Critique My Routine ,Thanks.

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

A little about me. I started Oly-Lifting with a coach a few weeks back and so far so good. He is slowly teaching me the technique and I can’t wait to put up some weight above my head :D.

I need to gain some weight. At 5’11" and 175lbs or so I would like to get to 200lbs-205lbs. I understand Oly-lifting is not the optimum way to gain muscle so that is the whole reason for the post. This is what I think would work but it wouldn’t hurt to get some feed-back from you guys.

MONDAY:

Back squat:

5x3

Flat Bench:

5x3

Front Squats:

5x8-12

Decline Bench:

5x8-12

TUESDAY:

Oly-Lifting

WED:

Front squat:

5x5

Chest Exercise:

5x8-12

Back-squat:

5x12

Chest Exercise:

5x8-12

THURSDAY:

Oly-lifting

Friday:

OFF/some tire flips sledge hammer for conditioning

Saturday:

Oly-Lifting

Sunday:

OFF/some tire flips sledge hammer for conditioning

I would like to dead-lift at least once per week but I can’t really find a place for it. Some days I might be able to train in the AM. So maybe on OLY-Days I can do dead-lifts and some bodybuilding back-work in the AM.

The tire flips and sledge hammer will probably be done just once a week depending on how I’m recovering.

Advice?

2

I’m a relative beginner myself so i cant offer much advice on program design. but here’s a few pointers i picked up from my coach:

Whats your flexibility like?

Regular benching can affect your shoulder mobility. If you’ve already got some flexibility issues (like me) it becomes very hard to keep the weight stable in the bottom position of a snatch. It’s taken me many months of fexibilty drills to get to the point where i can full-snatch comfortably. So yeah, i’d recommend some shoulder mobility excersises if you’re doing a lot of benching.

Also, forget deadlifts. Do snatch/clean pulls instead :wink:

3

Why are you trying to gain weight for Olifting? its a classed sport.

4

[quote]Invictica wrote:
Why are you trying to gain weight for Olifting? its a classed sport.

[/quote]

Because the coach wants me to compete at 80kg-90kg and I don’t mind since I’m a skinny bastard.

5

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
Invictica wrote:
Why are you trying to gain weight for Olifting? its a classed sport.

Because the coach wants me to compete at 80kg-90kg and I don’t mind since I’m a skinny bastard.[/quote]

Why are you doing bench press and chest exercises? The have little to no carry over in Olifting.
Is the pull off the ground the limiting factor in your clean right now? If not, why are you deadlifting?

I only ask because it seems the programming makes no sense for your purposes. Why not just do O-lifting workouts everyday? Gaining weight is largely a function of diet. Just hit your O-lift workouts hard and eat lots of clean whole foods. Better than straddling the bodybuilding horse and the olympic lifting horse with one ass.

6

[quote]Invictica wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:
Invictica wrote:
Why are you trying to gain weight for Olifting? its a classed sport.

Because the coach wants me to compete at 80kg-90kg and I don’t mind since I’m a skinny bastard.

Why are you doing bench press and chest exercises? The have little to no carry over in Olifting.
Is the pull off the ground the limiting factor in your clean right now? If not, why are you deadlifting?

I only ask because it seems the programming makes no sense for your purposes. Why not just do O-lifting workouts everyday? Gaining weight is largely a function of diet. Just hit your O-lift workouts hard and eat lots of clean whole foods. Better than straddling the bodybuilding horse and the olympic lifting horse with one ass. [/quote]

I don’t have access to a platform and bumper plates everyday. Only the 3 times a week I train with my coach.

You’re forgetting that I’ve only started the lifts so the weight IS nothing which would make me grow decent muscle at this point. Once I have a full Oly-lifting program and the workouts actually start to challenge me then I’ll be sure to drop the chest stuff and dedicate most of the week to Oly lifts.

7

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
Invictica wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:
Invictica wrote:
Why are you trying to gain weight for Olifting? its a classed sport.

Because the coach wants me to compete at 80kg-90kg and I don’t mind since I’m a skinny bastard.

Why are you doing bench press and chest exercises? The have little to no carry over in Olifting.
Is the pull off the ground the limiting factor in your clean right now? If not, why are you deadlifting?

I only ask because it seems the programming makes no sense for your purposes. Why not just do O-lifting workouts everyday? Gaining weight is largely a function of diet. Just hit your O-lift workouts hard and eat lots of clean whole foods. Better than straddling the bodybuilding horse and the olympic lifting horse with one ass.

