531 with oly lifts

Hi guys,
I’m training to improve my super total this year and am looking at ways to incorporate 531 with the classical lifts. This is my plan so far. Looking for critique and suggestions on running this program.
Day one Snatch and Deadlift
Snatch (rep range varying but usually around 5x3 @ 70% or 5x2 @80%)
Deadlift 531
Front squats 5x10 @50% or 3x5 @ 80%
Core work

Day two jerk and OHP
Jerk from stand (again varying but similar to above)
OHP 531
Bench 5x10 @ 50%
Bent over row 5x10

Day three clean and jerk and squat
clean and jerk (similar to above)
squat 531
snatch variation(one cycle hang snatch one cycle snatch balance)
Core
Day four bench focus
Bench 531
pull downs 5x10
sots press 5x5
biceps triceps face pulls as accessories.

Does this seem like a lot of volume? Anyone tried anything similar and got good/bad results?

Cheers

What is your supertotal right now? What is your max for each lift?

Also, have you considered trying to increase on 2-3 lifts for a few weeks while maintaining the others and rotating the lifts you want to increase/maintain during the year? It seems like you want to increase on everything everyweek and keep that program for the whole year.

Do you have a plan for the whole year considering this is your goal for the year?

Hi Hugo,

Thanks for responding. Current 1rms (not PBs) are;

Snatch 80kg
Clean and Jerk 100kg
Squat 140kg
Dead 170kg
Bench 110kg.
OHP 80kg

I don’t have a plan for the entire year to be honest. I was planning to try this for 3 -4 531 cycles and seeing where I landed before deciding what to do next. Weight increases would be monthly with the 531 cycles. I think the idea of rotating the lifts i’m trying to increase could be a good idea. Maybe just do the prescribed reps for the 531 sets instead of amraps on the lifts I’m maintaining. The reason I like 531 is the short cycles and programmed deloads which I think will be necessary while trying to improve all 6 lifts

Seeing your numbers, you are clearly not a beginner so you must know how your body react to different things. To give you an idea and allow you to judge if what I say is credible or not I was about the same level when I was focusing on the supertotal (snatch 80kg, C&J 100kg, squat (high bar) 160kg, deadlift 200 kg, bench 120 kg), all the while weighing 80 kg. So it’s up to you to decide if what I say is of some worth for you.

For the sake of discussing and helping you, here are some ideas:

  1. The supertotal is 5 lifts, not 6. The press is secondary for your goals.
  2. When I was training for the supertotal, I deadlifted once every 4 to 6 weeks. However, I was using good mornings or RDL as assistance. All that plus the squatting, front squatting, cleaning and snatching variations were improving my deadlift without burning myself with heavy deadlift.
  3. Lots of overhead work (jerk, push jerk, push press, press, incline bench) helped my bench a lot without needing a big volume of benching.
  4. With 531, if you want to maintain a lift while improving others, lowering the TM and just doing the minimum amount of reps on that lifts have worked great for me. Nothing force you to increase the TM from month to month on that lift neither if you want to maintain for a few months.
  5. High volume (for example 5 x 10 on bench or row or front squat) will make you sore. Being sore is not helpful while working on olympic lift technique.
  6. Finally, here is an article from Christian Thibaudeau about improving the supertotal (it is not 531 related but can give you something to think about): https://thibarmy.com/training-for-the-supertotal/

I am curious about what you decide to do in the future and your results. Good luck!

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Thanks a lot. I’ll definitely give that article a read and incorporate some of these suggestions… Thanks for your help. I’ll let you know how I get on!

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