high percentage of the program devoted to strength development. The endless pursuit of a huge squat or a huge deadlift can seriously hinder the development of speed, technique, and explosive strength. This mistake is common amongst beginner and young lifters. Taking a young or inexperienced lifter and throwing a ton of strength work at them will inevitably have a big impact on their results, and many athletes experience a lot of progress very quickly with this method. However, if they neglect the initial learning period for skill acquisition and speed development, it will become difficult to fix technical errors as the lifter develops. The longer a lifter replicates a technical error, the harder it is to fix, so while a large focus on strength may lead to a bigger total in the short term, it can have negative repercussions in the long term. I learned this lesson first-hand. During my career as a lifter I was involved with several different clubs and coaches who focused primarily on a training program built around exclusively lifting maximum and near maximum weights to develop strength. I saw very fast progress and moved through qualification levels at a quick rate. The high frequency and intense sessions quickly solidified my technique and I developed tremendous amounts of strength. However, I had also developed a lot of muscular imbalances and major technical errors that ultimately limited my results. The largest gap between my classic lifts and strength lifts was when I could do a 235 kg front squat but only had a 150 kg clean and jerk. This is a huge discrepancy that is indicative of too much absolute strength work and not enough technical development. Too little training devoted to strength. This issue is also fairly common and assumes that too much work devoted to strength development is going to negatively impact the technique and speed qualities of the lifter, which will reduce their results in the classic lifts. There are two main scenarios in which this issue comes up. The first is where an athlete is trying to maintain peak performance in the lifts for an extended period of time (possibly because they are competing very frequently and feel the need to be in their best shape at every competition). This leaves no room in the training program for the development of strength because it will have a temporary negative impact on the skill and speed qualities of the classic lifts. The second scenario is training like a beginner. The training of a beginner should be focused primarily on the development of technique and skill in the classic lifts. As we know, strength development should play a lesser role in the overall program of a beginner. Training in this fashion long after the technique has been established is going to impede the results someone can achieve in the long run. Having excellent technique is important, but without the ability to generate any force you won’t lift much weight.

Structure of the training cycle One of the first questions that might be asked is why the training cycle is organized in this phasic structure. A phasic structure is the planned organization of different training blocks sequenced in accordance with the scientific principles of training. If you organize training phases correctly, the adaptations produced by each phase will positively influence those of the next phase. This results in the sum of the parts being greater than the whole. If training phases are not organized in accordance with the scientific principles then adaptations from one training phase may have neutral or even negative influence on the next phase. Here is a simple analogy that demonstrates how the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Imagine someone who has been fasting for 24 hours is given two beers and a large meal, and their goal is the get as drunk as possible. Does it make more sense for the person to eat the meal and then drink the beers, or drink the beers first? Drinking the beers first will clearly be best at producing the desired outcome (getting drunk) because it takes advantage of how the body processes alcohol. Even if the person eats the meal first it is possible they will still feel the effects of the alcohol, but the digestion of the meal will slow this down and likely blunt the effect. Both scenarios have the same inputs (two beers and a large meal), but the ordering of those inputs changes the outcome. This is why phase potentiation is important. By properly ordering our training, we can take advantage of our body’s physiology to increase the desired adaptations. Phase potentiation allows the user to develop different qualities at the appropriate times of the training cycle and yearly calendar. Additionally, this type of phasic structure provides a cyclical nature to training which can help to keep motivation levels high, and fits well within US cultural norms.

In this chapter we will look at four different ways to divide up the training cycle, each one getting more and more specific. We will first break the cycle into phases, as we’ve demonstrated above, the phases into blocks, the blocks into weeks, and finally, the weeks into training sessions. Training Phases The training cycle is broken down into four distinct phases, each defined by the different training goals and composed of different means, methods and structures. Training cycles are an important organizing tool for weightlifters because they direct the overall training program toward a specific goal. The length of a training phase should be determined based off of two considerations: 1. The competitive calendar. a. How far an athlete is from competition will set a natural clock on your training phases and overall training cycle. When deciding when to compete, make sure you have enough time for a productive training cycle. 2. Time necessary for positive adaptations to occur. a. The progression of overload and the rate at which an athlete adapts to training will impact how long it takes to accomplish the goals of each phase. There is no use in constructing a training phase that is too short to produce results. The same goes for planning a phase that is too long, which results in a stagnation of positive adaptations and excessive fatigue. Below are the four distinct phases that make up a training cycle.

