Strength by Feel Cycle

9 weeks | $25 | Web, Text, Excel

9 week strength emphasis cycle using less prescribed percentages and more weights according to feel. Well-suited for athletes without well-developed classic lifts.

"Clean and Jerk went from 250 to 264.5 lbs. Snatch went from 160 to 198.4 lbs. Great program" - Tim L.

"Clean went from 275 to 300lbs, snatch went from 185 to 215 lbs and My front squat went from 350-375lbs!" - Tanner H.

Good For:

Intermediate to advanced lifters
Lifters without accurate 1RMs
Overhead and squat strength
CrossFitters or other athletes who want to emphasize strength and weightlifting temporarily while not losing a lot of conditioning (minimal conditioning work included)

Notes: In this cycle, % prescriptions following any "RM" are percents of the weight used for that rep maximum; e.g. "Jerk - 4RM; 90% x 4 x 2" means you take the jerk up to the heaviest set of 4 you can manage, then use 90% of that weight for 2 more sets of 4 reps.

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Sample Week

Week 1 Day 1 Monday
Comments (12) | Help | Programs | Exercises

Jerk - 4RM; 90% x 4 x 2
Push Press - 5RM; 90% x 5 x 2
Back Squat - 5RM; 90% x 5 x 4
Bent row - 5RM; 90% x 5 x 2
Unanchored sit-ups - 3 x max reps

Week 1 of 9

In this cycle, % prescriptions following any "RM" are percents of the weight used for that rep maximum; e.g. "Jerk - 4RM; 90% x 4 x 2" means you take the jerk up to the heaviest set of 4 you can manage, then use 90% of that weight for 2 more sets of 4 reps.

This week, don't take the rep maxes to absolute max effort - push hard, but finish with a bit left in the tank. Next week your goal will be to beat the numbers from this week.

Questions? Get answers here or post in comments.

Week 1 Day 2 Tuesday
Comments (10) | Help | Programs | Exercises

Mid-hang snatch - 3RM; 90% x 3 x 2
Power clean - 70% x 3 x 3
Snatch deadlift - 5RM
Stiff-legged deadlift - 3 x 5

4 sets; no rest:
15 kb swings
20 KB topside halfmoons (10/side)

Questions? Get answers here or post in comments.

Week 1 Day 3 Wednesday
Comments (1) | Help | Programs | Exercises

Overhead squat - 2RM; 90% x 2 x 2
Push press - 90% (of Monday's 5RM) x 5 x 3
Back squat - 90% (of Monday's 5RM) x 5 x 3
Bent row - 90% (of Monday's 5RM) x 5 x 3
Front/side planks - 2 x max (add wt if more than 1 min hold)

Questions? Get answers here or post in comments.

Week 1 Day 4 Thursday
Comments | Help | Programs | Exercises

Mid-hang clean - 3RM; 90% x 3 x 2
Power snatch - 70% x 3 x 3
Clean deadlift - 5RM
Good morning - 3 x 5

30 sec rest after each interval:
500 m row
400 m row
300 m row
200 m row
100 m row

Questions? Get answers here or post in comments.

Week 1 Day 5 Friday
Comments | Help | Programs | Exercises

Rest Day

Questions? Get answers here or post in comments.

Week 1 Day 6 Saturday
Comments (4) | Help | Programs | Exercises

Snatch - heavy single
Clean & jerk - heavy single
Front squat - heavy double

Questions? Get answers here or post in comments.

Week 1 Day 7 Sunday
Comments | Help | Programs | Exercises

Rest Day

Questions? Get answers here or post in comments.

14 Comments

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Hovik Arakelian

March 17 2016

Going to run the "strength by feel" cycle and not sure what "HS" means...

HS is Heavy Single. Please read the section here.

Steve Pan

Tanner Hoversholm

April 20 2016

Completed this cycle not long ago... Clean went from 275 to 300lbs, snatch went from 185 to 215 lbs and My front squat went from 350-375lbs!! Awesome program for a new weightlifter like myself!

Lari Vihantola

May 10 2016

Snatch/clean deadlits with or without straps?

You may use straps for the deadlifts.

Steve Pan

Jordan Gaudio

September 20 2016

Is the conditioning only available on the web program version and not the excel version of this program?

yes, the conditioning portion is not included in the excel spreadsheets.

Alyssa Sulay

Drew Bush

June 15 2021

For the power variations of the Snatch and Clean, the percentages prescribed are of the full lifts or the powers or are the based off the Hang RMs?

Power %s are of best power unless otherwise noted. Hangs are off full lifts, unless it's hang power, in which case power.

Greg Everett