Hi Coach, wishing you and your family, all the very best for the coming year. If i am only using the olympic lifts for activation purposes, would the set up below be viable?
Mon - Upper - Power Snatch (5 x 3 *70 - 80%)
Tue - Lower - Snatch Grip High Pull ( 5 x 3-5 *70 - 80%)
Fri - Same as Mon
Sat - Same as Tue
Not CT but sets of 3-5 at 70% yeah 80 might be a bit too much
I totally agree on more traditional strength movements, but I feel like you can work at a higher percentage on the explosive stuff because your max is already a weight you can lift violently.
Indeed but this is activation and olifts are more taxing neurally
Fair enough
Yeah, that’s very similar to what we do. 5 sets might be a bit much for activation purposes though. 3 maaayyybe 4 work sets is plenty.
I currently use the snatch grip high pull exclusively as an activation tool for my performance workouts 4 days a week e.g 3 x 3 @ 70 -75%. How do I retest my Snatch grip High Pull 1rm, when I begin a new 6 week training cycle, considering that i only use it for activation purposes? Hope that makes sense?
I personally don’t use percentages (most of the time, there are exceptions) for several reasons:
Daily strength fluctuations. Strength changes daily and even throughout the day (strength normally peaks 3 and 11h after waking up and is lower at other times). And depending on sleep, eating, recovery what is 75% one day might be 85% on another day or 70% on a third one.
On high pulls or variations of the olympic lifts, percentages can have even more relevance, especially for activation purposes. The goal is speed and technique, not using X amount of weight. If you have to use 75% and one day it’s a bit slower than usual it might defeat the purpose whereas one day you might be able to use 80 or 85% and be violently explosive.
On SGHPs is it abnormal for a 1RM to be virtually identical to a 3rm. If I can get a legit rep with it, I can do it for 3 usually and always 2. Does that present a problem with what I’m doing, or is it something that happens with an explosive lift like that sometimes?
It can happen as it’s a movement that is limited by your capacity to accelerate more so than maximum strength.
Yeah I figured it was something like that. Thank you for the response and confirmation.