Accumulation Phase The Accumulation phase in a training cycle is generally the furthest phase away from competition which means that training is less specific in nature and not directly focused at increasing the maximum competition results. Exercises are done at lower intensities with higher volumes and simpler structure (partial movements, modified versions etc). This phase is the most practical time to focus development on muscular hypertrophy, muscular endurance, basic technical skills, absolute strength, and work capacity. Developing these qualities in the first phase is practical because the training necessary for these adaptations will interfere with the more specific training that takes place closer to the end of a training cycle. The first phase can also be a time to develop explosive strength through sprinting, running, and throwing exercises.

Beginners: The primary training goals of a beginner should be to acquire the technical skills of the classic lifts. This can be achieved by developing a solid foundation of GPP. Relatively little emphasis should be put on hypertrophy, because it could potentially disrupt the learning process of the classic lifts. Beginners should be using the least aggressive methods of training in this phase to preserve the technical learning of the classic lifts. The first phase of training for a beginner will generally take between three to eight weeks depending upon how quickly skill acquisition takes place. Intermediate: The objectives for the intermediate lifter revolve around the elimination of physical weaknesses and technical flaws. Elimination of physical weaknesses starts with the development of hypertrophy and GPP phases. This helps intermediates establish the basic coordination needed to address specific technical flaws. Since intermediates have both solidified technique and specific physical needs (strengthening a weak muscle group or movement), they should employ more aggressive hypertrophy training and longer durations in this phase. The first phase of training for an intermediate can last from 4 to 16 weeks. Advanced: The objectives of the advanced athlete are to develop the highest level of performance in the classic lifts. Advanced athletes generally will not need to devote time to hypertrophy training, as they should be in the correct weight class and cannot afford to gain more muscle mass. Therefore, the main function of the first phase of training is to re-introduce the athlete to hard training, develop work capacity, and refresh the technical skills that are most difficult for them to re-acquire. Depending on individual differences, the first phase of training for advanced athletes can vary significantly. Anywhere from two to six weeks is the average range, but in some cases it can take up to three or four months. Intensification Phase The Intensification phase in training is defined by the objectives of developing absolute strength, explosive strength, rate of force development, complex technical skills, and performance in the classic lifts. The main variable of overload becomes the intensity of the exercises as this is the primary driver of strength gains. A reduction in volume from the previous phase allows for this increase to occur. More SPP and classic lifts are emphasised in this phase because of the proximity to competition.

Beginner: In the second phase of training the beginner must utilize strength exercises to develop movements that will contribute to the learning of correct technique. The use of more specialized SPP means in this phase can be applied to beginners to emphasise the technical aspects of the lifts that are most difficult for them to learn. For example, a lifter who has trouble keeping their back flat during the setup of the snatch could use the snatch pull with slow lowering (a strength exercise) to help strengthen weak muscles and develop correct technique. The general duration for phase length is between three to eight weeks. Intermediate: Since the primary objectives of the intermediate revolve around perfecting technical mistakes and eliminating specific weaknesses, this second phase of training makes up a significant portion of the total training cycle. The general duration for the second phase of training can be anywhere from four to ten weeks. Advanced: As with intermediate lifters, the second phase of training becomes especially dominant for advanced athletes. However, the advanced athlete will not need to focus as much work on the elimination of weaknesses (this should have been accomplished earlier in their development) and more work will need to be devoted to increasing the rate of force development, and performing the classic lifts with maximum intensities. The general duration of the second phase is from 4-16 weeks. Peaking phase The objectives of the final phase of training before competition are directed at improving skill with maximum intensities, decaying fatigue from the previous training, and allowing for supercompensation to occur. This is accomplished with a significant reduction in total volume and a limited number of workouts per week allowing for more recovery between very intense training sessions. In this phase, no new strength development is going to occur as competitive exercises become the primary means used. This does not mean that intensity doesn’t increase during this phase, and in some circumstances, lifters will even hit new PRs. However, this increase in weight on the bar will be due to the expression of previous strength gains, rather than new strength adaptations.

