Help me with my OL programming

[Chris Wood]

I met with Bryan Neese, USAW sports performance coach, and former WSM competitor, this week. We had a really productive session going over the OL, pointing out weaknesses and cleaning up technique.

Overally, he found my biggest problems to be:

Snatch:

-Receiving position too far back (likely due to swinging bar on 2nd pull). Need to retrain NM pathways to receive bar with biceps in line with ear.
-Recommended 2 days a week of Snatch grip BS + Sotts press 1-3 reps X 3-5 sets
-Also recommeded 1 day a week of "Snatch squat" (basically OHS with fast drop, bounce, and rise) 1-3 reps X 3-5 sets
-Better acceleration/speed with second pull; snatch pulls and power snatch once a week

Clean:

-Donkey kick with lighter weights; need to get up on toes
-Better acceleration/speed with second pull; clean pulls and power cleans once a week

Jerk:

-Need wider split with front shin vertical; set up Murray cross on platform

Current lifts @ 180 are as follows:

BS 335
FS 275
Press 170
Snatch 140
C&J 200

My goals are BW snatch and > 100kg C&J this year. I'd love to get into a masters meet at some point this year as well.

At 38, married w/kids, and a shift-working ER doc, my recovery is obviously not that of a 20 year old. Four good days of training/week are about all I can get in. Bryan swears by the Queensland Weigthlifting Association intermediate program, but appears to be too much volume for my age/recovery. I was considering Greg's beginners template (from his book) with some minor treaks:

Week 1:

Mon: PC & Jerk, Snatch, BS + Sotts press, Pull-ups
Tues: BS, SGDL, PP
Wed: Rest
Thurs: Power Snatch, C&J, BS + Sotts press, BB rows
Fri: Snatch squat, FS, Clean pulls

Week 2:

Mon: Snatch, PC & Jerk, BS + Sotts press, Pull-ups
Tues: FS, Clean DL, Snatch PP
Wed: Rest
Thurs: C&J, Power Snatch, BS + Sotts press, BB rows
Fri: Snatch squat, BS, Snatch pulls

Conditioning work will be done depending on rest/recovery/nutrition, and will be limited to CA WOD-style (i.e., short). Eating will be mostly "eyeball" paleo. A back-off week will be thrown in occasionally as schedule/recovery dictates.

I'd love to hear any suggestions/criticisms. Thanks in advance for your input.

[Michael McKenna]

How long have you been olympic lifting?

[Chris Wood]

How long have you been olympic lifting?
Only seriously for a little over a 1-1.5 years as a result of doing CF over the past 4 years. I've done a couple of trials of the CA WOD and Gant's hybrid in that time frame, but have stalled out on both lifts (despite ever-improving BS, FS, DL and press numbers).

[glennpendlay]

I am not sure about the biceps in line with the ears thing. Watch 10 good lifters, and i think you will find that 9 or even 10 of them are catching the bar significantly further behind than that.

In general, for someone who is not all that skilled at the lifts, or, has snatch and clean and jerk numbers that are low relative to their slow lifts like squat and press, lots of practice on the competition lifts is, IMO, the best course of action.

I think this applies to you. Were I coaching you, I would have you doing 10 to 20 good attempts at the snatch each training session, and the same thing for the clean and jerk. That would be the main part of the workout, 3 or 4 days a week, however many days you are training. Squatting and any other assistance work would be done afterwards, and would not be the main focus of the workout.

Glenn

[Chris Wood]

Glenn:

Thanks for replying. As a long-time lurker, I appreciate your wisdom and insight. Some follow-up questions:

1) Am I reading correctly that you'd recommend 10-20 attempts of each lift at each training session?

2) Would you recommend simple linear progression (i.e., increasing weights each week) for the lifts?

3) How frequently should I include back squat/front squat/OHS as strength/assistance work?