I don’t have access to a platform and bumper plates everyday. Only the 3 times a week I train with my coach.

You’re forgetting that I’ve only started the lifts so the weight IS nothing which would make me grow decent muscle at this point. Once I have a full Oly-lifting program and the workouts actually start to challenge me then I’ll be sure to drop the chest stuff and dedicate most of the week to Oly lifts.[/quote]

That still does not rationalize why you are benching. You have an equal amount of movements for chest and legs. What on earth is going on? I understand you are trying to put on muscle, but why put it on the chest where there is no application to Olympic Lifting? Decline bench? Comon man.

I know you’re only starting the lifts, but it’s only going to be easy for about 3-4 weeks, you’re not going to put on appreciable muscle mass or lose large amounts of strength in that time span (given you are still squatting).

Look just worry about one thing right now. Learning form. Once it gets hard just eat more. Use your days off to gear in technique with the bar and keep leg strength. Focus on Sinclair. Your body weight will follow given you eat.

8

Yeah if you really want to gain weight and your coach wants you to gain weight then there are 1.5 options for you:

1] ask your coach for some “non OL day” training days for you. He may or may not give you some extra training days.

1.5] You remodel your training scheme because it’s less-than-optimal. you want to be a bad ass gentleman OLer? gain weight as such. something like the following [rough and loose and untailored to your specific needs of course] might [will] be better:

Monday

Back squat: 5x10
Chin up [clean/jerk grip]: 5x7
Snatch pull from boxes/rack [bar at mid-thigh] with full shrug: 7x5 [1-3s pause between reps]

Tues: OL

Wed

Front squat 7x4 [dont do high reps on these. almost everyones upper back looks like shit after rep 5]
horizontal row of some kind: 5x10
Back ext/GHR: 5x10

Thurs: OL

Fri

Overhead Squat: 7x5
Overhead press: 8x8
DB row: 6x5

sat: OL

Sun: Eat triple your regular calories.

If the OL is mostly technical work then you need to gain weight in the important areas. fuck chest lifts. Not worth a shit in OL. Squat my friend. Once your ass is so big people accuse you of riding an ostrich around you will have an easier time with heavy lifts.

OL training always included some heavy squats in my past experience. But I suppose right now my current “coach” isnt really squatting me for shit or lifting me for shit so I feel your need to aux train.

But ideally you should talk this over with your coach and if he is worth a shit he will likely give you some training that will be tailored to his needs for you. If he’s like my current coach then he’ll tell you to never train hard so you never get injured. You will also take a million years to succeed or not at all but apparently thats ok over here. /end rant/pity party

focus your efforts, sir.

-chris

9

Thanks for the responses guys. I’ll talk it over with my coach tomorrow and then report back on what he says for the sake of curiosity.

I guess the most important thing is to squat heavy as often as possible and practice what the coach teaches me with the bar until I start to use some decent weight.

10

[quote]Avocado wrote:
Yeah if you really want to gain weight and your coach wants you to gain weight then there are 1.5 options for you:

1] ask your coach for some “non OL day” training days for you. He may or may not give you some extra training days.

1.5] You remodel your training scheme because it’s less-than-optimal. you want to be a bad ass gentleman OLer? gain weight as such. something like the following [rough and loose and untailored to your specific needs of course] might [will] be better:

Monday

Back squat: 5x10
Chin up [clean/jerk grip]: 5x7
Snatch pull from boxes/rack [bar at mid-thigh] with full shrug: 7x5 [1-3s pause between reps]

Tues: OL

Wed

Front squat 7x4 [dont do high reps on these. almost everyones upper back looks like shit after rep 5]
horizontal row of some kind: 5x10
Back ext/GHR: 5x10

Thurs: OL

Fri

Overhead Squat: 7x5
Overhead press: 8x8
DB row: 6x5

sat: OL

Sun: Eat triple your regular calories.

If the OL is mostly technical work then you need to gain weight in the important areas. fuck chest lifts. Not worth a shit in OL. Squat my friend. Once your ass is so big people accuse you of riding an ostrich around you will have an easier time with heavy lifts.

OL training always included some heavy squats in my past experience. But I suppose right now my current “coach” isnt really squatting me for shit or lifting me for shit so I feel your need to aux train.