Beginner: The third phase of training for a beginner should focus on psychologically preparing the lifter for competition. I believe that successful positive experiences in weightlifting competitions are foundational to both long-term athlete commitment, and the overall success of weightlifting as a sport. The third phase should also emphasize solidifying technique with the classic lifts at the intensities used in competition. Decaying fatigue is of lesser importance because the focus on skill based development throughout the entire training cycle does not allow them to accumulate very much fatigue. The average duration of this phase can be as little as a planned day of rest before competition, to as long as 2 weeks depending on the strength, size, and age of the lifter. Intermediate: The primary objectives for intermediate lifters in the third phase are to establish technical prowess in the lifts, decay fatigue from previous training phases, and make intelligent tactical choices for the competition. The duration of the third phase generally lasts between 1-4 weeks Advanced: The primary objectives of the advanced athlete in the third phase are to create the conditions for maximum levels in the classic lifts by decaying fatigue, and to develop the highest levels of psychological and tactical preparation for the competition. Injury prevention is also an important consideration because the most intense training is performed in the third phase. The duration of this phase generally lasts 2-4 weeks. Transition phase The fourth phase of training should allow the athlete to fully recover from the previous training cycle, or competition, and to prepare for the athlete for the next upcoming training cycle. The athlete should have a chance to focus on rehabilitating any injuries or pains that have accumulated from the previous training cycle. Transitional phases should help the athlete transition into hard training at the beginning of the next cycle via a resensitization to volume. These goals are accomplished through active rest, relaxation, and time off from intense technique practice and very heavy strength exercises. The reintroduction should start with a gradual rise in volume and intensity from MV back up to MEV.

Training blocks Training blocks are the smaller units of training that make up a phase of training. A training block is defined as a period within a training phase that is comprised of the same means and methods with the singular objective of furthering the training goal. Training blocks are different from a training phase in that a training phase can be made up of multiple blocks containing different means and methods. For example, during a hypertrophy phase that is 8 weeks long, there may be two training blocks that are each four weeks long with the goal of developing hypertrophy. However, one block may use safety bar squats and focus on sets of ten reps, where the other block uses back squats and leg press for sets of eight reps. Both blocks are achieving the same goal but with different means and methods. Each block starts with the MEV and ends near MRV. The training blocks within a training phase should all be focused on developing the training objectives of their corresponding phase. The structure and contents of the blocks can vary but their objectives should fall in line with those goals.

Training blocks should have durations based on the progression from MEV to MRV. It is important that the timeframe for each block comes from the individual athlete’s response to the training stimulus and training objectives. Planning the number of blocks should take into account proximity to competition, and should fit within the overall picture of the training phase and cycle. Setting up a training block follows much of the same rules as a training phase, just on a smaller scale. A goal for each block, and a plan for how to achieve that goal, should both be identified before the block is created. The starting point should be established based on individual factors and the goal of the overall program. Below are some examples of how this process looks in a training block The difference between MEV and MRV for each athlete will ultimately determine the length of a training block. A very low MEV and a very high MRV makes for a long training cycle with the ability to have a high ratio of overloading training to deloading. The opposite is true with a very high MEV and a very low MRV.

Training weeks The training week or microcycle is composed of individual workouts that follow a consistent and cyclical order. The goals of the training week should be aligned with the long-term goals of the training phase and short term goals of the training block. There are a nearly endless number of ways to construct a training week when we consider exercise selection, exercise order, and the use of small, medium, and large workouts. Below we will cover just a few of the most common weekly structures that I use based on practicality and experience. Since we want to have some undulation in our training week it can be assumed that there will be workouts of different size and composition. Small, medium, and large workouts refer to the total number of sets performed each day. Our general guidelines for structuring these days is simple. Large days have more volume than medium days, medium days have more volume than small days, and small days are less than or equal to medium days. For example, if you had 10 total sets planned for lower body strength in a week, and you had 3 workouts planned, the large day might consist of the most sets (5), the small day would be the least sets (2) and the medium day in between those (3).

When looking at the general trend of these weekly structures it is important to note that as the number of days per week increases, the amount of strength work increases. This is in line with the long term development we discussed before, as a lifter in the developmental part of their career will be working to increase total volume by increasing number of sessions per week. Below are a few of the most common weekly training structures. 3 days/week All three days are of relatively equal size and contain a balance of both classic lifts, as well as strength training exercises combined in the same sessions.

4 days/week Three days are focused on the development of technique and and a 4th day is devoted primarily to strength exercises.

