Olympic Weightlifting and 5/3/1?

Is there a 531 template that I could use for Olympic lifting?

Are you looking for something specifically for building the Snatch and Clean and Jerk? Or are you just looking to incorporate them into 531?

If you are looking to just do a template with some power variations built in, there are quite a few of those. If you are looking for a pure weightlifting program I don’t think 531 would be your best option.

I guess it all comes down to what your goals are.

There’s the Morning Star template in Forever, which is basically a heavily strength oriented program for the squat and press, with the addition of some work on one olympic lift of your choice - by the way it’s written, a power variation of an oly lift of your choice, to be specific.

Not something purely aimed at oly lifting of course, more like an added oly component to your usual strength training.

I’ve done PL for a few years but there I don’t have any meets planned for the rest of the year so I wanted to try to my hand in OWL. I have been thinking having Snatch, C&J, Squat, and Bench as the main lifts with deads as an accessory. just didn’t know what Wendler thought of 531 for that

Instead of adding olympic lifts into 531, I would add 531 into an olympic lifting program. Just use the 531 progression for the strength portions. Example:
Monday
Cl&J Volume (see Prilepins Chart)
Back Squat (5’s pro)

Wednesday
Snatch Volume (see Prilepins Chart)
Front Sq (5’s Pro)

Thursday
Power Clean (5x531)
Power Snatch (5x531)
Overhead Sq (5’s Pro)

Saturday
Snatch (Heavy Single)
Cl&J (Heavy Single)
Front Sq (Work up to TMx1)

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Jim will probably want to punch me in my Motley Crue listening ears with this, but so far it’s worked for me. I was never great at Oly lifts, but I’m getting back into them and trying to learn the form. I’ve been running the Krypteia program MWF. I’ve replaced the jumps/throws warm up with paused stage snatch singles. I will start with the bar, and add 10 pounds each time until I get to 95 pounds and I’ll do 5 singles before I start the main work. Tuesdays and thursdays I’ve been running the old 531 format with super low training maxes. I do the warmup sets of snatches, the main work, then main work C&J. Looks like this to start:
TM: 100 Snatch, 125 C&J (Freedom Units)
Day 1
Snatch- 5x45, 5x45, 3x55, 5x65, 5x75, 5x85
C&J- 5x80, 5x95, 5x105
Day 2
Snatch- 5x45, 5x50, 3x60, 3x70, 3x80, 3x90
C&J- 3x85, 3x100, 3x110
Day 3
Snatch- 5x45, 5x55, 3x65, 5x75, 3x85, 1x95
C&J- 5x95, 3x105, 1x120

Add 5 pounds to the TM’s and do 3 cycles then test your maxes and adjust if necessary. If at any point I miss a weight three consecutive times, I will drop my TM and start again. Hasn’t happened yet. If I’m in a groove I’ll try to go for five singles on the last sets. I know this is a lot of volume for Oly’s, but with the light TMs and really concentrating on form it’s worked for me. We’ll see what happens if/when I can move serious weight. Also, EAT and SLEEP!!!

I assume youre going compete In WL? Heres my 2c.

-, use total amount of reps (not set reps/sets) In leaders. Focus on quality.

  • Go for heavier reps In anchor (beyond programming or so)

  • for the Off season, build More strength with Squat, DL and ohp. Kerp the comp lifts lighter. Closer the meet, do More heavy work in C & J and snatch, and do less squats/deads.

Not going to compete? Do some power cleans/snatches before squats/deads.

To add, the program I used as example is Greg Everrets standard template with 531 training style added in. Remember a daily 1RM in olympic lifts is different then in the strength lifts because you will not actually be taxing your muscles the same due to the complexity of the lifts. This is also the reason you can squat so frequently. Trust my an OHS when you are starting out is purely Snatch technique assistance. You can do more assistance work if you wish but it needs to make sense based on the day and should be done on either c&j or Snatch volume day. It also shouldn’t be something you are obviously doing plenty of. Squat and Hip hinge are taken care of from the main lifts so Snatch think: Wide grip pull up/lat pull down or chest supported rows (save the lower back), Snatch shrug, muscle snatch, Snatch Press, and waiter walks. Not all at once zealots but some or 1 each week. Help what’s weak.

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