Who is it, if you dont mind me asking?
I’m always curious about peers in my neighborhood.
Any how, in some senses I can see his logic. I dont know if I’d do the same but it is a valid option. Also, is this the one and only day???
What he’s done [sorta] is planned your first block to achieve long term goals [i think]. He looks at you and sees a weak lifter who wants to get the o-lifts in. so his first and most important task is to make you stronger in the general sense.
Right now he thinks [correctly i would assume] that you are too weak and imbalanced to properly learn AND progress in the classic (snatch & C&J) lifts very well. It is easy to guess that you would have a hard time triple pulling vertically and would likely pull back [too weak on squat and strong on DL (BTW how the fuck are they so far apart? you must have skinny legs but an ass like a duck)].
so his initail goal is to prepare your body for the process of learning and and performing the lifts. To do that well you must be strong and balanced. your patterning will be fucked if you have weird balance issues [the DL vs. back squat issue again] and you will plateau early if you are too weak [how will you clean 200 if you cant squat it let alone front squat it].
So for him it makes more sense to beef you up and balance you out before he spends time on rep after rep of the classics. This i think is why he has the squats up front along with pulls and then explosive [but not dynamic] overhead work. He needs you fast and strong in those movement patterns. Later on you can transition that strength into dynamic assistance lifts and/or full lifts [excited yet?].
I reckon he has the snatches last because they are not as important right now as getting good squats, pulls and presses in while you have all your juice. The snatch portion will likely be more instructional and lightweight [ie. broomstick, girls bar and maybe the guy bar with some trainers on it. dont ask about the ‘man’ bar yet. someones pants might come down].
Whereas if you were to do the snatches right after your warm up they would be so anticlimactic that you would likely be all cooled down for the squats and pulls. And you want to be WARM AS FUCK for those.
The rep range is likely going to change. soon there will be more sets i bet. he is likely trying to start you off lower volume because he doesn’t know your work capacity yet. The reps are still “high” [>5] because right now your weights are low so this way you get more poundage in per set and therefore more structural adaptation and time to work with the motion of the lifts [esp. clean pull and push jerk].
think about it, if you did squats for a set of 3 at 80% [208] each set would get you 624 pounds of work. that’s a cold shit in a stiff wind compared with sets of 6 at even 65% [162] which would be 970 #'s per set. you could likely easily do sets of 6 up to 75% or more i bet given that the gross weight is low. So why not get more out of each set and save you some time?
trust me, you can wait a bit to see the reps go down. because when they do its real “man” time, no fuckin face cream, no fancy rims, no popped collars and certainly no rubbing any preparation H on your damn stomach. when your getting 970 #'s of work into one set [I’m sure it will be relatively soon if you steer clear of and face cream etc.] of three squats you will see what im saying.
And the sets are low as fuck [FUCK] to start off with so who gives a corn-filled shit about the reps. I love those days where the reps are at some dumb shit like 10 because at least i know the weight wont feel like rosie O’donnell dry-humping my neck. fuck ill go for 15 reps or just make it super squats day for fuck sake. so long as I get a day off of having that 85-90% bar letting me know what a soft bottle of face cream i am.
Every time i fail a lift above 80% the bar comes along and pops my collar up, spits in my face and give me some tan-in-a-bottle lotion. If the reps weren’t high you’d be out of the gym in like 20 minutes. Talk about the first half of a handjob.
And im ALMOST positive that the sets will go up to fill your work capacity out and try to expand it. Once he knows how hard you can or cannot work then he will have a better idea about how hard he can work you in the classic lifts. Once you’re strong enough the classics will LIKELY come around the front and be your main focus and the squats will be in the middle. make no mistakes though, that shit is way harder after already having cleaned and front squatted all kinds of shit. When you get a chance to squat at the beginning again you’ll be like “shit im strong” because all your usual sets are done after a bunch of tiring shit.
Also, it’s free. and it could be worse. he could have given you some random crossfit shit. that shit is free. Your “free” programming [may or may not] has/have progression. cross fit does not. look at their awful classic form. Like watching autistic kids interpretive dancing with deconstructed ikea furniture. whereas you might emerge with a decent lift and plenty stronger.
Also what are the weights this fella wants you to use?
Good luck sir. I have got to put down this cheap ephedrine. My eyes are so wide open right now. Who left me alone to make my own street-side purchases? very irresponsible.
-chris