5 days/week Three days per week are devoted to technical practice and the other two days are now devoted to the strength exercises. Separating the strength work from the technical practice is beneficial because it reduces total training time per session, and allows more volume to be done on each specific training goal.

6 days/week In this variation there is the ability to split the training work halfway between technical practice and strength work. This structure is well suited to intermediate and advanced athletes since it most likely has too much work devoted to the strength exercise for beginners.

Training days

While there are countless ways to organize the training session, we stick to a few core guidelines. When deciding exercise order in the training session it is important that the workout starts with the most technical exercises and ends with the least technical exercises. Workouts are generally going to start with the fastest, most technical movements and end with the slowest, least technical movements. We also want the exercises with the smallest SRA curve earlier in the workout, and those with the largest toward the end. As the workout progresses, training stimulus moves along the force/velocity curve from faster to more force (higher to lower velocity). It is important to note that individual differences or specific goals can override these guidelines, but if an athlete or coach is going to make that choice, they should know exactly why they are doing so. Taking these above guidelines into consideration, here is how we typically organize each training session: Warm-up/Movement Preparation The warm-up is used to prepare the athlete for the training session by raising core temperature, as well as increasing heart rate and blood flow. Producing this state in the athlete at the beginning of the training session reduces risk of injury and increases the effectiveness of the training session. The warm-up usually consists of low to moderate pace aerobic activity such as rowing, biking, jogging, jump rope, etc. It can even be accomplished by light calisthenics like air squats and push-ups. The form is much less important than the result. Are you doing something for 5-10 minutes that makes you hot and a little sweaty but not too tired? Good job. Movement preparation is the specific counterpart to the general warm-up above. It has the same goals, which are to reduce injury and increase effectiveness of training, but in the case of movement, the form it takes is the most important. Movement preparation is the use of supplementary or assistance exercises that prepare the athlete to train a primary exercise. There are too many correct ways to do movement preparation to explain in this book, but luckily there are only a few ways to do it wrong. If your movement preparation doesn’t make the primary exercise feel better, or make the athlete move better, then it didn’t work. If the movement preparation exercise is so fatiguing that it makes the primary exercise or the training session less effective, then it didn’t work. Finally, and perhaps the most common error, if movement preparation takes so long that it negatively impacts how much time can be spent on the primary movements, then it is not working. Technical Practice & Drills Drills are both similar and different than the warm-up and movement preparation that come before them in the workout. They are similar in that they both prepare the lifter for being as effective as possible in the subsequent primary exercise, and they are both executed with very light loads. Neither of them should be fatiguing, but rather prepare you to be fatigued in the best way possible. Technical practice and drills differ from the warm-up and movement preparation in that their goal is to improve the technical qualities of the primary exercise. The majority of the drills performed will be focused on improving the technical skill of the classic lifts as these lifts have a more demanding technical component than the primary strength exercises.

Primary exercise SPP Primary exercises are the main movements in the training session. Depending on the session, the primary exercise will either be the classic lifts, their close variations, or strength exercises. In most cases the majority of the volume and intensity of the session will come from the primary exercises, generally making them the most fatiguing part of the session. There can be more than one exercise per workout that falls into this category. Supplemental exercises Supplemental exercises are done at the end of the training session because they are often much less technical and involve higher repetition sets that are fatiguing and do not contribute to the technique of the classic lifts.

Chapter 4 Steps to constructing a training cycle In the past few chapters we have learned about how the scientific principles of strength determine how we train from a physiological perspective. We learned what types of strength we need in order to develop as a weightlifter, how to plan for long term training objectives, what means and methods to use, and how to structure a training cycle. We are now ready to create an individualized program. This means taking what we have learned so far and tailoring it to our individual needs. The benefits of a principle based approach is that it allows for an intuitive transition from the general concepts to the individual athlete. However, there are certain inevitable constraints about writing a book that make this process imperfect. Since I can’t work individually with each reader, the recommendations in this book are guidelines that will work for most people. Below is a self audit checklist and a set of accompanying tools that will help determine the athletic qualities you need to work on the most. What is produced in this chapter and the next will be example of a training program that adheres to all the scientific principles. This means that it is simply one of the many acceptable training programs, not the only effective program available. Receiving individualized coaching from a qualified weightlifting coach will most likely produce a better program than the self audit, but this is not a luxury we all have. The self audit is a helpful place to start learning how to apply the scientific principles to develop a well-structured weightlifting program. Self Audit The self audit is a quantitative assessment of current strengths, weaknesses, and skill level of an athlete. The goal is to provide a guideline for determining the focus of training, estimate how much volume a lifter needs to start progressing (MEV), as well as determine how that volume should be spread out between exercises. The three steps to the self audit are: 1. Define training objectives 2. Assess weak points 3. Establish MEV

Step 1. Define a training objective Based on the qualification levels discussed in chapter three, select the level that best fits your current state of lifting and technical stability. Each level of technical qualification sets the framework for the objectives you should focus on when constructing the training program.

