Advice for Training Percentages for Oly Techniques

Training Powerlifting
1

My snatch is in 154 lb and my clean & jerk is in 200 lb.

During my training sessions I also do practices with some techniques. Some of them are snatch pulls, clean pulls, squats and front squats.

What I regularly do is:

  • to practice the oly lift + some upper techique (drop, snatch balance, etc) until my percentage for the day, let´s say in this example, 70%
  • as soon as the snatch lifts are finished, I perform, for this example, three sets at 75, 80, and 85% of the snatch max
  • And I finish the training session with three sets of front squats (for the snatch training day) with 90, 95, and 100% of the snatch max
  • In a few words: lift until x%, pulls for x+5, 10, and 15%, and squats for x+20,25, and 30%

The reason of my post: the problem is that my squat max is 300 lb and my deadlift max is 365 lb, well above the oly maxes.

My question: considering the fact that I am in a strong deficit phase for weigth loss (I need it, clinically speaking), what would you do guys?

  • to keep the pulls and squats percentages based on my oly maxes
  • or use my squat and deadlift percentages ?

I am inclined to keep “as is” (first option above), but I would appreciate your opinions.

Cheers

2

Olympic lifters must be strong!

Use your squat and pulls to build your strength. Don’t base the strength lifts on your (lighter) snatch numbers, don’t hold them back.

Klokov said something like “I’m awesome at snatch because that shit is easy because I deadlift 800.”

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3

There are all kinds of ratios and percentages out there, such as you should be able to C&J your front squat triple, snatch 78-82% of your C&J, etc.

In your case, it appears you are stronger than your lifts indicate. Your skill level may be holding you back. Consider this: I knew a couple of national level lifers, one a former powerlifter who converted to weightlifting and the other a life long weightlifter who started in his mid teens.

The powerlifter was in the then 90kg class and had a best C&J of 402 with a best dead lift of 700. The other guy was in the 110kg class with a best C&J of 501 to go with a personal best of 600 in the dead lift. Go figure…

Do not base your lifts (squats and pulls, etc.) off your best snatch and C&J lifts.

For you, train the lifts at 80-95%. Work as heavy as you can with correct form and positions. Do this first. Follow-up with the accessory technique movements.

Pulls should be heavy, 100-110% of max single snatch and clean, and for 2-3 reps. Heavier, if you can do them with good form. But, if you can do good clean pulls with 275 lbs, then you know your skill, not strength, is holding you back.

Squats, a percentage of your snatch max is not heavy. Work up to limit triples and fives, single and doubles in the peaking phase.

While it is difficult to balance technique work with strength work, keep in mind that if you want to be good in the snatch, snatch. And, if you want to be good at heavy singles, train heavy singles. That’s your priority.

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