Split Snatches.

[Bill Ripley]

Gary - thanks for the response, I'll give squat style another go. Any advice on programming for someone in our age group?

[Gary Valentine]

I learned form the great coach joe mill "3 days per week is ideal, 2 is better than 4, one is better than 5!" while that seemed backward in 1980 when i met him, it is very true. the idea is once you are overtrained, you cannot make progress and will eventually get injured. so i never lift 2 days in a row, and focus more on rest and nutrition than abything else.
the workouts follow this outline:
1) an Olympic Lift
2) a Jerk variation, from the rack usually
3) a squat
4) a pull
5) assaitance exercise (shrug, press,rdl)

3-5 sets each, 1-5 reps. set 1 Light, 2 Medium, sets 3-5 as Heavy as you can go that day. you might keep the first 2 exercises Medium, while pushing exercises 3 and 4 to maximum effort if farther from a meet and builing strnegth. other way around if close to meet and being sharp for day of meet. lower reps in all as meet approaches.

key is listening to your body and if truly tired, dont lift! regardless of age, this is true. as we age, we will need more rest in between. have to be patient and take rest to come back stronger for next workkout, not take out more by working out again. problem is, with drug aided programs of last 4o years, people expect to lift more often due to artificial means taken by most supposed champs. understanding recovery process is the key. -g

[Bill Ripley]

Gary - thanks! That's a great quote, one I will have to remember.

[Robb Wolf]

Gary- Great post.

[Bill Ripley]

Rob - great forum!

[Dave Van Skike]

Originally Posted by Gary Valentine

I learned form the great coach joe mill "3 days per week is ideal, 2 is better than 4, one is better than 5!" while that seemed backward in 1980 when i met him, it is very true. the idea is once you are overtrained, you cannot make progress and will eventually get injured. so i never lift 2 days in a row, and focus more on rest and nutrition than abything else.
the workouts follow this outline:
1) an Olympic Lift
2) a Jerk variation, from the rack usually
3) a squat
4) a pull
5) assaitance exercise (shrug, press,rdl)

3-5 sets each, 1-5 reps. set 1 Light, 2 Medium, sets 3-5 as Heavy as you can go that day. you might keep the first 2 exercises Medium, while pushing exercises 3 and 4 to maximum effort if farther from a meet and builing strnegth. other way around if close to meet and being sharp for day of meet. lower reps in all as meet approaches.

key is listening to your body and if truly tired, dont lift! regardless of age, this is true. as we age, we will need more rest in between. have to be patient and take rest to come back stronger for next workkout, not take out more by working out again. problem is, with drug aided programs of last 4o years, people expect to lift more often due to artificial means taken by most supposed champs. understanding recovery process is the key. -g

True knowledges....

I shall now scuttle way and do legit squat snatches.

[Ronnie Ashlock]

Great thread. I read it a little while back and now have something to contribute.

While doing a light pick-up workout in the garage today, I just thought I'd noodle around and try out the split snatch. Wow. I worked right up to 60 kg with it for three singles, no problems. It felt very natural for me. My best squat snatch is 70 kg. I didn't attempt my max today as yesterday was a max effort day and I was pretty beat up from that, but I think, based on what I did today, I could easily adopt this technique. Some of the criticisms of the split snatch in this thread are duely noted, and apparently, because I'm a 35-year-old creaky "master," it kind of makes sense why I take to split snatch so easily.

However, I have no problem going very deep on my cleans and shoulder flexibility isn't really a noticable problem for me. In fact, I tried a few split cleans and didn't like the feel of the lifts. I prefer the regular squat clean to the split. It's been noted I must have a mental block on the squat snatch. I don't know what it is, but I found the squat snatch to be a nice detour from my regular squat snatch work - more comfortable and more fun. I won't stop squat snatching, but I think I will do about half-and-half of squats and splits.