Beginner The main objectives for strength work in the beginner’s program should be centered around two goals. 1. The development of muscles that are at an increased risk of injury from practice of the classic lifts and their variations. 2. Strengthening muscles and movements that will contribute to the learning process of the classic lifts. Beginners can accomplish both of these goals without the use of extensive directed strength work. GPP exercises and the practice of the actual lifts with light and medium intensities is more than sufficient. They should avoid the use of high intensity pulls, squat and presses because this would directly contradict the goals. Intermediate The main objectives for strength work as an intermediate should be focused on two areas. 1. Eliminating the specific weaknesses that contribute to technical mistakes and develop balanced strength. 2. Increasing the general strength and hypertrophy necessary to fill out the athlete’s weight class. Advanced The objectives for strength work in the advanced athlete’s program are focused on two single qualities. 1. Maximum development of strength qualities directed at increasing the results in the classic lifts. 2. Maintaining current general strength and hypertrophy levels where needed.

Step 2: Finding your individual weaknesses The second step in our self audit is identifying our strengths and weaknesses so we can distribute training volume accordingly within the program. As an imperfect substitute for an experienced coach’s eye, these strengths and weaknesses are determined using a series of ratios that compare the results of the classic lifts with various strength lifts. This concept comes from the soviet system, and can be a helpful tool as long as we don’t get too caught up in the numbers. When I program for my athletes, I rarely use the ratio chart to determine their weaknesses because I can already see them just by watching my athletes lift. I still take the difference between a lifter’s back squat and clean & jerk into consideration when making programming choices, for example, but I rarely calculate the exact number. Without me as your personal coach, the ratios provide a good starting point to identify what strength exercises need to be trained from MEV to MRV, and which ones should be put on MV so more energy can be devoted to the classic lifts. Calculate the ratios based on your 1RM in the corresponding strength and classic lifts, and record your score so that you have a score for each strength exercise, as well as a general score for each exercise group (lower body, pulling, upper body).

Lower body

pulling

upper body

Interpreting the results It is first important to note that these ratios are not exact, and being a few percentage points off is not going to make or break anything. Do not get hung up on hitting each ratio exactly, as they are just a rough model of what a good balance between strength and technique can look like. As mentioned in chapter 2 we know that if we are not trying to develop an exercise then we should be at Maintenance Volume. There are 3 possible outcomes for each ratio. 1. A “+1” means a low ratio, which is a sign that strength is low when compared to a similar classic lift. In this case, we will train the lift from MEV to MRV to bring it into balance. This may also result in directing more volume to that specific strength lift. 2. A “-1” means a high ratio, which is a sign that strength is high when compared to a similar classic lift. In this case, we will place the lift on MV until the corresponding classic lift increases. 3. A “0” means that strength and technique are well balanced. In this case, we still want to develop the strength lift from MEV to MRV because it will increase our potential for improved results. As mentioned above, you will want to keep track of your ratio scores in two different ways. The first way is for each specific strength lift, and the second way is as a total for the exercise group. Once all the scores are calculated we should have a very clear picture of what we should develop in training and what should be on MV. We will also know what exercises we should direct our training towards to develop well rounded strength. If all exercises fall into the strong category this mean you should be working more on the classic lifts instead of strength.

Let’s run through the ratio calculations with an example lifter who has strength levels of: 133 kg snatch 164kg Clean & Jerk 230 kg back squat 190 kg front squat 153 kg overhead squat 113 kg push press 170kg snatch deadlift 200kg clean deadlift

In our example we can see that our lifter is relatively strong in the back squat and overhead squat, their front squat is on target, and their push press, snatch DL and clean DL are low. Our lifter can be summed up as having strong legs, and a relatively weaker back, with a need to bring up their push press. To find the total score per exercise group we add the results from each exercise in that group together. This makes our total score per exercise group as follows:

Having a score for the specific exercise as well as the exercise group gives us a guideline for honing in on our individual areas of weakness. If your squats are weak overall, but your front squat is -1 and back squat is 0 then the weakness may be in your quadriceps.

