Looking to spend some time focusing on speed, I was thinking of doing a cycle for about 4 weeks, 2 exercises per session, approximately 8 sets each. Haven’t started it yet and just wanted to see what you guys think. Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks.
If u have any suggestions about reps or sets, feel free to let me know, as well as exercises, 65% seems a little high, also anything u feel I should add, sprints, plyos etc
Seems to me, assuming your form is good on the O-lifts, that you are using too low a percentage to build power. The snatch and C&J are already power movements even when you lift at your 1RM (unlike the bench, squat or DL) so you cannot use the same sorts of percentages you do with the slower lifts like bench press and squats.
Also, I generally don’t like doing more than 2 reps per set for the snatch and don’t like going over 3 for the clean (since it is a less technical lift than the snatch), but even there, by normal rep range is 1-2 reps. Going to 3 reps is probably fine tho, since you are using the power version of both lifts. If you are doing them from the high hang as well, you can probably go as high as 5-6 reps per set.
Also, if you are using the o-lifts to develop power, why do speed squats as well? I don’t see any maximal strength work in there. Seems to me that you at least want to maintain your strength (if not improve it) while working on generating more power, so at least one of the days you should be squatting at 85%+ (and 90%+ is probably better) of your 1RM so that your strength doesn’t degrade while focused on maximal power. It doesn’t have to be a high volume of lifting heavy weights, but it should be enough to at least maintain the strength you have already built.
If you’re looking to improve your Olympic Lifts, do the full lifts. If you’re pulling a good amount of weight, for example BW snatch, it would not benefit you much to work at 50% capacity using the power versions. Unless you are coming back from a long lay off or your technique is absolutely atrocious, there is no point in pulling 50% for the entire workout.
Spending 4 weeks working at half capacity doing power versions will not benefit you as much as spending 4 weeks working on the full classical lifts at 70+.
Furthermore, box squats do not have much carry over in Olympic Weightlifting. Stick to full back squats.
However, I am intepreting it as speed in your classical lifts.
If you mean speed for sports or something like that, then I have no knowledge of that.
BTW, last Summer I had a chance to exchange some e-mails with coach Glenn Pendlay, ultimately, he gave me his cell phone number and he ended up talking to me for about 90 minutes about his coaching strategies with respect to the Olympic lifts.
One of the points I recall him telling me was that he doesn’t really use training percentages for his OL lifters, at least not below a certain level. His view was that you should lift with a highest weight that allows you to get no less than 9 out of 10 lifts with perfect form.
So I’m getting the sense that the o-lifts are already explosive enough and they’re going to generate speed regardless. It seems like this would be geared more towards a powerlifting protocol. So I should probably just stick to heavy lifting?
Actually, what I was trying to get across was that you cannot use the same loading percentage system for the o-lifts that you do with the squat or bench press to build power.
40-60% of 1RM is the range for maximal power for the “slow” lifts, but not for the explosive lifts, since they are, well, already explosive even at your 1 RM, so to get a carry-over to the slow lifts, you should probably use higher percentages with the O-lifts (dependent on your technique… see my second post about what Coach Pendlay told me).
This doesn’t mean you cannot use the Olympic lifts (or variants) for improving your powerlifting numbers. Back when I competed, I regularly snatched and cleaned as well. I felt it helped my deadlift a great deal. It also changed my “sticking point” from being at about my knees to the ground. If I could get the bar off the ground, the weight was going come up.
Here’s the only question that matters: why do you want to train for speed? Your program and all of the advice are meaningless if we don’t know the purpose of your speed training. Is it for a sport? If so, which? For powerlifting? For getting into olympic lifting?
When training for the olympic lifts, the percentage that you should use, with regards to improving mainly your speed strength should be kept at 60-85%. For the slower lifts like the squat, DL, etc., it should be kept at 50-60%. For ballistic exercises such as squat jumps, it should be 10-30%.
I personally would prefer you to lift max weights with the oly lifts, followed by heavy squats… The o-lifts are dynamic enough. They don’t need to be done with lighter weights.
If you are training for o-lifting (and specifically for o-lifting), I think it would be best to work on the full competition lifts and not the power versions.
To that end, percentages are meaningless for you right now. Work with a bar, or better yet a broom stick, to get your form as perfect as you are able. Once you are there, you can start adding weight.
See my post above about coach Pendlay’s recommendations about selecting a training weight once your form is decent (at least for the beginner stages and possibly later).
Don’t work off of percentages, but use a weight that you can hit with perfect form on 90%+ of your lifts. Just because you can get lucky and nail a 100 kg snatch with hit or miss form doesn’t mean you should use 80 kg in training if you are missing 1/2 your lifts at that weight. But if you are hitting 9/10 or 10/10 lifts with 60 kg., then that is the weight you should use.
I am by no means any sort of o-lifting expert, but I trust coach Pendlay’s advice in that regard.
If you’re training for Olympic lifting exclusively, not just for “speed,” then buy one of several books on the sport and start from there, and/or check out Dan john’s Olympic lifting stuff. Greg Everett, Mike Burgener, Medvedyev, Roman, Dreschler, others I can’t think of off the top of my head have books and/or websites for weightliting.
A friend gave sent me two PDF files of some really great training books. The author of the two books is… okay, here’s a clue, he’s bald, he used to be an olympic weightlifter, he’s canadian, and is one of the contributors of T-Nation. If you want a copy, PM me with your e-mail. If you’re polite enough, I might send you the file.
Lol, ya forgot to mention that guy. I hope he’s not too offended. I’ve got Theory and Application…I thought I had the Little Black Book… Anyway, lots of good info out there. Best thing to do: find a coach or a lifter who can teach you the technique.
[quote]Yoda-x wrote:
Lol, ya forgot to mention that guy. I hope he’s not too offended. I’ve got Theory and Application…I thought I had the Little Black Book… Anyway, lots of good info out there. Best thing to do: find a coach or a lifter who can teach you the technique.[/quote]
Go to the WOD page and you get your training days as you go. I like burgener and I think these lifting days that he wings out for free are fairly good for the beginner. Keeps it real there.