Introduction
 Olympic
weightlifting is a sport in which athletes compete to lift the
greatest amount of weight overhead within an athlete's weight
category. The competition lifts are the Snatch
and the Clean
& Jerk. Each weightlifter receives three attempts in
each lift. The combined total of the highest successful attempt
for each lift determines the athlete's placing within their respective
bodyweight category.
In contrast, Olympic-style Weightlifting is a form of weight
training incorporating the competitive lifts or variations
of the Olympic weightlifts. Athletes use Olympic-style weightlifting
as a part of their sports conditioning program to develop explosive
speed strength, or power. Also see Exercise
Power Outputs and Suggested
Repetition Ranges.
Standards represent performance that can be reasonably expected
of an athlete at various levels of training advancement using
standard, full range-of-motion barbell exercises. Includes strength
standards for Power Clean, Power Snatch, Press, Bench Press,
Squat, Deadlift.
A basic primer for why you need real weightlifting shoes to
train safely and effectively.
A Smattering of Training Programs
At the USA Weightlifting Regional Development Center, we get
lots of requests for copies of the programs we use. This is a
bit of a problem as we use so many. A single model of training
cannot accommodate the broad spectrum of trainees we service.
Every program included below can be useful for a while and in
specific types of trainees, but every coach must be able to design
their own program for the specific needs of their unique trainees.
What we have here can serve as examples, but you can't base your
whole coaching system on them. We never stop experimenting with
programming and looking for improvements, so what you read here
may not be used any more at the RDC, BUT, when we did use it,
it worked.
MSU Experimental Training Program
1.0 (2000)
MSU has a 6 week training program available for download for
those who have access to Microsoft Excel (.xls file). This
program utilizes large variations in intensity and volume designed
to cause adaptations in the endocrine system which assist the
athlete in gaining strength. See Hormone
Fluctuation Model. Weeks 1 and 2 seem very easy, while the
3rd and 4th weeks seem viciously hard, and the last two weeks
are tapering weeks leading up to a competition at the end of
week 6. This program was adapted from some very well documented
programs used on elite European lifters and from scientific literature. This
version has been used successfully by athletes ranging from junior
to master, and ranging in experience from beginners to athletes
with over 20 years training experience. Don't worry if you
feel like you are on death's door for the 3rd and 4th weeks,
everyone on the program feels like this, but without exception,
everyone using the program will experience performance improvements
at the end of the 6th week. Do not alter the program and expect
gains, do your best to execute the training as written.
While the program does work well, we believe that additional
recovery time (i.e., a longer taper) will enhance performance
gains.To this end, we are investigating a similar program but
with a 4 week volume-biased taper. Right click below and save
as an MS Excel (.xls) file
WFW Program (2003)
Several of our lifters utilized a Louie
Simmons (Westside Barbell) inspired program under the supervision
of Coach Glenn Pendlay
(former Jr World Powerlifting Champion) with good success. This
may be a good program for both increasing strength and developing
technique. It seems to be particularly effective when used
between more specialized peaking cycles like the MSU Experimental
Program 1.0 because it allows the lifter adequate time to work
on individual technique problems and individual strength deficiencies,
something which is lacking in highly structured programs like
the experimental program.
This program is basically a 4-day- a-week program, where the
lifter works on the Snatch
and Clean
& Jerk on Monday and Thursday, and works on strength
on Tuesday and Friday. We have found that 8 to 12 singles done
on the Clean & Jerk and Snatch work well, with the lifter
using between 65 and 85% of his/her maximum. Usually, only
one specified weight is used for each training session. A
limited rest period is used, usually performing one rep per minute. This
allows the lifter to work with a light-enough weight to practice
technique, yet still get a good workout. It appears from
early results that this protocol works very well for building
consistency in a lifter's technique. The focus is to complete
each workout with zero misses at the target weight before allowing
the athlete to increase the weight in the next workout or next
week (The athlete is not allowed to increase the weight after
a workout with misses).
Progression, variety and individualization are the keys on
Tuesday and Friday. The athletes should perform exercises
that work on their identified individual weaknesses (i.e., weak
legs - concentrate on Squats, weak back - concentrate on Romanian
Deadlifts, problems catching the snatch - include Snatch Balances,
Overhead Squats, or Snatch-grip Push Presses). The variants
are endless. Vary the reps, and vary the exercises, and always
try to make new personal records on whatever strength exercise
you are working on.
See Coach Pendlay's more recent comments on the WFW
Program based on Westside
Barbell training philosophies.
The Wichita Falls Program is iteration from Coach
Glenn Pendlay.
Dr. Mike Stone has been one of the major scientific influences
in weightlifting, all the way back to the days of the National
Strength Research Center at Auburn. This program has been
described as his basic program for getting strong.
This program has been around for a long time. It is rarely
used with any of our athletes as we believe our other training
models are more effective.
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