Step 3: Finding your MEV In order to get an accurate picture of our MEV, we need to consider the major factors that impact MEV differences between individual athletes. The scores associated with each outcome are based on how impactful the characteristic is on MEV. For example, muscle fiber type matters, but not as much as training age. The scores also correspond to the the overall number of sets in a week that are either added or subtracted from the total weekly volume. For example, a score of +2 means an additional two sets should be added to the MEV for the training week. Fill out the all the scales to the best of your abilities for each exercise category: lower body, pulling, upper body.

Males are more sensitive to training, most likely due to having more testosterone than women, which means women generally have a higher MEV.

The more fast twitch fibers someone has, the more stimulation they will be able to induce per set. On the left of the scale is a super explosive athlete, someone with a huge vertical jump and a strong power clean. Someone with slow twitch muscle fibers on the right will generally excel at endurance activities like long distance running. Most people fall in middle range with a roughly even mix of fast and slow twitch fibers. Since muscle fiber type is difficult to accurately determine without a muscle biopsy, we recommend you assess your athletic history and try to think about the types of movements or sports you have naturally been the best at. Are you better at sprinting than running long distance? Do you burn out after 30 minutes of hard training in the gym, or can you lift with high effort for multiple hours? Unless these questions display a clear pattern of fast or slow twitch fibers, you are probably a mix of both and should select “0”.

The longer an athlete trains, the more their MEV increases as a result of their previous athletic adaptations. Simply put, it requires more and more work to make gains. The earlier in your athletic career you are, the lower your MEV will be. Novice lifters under 1 year of experience may have MEVs that are so low that they can make progress on 1-2 sets a week. Experienced lifters who have been training very hard for over five years may have MEVs that are even higher than the scope of this scale, which should be considered for advanced athletes using this audit. I would also generally recommend that athletes of that level seek individualized coaching in order to maximize their results.

The height of the lifter affects MEV because a taller lifter has to move the bar a greater distance than a shorter lifter which means more work is being done per rep. An example would be if a lifter who is 6 feet tall was squatting 180kg, they may be moving the bar a total of three feet per rep whereas a lifter who is 5’6” could do the same 180kg squat but only move the bar two feet per rep. Clearly the taller lifter is doing more work. Limb length can also factor into this as taller people generally have longer limbs, increasing the distance the bar in moved in both upper and lower body exercises.

The absolute intensity of training has a very significant effect on MEV since a 300kg squat is much more stressful on the body than a 100kg squat. We can assess current strength levels based on relative strength of the lifter in each corresponding exercise category. For upper body exercises we measure using the push press, for lower body exercises the back squat, and for pulling exercises the clean deadlift.

Calculating Audit Score and MEV Once we calculate our audit score for each exercise category, we need to give each exercise category a baseline number of sets per week as a starting point for approximating MEV. You will then take this baseline and combine it with your audit score to estimate a starting point for your own individualized MEV. The baseline MEV for each exercise group is as follows: Lower body: 14 sets Pulling: 16 sets Upper body: 15 sets We use these numbers as a baseline because they align with the average MEV observed in my own coaching experience and the scientific literature (see here and here for meta-analyses on the relationship between training volume and strength gains). The baseline number of sets is constant across all phases of overloading in our example (peaking and transition phases do not have overload volumes) because as we move from phase to phase we assume that absolute intensity will increase. With an increase in intensity the number of repetitions per set drops and this this will reduce total volume. In addition we also shift more volume from Supplementary exercises to Primary exercises which further intensifies the loading. It is unlikely that these recommendations will put you exactly where your MEV is, but it should get you pretty close. The ideal way to find your actual MEV from this point is through trial and error. To do this, do an entire training block with a given number of sets from the audit, and evaluate at the end of the block to see if you have made gains. There are many ways to do this, but one example of how I do this for my lifters is by evaluating the performance of top sets throughout the training block. If a lifter is performing a top set of an exercise, followed by multiple down sets, tracking the results of the top set each week can be an adequate evaluation of progress. If progress was made during that block, run another block within the same phase, but subtract a couple of sets from each exercise group and evaluate to see if you continue to make progress. Once you complete a block without making progress, you know that the volume used in the last block where progress was made is your MEV.