But ideally you should talk this over with your coach and if he is worth a shit he will likely give you some training that will be tailored to his needs for you. If he’s like my current coach then he’ll tell you to never train hard so you never get injured. You will also take a million years to succeed or not at all but apparently thats ok over here. /end rant/pity party

focus your efforts, sir.

-chris[/quote]

Trust me man most of my weight(not much) is in my legs and ass. I LOVE LOVE squatting. My coach is pretty awesome, at this point he says he doesn’t want me to get to sore from the workouts sense he’s teaching mostly technique and I guess he doesn’t want me to start putting up heavy weight without drilling the tech down.

Last Saturday though I asked if I could try my one rep max on back-squats. I’ve never had spotters before so this was the first time doing a one rep max, it was pretty awesome to say the least. I also did some doubles and triples.

11

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
Avocado wrote:
Yeah if you really want to gain weight and your coach wants you to gain weight then there are 1.5 options for you:

1] ask your coach for some “non OL day” training days for you. He may or may not give you some extra training days.

1.5] You remodel your training scheme because it’s less-than-optimal. you want to be a bad ass gentleman OLer? gain weight as such. something like the following [rough and loose and untailored to your specific needs of course] might [will] be better:

Monday

Back squat: 5x10
Chin up [clean/jerk grip]: 5x7
Snatch pull from boxes/rack [bar at mid-thigh] with full shrug: 7x5 [1-3s pause between reps]

Tues: OL

Wed

Front squat 7x4 [dont do high reps on these. almost everyones upper back looks like shit after rep 5]
horizontal row of some kind: 5x10
Back ext/GHR: 5x10

Thurs: OL

Fri

Overhead Squat: 7x5
Overhead press: 8x8
DB row: 6x5

sat: OL

Sun: Eat triple your regular calories.

If the OL is mostly technical work then you need to gain weight in the important areas. fuck chest lifts. Not worth a shit in OL. Squat my friend. Once your ass is so big people accuse you of riding an ostrich around you will have an easier time with heavy lifts.

OL training always included some heavy squats in my past experience. But I suppose right now my current “coach” isnt really squatting me for shit or lifting me for shit so I feel your need to aux train.

But ideally you should talk this over with your coach and if he is worth a shit he will likely give you some training that will be tailored to his needs for you. If he’s like my current coach then he’ll tell you to never train hard so you never get injured. You will also take a million years to succeed or not at all but apparently thats ok over here. /end rant/pity party

focus your efforts, sir.

-chris

Trust me man most of my weight(not much) is in my legs and ass. I LOVE LOVE squatting. My coach is pretty awesome, at this point he says he doesn’t want me to get to sore from the workouts sense he’s teaching mostly technique and I guess he doesn’t want me to start putting up heavy weight without drilling the tech down.

Last Saturday though I asked if I could try my one rep max on back-squats. I’ve never had spotters before so this was the first time doing a one rep max, it was pretty awesome to say the least. I also did some doubles and triples.
[/quote]

Yeah, but there is Zero sense in doing horizontal pressing lifts. And that is coming from a huge advocate of cross training for your OL performance.

Put you body through range of motion that it will encounter in the lifts. Overhead pressing, push pressing, Squatting, above knee pulls. That should be your extra lifts.

And only do one squat variety in any one day. And If i were you I would being with heavier volume sets such as 8 or 10 reps in the very beginning. It will help you gain weight faster. I could put on about 1.5kg lean during the months where the squats got volumey as in +5 reps.

-chris

12

Just a reminder:

Weight gain (either fat or muscle) is mostly determined by what you put in your mouth. You can have a strength focused macrocycle, and still gain considerable muscular bodyweight if you’re eating enough… And besides, your TYPE2B muscle fibers have a higher potential FOR BOTH SIZE AND STRENGTH than the weaker, type1A muscle fibers. So if you’re gonna gain, it might as well be fast twitch instead of slow twitch. I truly believe that your weight gain is just a matter of shoving more steak down your throat.

lol. “shoving steak down your throat.” that’s a funny statement.

13

[quote]TYPE2B wrote:
Just a reminder:

Weight gain (either fat or muscle) is mostly determined by what you put in your mouth. You can have a strength focused macrocycle, and still gain considerable muscular bodyweight if you’re eating enough… And besides, your TYPE2B muscle fibers have a higher potential FOR BOTH SIZE AND STRENGTH than the weaker, type1A muscle fibers. So if you’re gonna gain, it might as well be fast twitch instead of slow twitch. I truly believe that your weight gain is just a matter of shoving more steak down your throat.

lol. “shoving steak down your throat.” that’s a funny statement.[/quote]

Yea man, my diet the last few days has been awesome. I’ve never really “bulked” before but until I don’t get to around 210-220 LBS I don’t plan on stopping. I plan to compete at around 200 solid lbs.