MV

In step 2 of the audit we determined which exercises should be trained from MEV to MRV, and which ones should be placed on MV. Just like MEV, MV is individualized are most accurately found through a process of trial and error similar to finding MEV. For the sake of ease and based on practical experience, MV is usually between 2-3 sets less than MEV per exercise group. Factors such as absolute intensity of training, muscle mass, and training age can all increase the gap between MV and MEV, because the longer you have possessed strength and muscle gains, the easier it is to maintain them.

When an exercise group is placed on MV it is important to not add the sets that were taken away to another exercise category. For example, if lower body is put on MV and reduced from 14 to 12 sets a week, do not take the difference of two sets and add them to the upper body exercise group, even if your ratios say you need to improve upper body exercises. Your MEV for upper body exercises does not change just because your lower body exercises are relatively strong. Failure to adhere to this can lead to hitting your MRV too early in a training block which will impede your progress. The best way to be certain about your personalized MV is to experiment during deloads. We know that during deloads we need to be below MEV so that we can actually recuperate and not be overloading. We also know that if we get below MV we will decay fitness qualities and after the deload our fitness will be worse than it should be. The simple solution is to reduce the number of sets you deload with each time, until performance in the following block is below baseline. Following this troubleshooting process for both MEV and MV allows us to really dial in our volume landmarks. Now that we have finished the audit we should have all of our data to start developing a training program. We can consolidate our completed Self audit into one simple scoresheet for ease of use.

Chapter 5 Creating a training program based off of theoretical principles and evaluations can seem like a challenging task. In this chapter we will show a step by step process for how to actually use this information to assemble a training program. We will illustrate the steps along the way and at the end show an example of a completed training program for a lifter that has scored a zero on their audit score. Putting the pieces together There are four steps to follow for constructing the training program once we have our completed self audit. 1. Selecting the weekly structure 2. Distribution of volume 3. Exercise selection 4. Loading Step 1. Selecting the weekly structure The first place we need to start is with the weekly structure. As we discussed in chapter three, there are endless possible variations of a weekly structure. However, we need to pick a weekly structure of training that satisfies a few criteria: 1. The workouts must adhere to SRA. We must manage the number of large or intense training days so they do not interfere with each other if possible. 2. The total volume needs to be manageable within the week of training. A 3x/week plan is fine unless you are doing 80 sets a day, in that case you need to start adding days. If your MEV is very low, you may not need a 6x/week template. For our example we’ll use our sample four day training week from chapter three. This example comes from a block within an accumulation phase.

Step 2. Distribution of volume Our next step is to divide our volume into primary and secondary exercises based on GPP needs, weaknesses, strengths, and individual differences. This is also where we can take our ratio score and decide which exercise groups will be overloaded from MEV to MRV, and which ones will be kept at MV. In our example below, the exercise group MEVs relate to a lifter that scored a zero on the ratios and audit so everything is trained from MEV to MRV.

Subdividing the volume into workouts based on size is a convenient way to manage the magnitude of each session. Here we show the subdivision of total volume into large and small workouts. This is only one example of the many ways this can be done. If you have enough volume to distribute between 3,4,5, or more sessions a week, than other variations are certainly possible (small, medium, large, or distributing the volume by percentage). It is important that there is some undulation between sessions in order to adhere to SRA and Fatigue Management. As volume increases or changes from one block to the next, you may increase or decrease workout frequency for some exercise categories to either distribute or consolidate the stressors. For example, in an accumulation phase you may squat three to four times a week, but while peaking this may only be one to two times per week.

The supplementary volume for each category is split into 2x/week for pulling, upper body, and jumping and 1x for lower body in our example week. Since we only have two sizes of workouts large or small, we will just make one bigger than the other. If total volume ends up at a point where we have equal size sessions that is okay. For example, four sets split in half is two each day, there is no need to have a three and one division.

Our job is to assign volume to the corresponding days into the individual workouts

Step 3. Exercise selection Based on the self audit we should know which exercises we want to improve or which ones need less volume. If we know that we need to bring up front squats more than back squats, for example, we should be selecting front squats and placing them in the days with more volume while placing back

squats into the days with less volume. The exercises used here are not the only options, and just serve as an example.

Step 4. Loading (intensity/reps per set) Now we fill in the actual workouts with the correct intensites based on the motor qualities we are trying to develop. We have discussed these qualities in chapter two, which will be helpful to refer back to if you are feeling confused. For our sample accumulation block we know our goals are to develop work capacity and hypertrophy. We first assign the correct rep ranges, then we assign the desired intensity (this will be expressed as either RPE or as percentage of 1RM). When picking the exact number of reps and the exact intensites we must take into account a few factors: 1. Overload a. We assume that because this is our first week of the block, we will have to plan for some room to grow and do not want to start too aggressively. 2. Undulation and variation a. Selecting wide ranges of intensities will not be conducive to directed adaptation, but at the same time no variation in intensity throughout the week can become monotonous. 3. Exercise selection a. Certain exercises are not well suited to higher reps or to higher intensities. For example, front squats for sets of 10-12 is not practical because upper back usually gives out before the legs can be properly trained.

Below you can see our logical distribution of intensities taking into account all of the above factors.

We now have a completed training week. From here we would start the process of training and evaluation. It may take a few training blocks to find what works best, so do not give up if it doesn’t work perfectly in the first block. Considerations for peaking and transition blocks For peaking blocks, we are generally working backwards from high volumes to low volumes in an attempt to decay any fatigue from our previous intensification blocks. This means our goal is to get to MV for strength work so that we can realize and peak our abilities in the classic lifts. The process of distributing volume, intensity, and exercise selection are the same when building peaking blocks, but we work from at or below MEV towards MV. If the peaking block is short enough (1-2 weeks), and the previous training blocks caused enough fatigue, it could be that we need to be at MV immediately when the block starts. A quick checklist for building peaking blocks 1. Peaking starts at or just below MEV and works backward toward MV 2. Short peaking blocks mays start at MV only 3. Higher intensity should be planned because it will lower MV of strength work. Transitional blocks Transitional blocks are built in the same way as other blocks, but move from MV back to MEV in order to re-acclimate the athlete to their normal training volumes. For athletes who have an MV just below MEV, it may only take a week of transition to get back to MEV. For more advanced athletes, MV and MEV can be very far apart and that can mean 2-3 weeks or more of transitional work to get back up to MEV.

Sample programs

Beginner First 9 weeks while main focus is on learning progressions for Snatch, Clean & Jerk

Intermediate/Advanced

ACCUMULATION

Intensification

Peaking

Transitional block

Advanced

ACCUMULATION BLOCK

DELOAD

INTENSIFICATION

PEAKING

TRANSITIONAL

Conclusion The two main goals of this book have been to produce a theoretical argument for how to best align the scientific principles of training with the development of general strength for weightlifting, and to provide a practical guide for implementing that theory. If some of the decisions in the last two chapters were unclear, I recommend returning to the first three chapters for clarification. For some, it is easier to understand the theoretical arguments once a practical program has been presented, in which case I would recommend returning to the first three chapters after completing the audit. With the help of the audit and sample programs, self-coached lifters and coaches should be able to create individualized, principle based programs that meet the athlete’s needs. Many of you may be wondering why this book only addresses strength and does not cover the implementation of the classic lifts. This is a valid question, as it may at first seem strange to not have a complete training program at the end of the book. The reason for separating the classic lifts from the strength lifts is to demonstrate the discrete effects of strength training without combining the classic lifts. A foundational understanding of how to build strength specific to the needs of a weightlifter is necessary if long-term development is to be achieved. For those that are interested in a more comprehensive overview of how to develop the classic lifts, I recommend checking out my previous book, Weightlifting Technique Triad. My hope is that this book can serve as a launchpad for further debates about weightlifting programming and provide a set of terms that can help form a common language when discussing the scientific principles. We are in a very exciting period for weightlifting in the United States, with more money, coaches, and athletes entering the sport everyday. With more resources about weightlifting training available than ever before, we need a common set of tools for evaluating these training methods, and I think that the scientific principles of training should be those tools. While there is little ambiguity about the necessity of following the scientific principles, there is much more room for discussion about how to translate those principles into successful weightlifting programs. This book simply presents how I use the principles to produce successful training programs for my athletes, but it is certainly not the only way to do it. Hopefully, through further debate and discussion, we can all continue to learn and experiment in order to give weightlifters in the United States their best shot at maximizing their results.