14

[quote]Avocado wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:
Avocado wrote:
Yeah if you really want to gain weight and your coach wants you to gain weight then there are 1.5 options for you:

1] ask your coach for some “non OL day” training days for you. He may or may not give you some extra training days.

1.5] You remodel your training scheme because it’s less-than-optimal. you want to be a bad ass gentleman OLer? gain weight as such. something like the following [rough and loose and untailored to your specific needs of course] might [will] be better:

Monday

Back squat: 5x10
Chin up [clean/jerk grip]: 5x7
Snatch pull from boxes/rack [bar at mid-thigh] with full shrug: 7x5 [1-3s pause between reps]

Tues: OL

Wed

Front squat 7x4 [dont do high reps on these. almost everyones upper back looks like shit after rep 5]
horizontal row of some kind: 5x10
Back ext/GHR: 5x10

Thurs: OL

Fri

Overhead Squat: 7x5
Overhead press: 8x8
DB row: 6x5

sat: OL

Sun: Eat triple your regular calories.

If the OL is mostly technical work then you need to gain weight in the important areas. fuck chest lifts. Not worth a shit in OL. Squat my friend. Once your ass is so big people accuse you of riding an ostrich around you will have an easier time with heavy lifts.

OL training always included some heavy squats in my past experience. But I suppose right now my current “coach” isnt really squatting me for shit or lifting me for shit so I feel your need to aux train.

But ideally you should talk this over with your coach and if he is worth a shit he will likely give you some training that will be tailored to his needs for you. If he’s like my current coach then he’ll tell you to never train hard so you never get injured. You will also take a million years to succeed or not at all but apparently thats ok over here. /end rant/pity party

focus your efforts, sir.

-chris

Trust me man most of my weight(not much) is in my legs and ass. I LOVE LOVE squatting. My coach is pretty awesome, at this point he says he doesn’t want me to get to sore from the workouts sense he’s teaching mostly technique and I guess he doesn’t want me to start putting up heavy weight without drilling the tech down.

Last Saturday though I asked if I could try my one rep max on back-squats. I’ve never had spotters before so this was the first time doing a one rep max, it was pretty awesome to say the least. I also did some doubles and triples.

Yeah, but there is Zero sense in doing horizontal pressing lifts. And that is coming from a huge advocate of cross training for your OL performance.

Put you body through range of motion that it will encounter in the lifts. Overhead pressing, push pressing, Squatting, above knee pulls. That should be your extra lifts.

And only do one squat variety in any one day. And If i were you I would being with heavier volume sets such as 8 or 10 reps in the very beginning. It will help you gain weight faster. I could put on about 1.5kg lean during the months where the squats got volumey as in +5 reps.

-chris[/quote]
I guess this is when rack-pulls and such come into play…nice :D.

Monday

Back squat: 5x10
Chin up [clean/jerk grip]: 5x7
Snatch pull from boxes/rack [bar at mid-thigh] with full shrug: 7x5 [1-3s pause between reps]

Tues: OL

Wed

Front squat 7x4 [dont do high reps on these. almost everyones upper back looks like shit after rep 5]
horizontal row of some kind: 5x10
Back ext/GHR: 5x10

Thurs: OL

Fri

Overhead Squat: 7x5
Overhead press: 8x8
DB row: 6x5

sat: OL

Sun: Eat triple your regular calories.

I’ll do something similar to what you wrote, specially on Sunday :P.

What’s an example of a Back ext/GHR?

15

I was going to say a few things but I think Avocado’s suggestions covered it. Just to reiterate though: Stick with one type of squat per workout and go heavy for low reps. Days you’re not working with a coach are great days to do any other non-technique based lift (ie squats, overhead presses, rows, etc). Don’t forget regular sleep and adequate rest are just as important factors as lifting and eating.

Personally I’m not a purist who believes you have to completely give up benching if you really really want to do it (incline bench can have some benefits for oly lifters). If you absolutely have to have it in your workouts, give priority to all other lifts which directly benefit your oly lifts first.