Barbell Olympic Weightlifting with my routine

[movestrength]

Hello, everyone.

My three major compounds are improving with technique and I am weightlifting 3 times a week with Race Walking once a week to maintain cardio. I am interesting in learning Olympic Lifting progressions.

Would it be more preferable to do Olympic Weightlifting on a recovery day one day a week or to add them to the routine itself? Which type of routine could I do on the Sunday to learn the technique and which progressions are the greatest to focus on first?

Thank you.

Workout A
Squat - 6 x 4
Deadlift - 6 x 4
Bench Press - 6 x 4
Lat Pulldown - 6 x 4
Barbell Row - 6 x 8
Shrugs - 6 x 8
Overhead Tricep Extensions - 4 x 10
Lying Supine Curl - 4 x 10
Rear Delt Raise - 2 x 50
Calf Raise - 2 x 50

Workout B
Squat - 6 x 4
Stiff-Legged Deadlift - 6 x 4
Incline Bench Press - 6 x 4
Barbell Row - 6 x 4
Power Clean - 4 x 4
Overhead Press - 4 x 4
Overhead Tricep Extensions - 4 x 10
Lying Supine Curl - 4 x 10
Front Raise - 4 x 10
Calf Raise - 4 x 10

Routine
Day 1: Workout A
Day 2: Recovery
Day 3: Workout B
Day 4: Recovery
Day 5: Workout A
Day 6: Recovery
Day 7: Olympic Weightlifting?

 

[Anna C]

@LvlUpStr , glad to see your question as I am working on the same thing, as I'm recently into Olympic weightlifting.

I train 3x/week at the gym plus a weekend bike ride, so my weekly routine is similar to yours. My daily routine has much less moving parts than that - here's my training log from last week and Instagram. Yours looks more like bodybuilding than strength to me. Is that how you've trained in the past and is that what you'd like to maintain? You might make more progress with the weightlifting with more of a strength focus.

Interested to see others responses.

 

[movestrength]

@LvlUpStr , glad to see your question as I am working on the same thing, as I'm recently into Olympic weightlifting.

I train 3x/week at the gym plus a weekend bike ride, so my weekly routine is similar to yours. My daily routine has much less moving parts than that - here's my training log from last week and Instagram. Yours looks more like bodybuilding than strength to me. Is that how you've trained in the past and is that what you'd like to maintain? You might make more progress with the weightlifting with more of a strength focus.

Interested to see others responses.

Thank you for your response.

Yes, I would like to maintain my muscle mass while improving my strength, cardiovascular endurance and technique at weightlifting.

My maximum weight with the squat is 150KG for five repetitions with strict form while my maximum bench press is 160KG.
I have also done 3/2/1 and 5/3/1 ramping in the past but I find that 6x4, 4x6 or 4x8 stimulates both strength and hypertrophy.

As for the 8x8 exercises for the triceps and biceps, I enjoy volume work as it gives me the pump while depleting my glycogen stores.

I will often rest 20-30 seconds on heavy compound lifts and rest for only 5 seconds on rows, shrugs, extensions and curls to deplete my glycogen stores.

I would like to increase both to 200KG and that's why I'm eager to do the squat and deadlift with power walking in between.
I wish to develop both my hamstrings and quadriceps as well.

I did a six-day split previously which was fatiguing but I grew from 80KG to 100KG at a height of 186CM. I found the splits to be too isolated and fractured compared to full-body workouts and I enjoy the full-body workouts more as I can focus on compounds more often.

 

[JeffC]

Some thoughts:

- do the Bergner Warmup and Skills Transfer exercises every day

- do your Olympic Lift or variation first every session, and sets of 1-3 until competent, then try some sets of 5

- drop some of the fluff and puff for a while

- the hierarchy is technique primer, competition lift or variation/progression, speed strength, strength

- you will lose strength if you are serious about learning the lifts

- check out Catalyst Athletics, the best and only Weighlifting resource

- Push Press, Rack Jerk, and Heaving Snatch Balance are your options for competency overhead

- a few sets of Overhead Squats in your Back Squat warmup will help

- lots of Front Squats

 

[Anna C]

Thank you for your response.

Yes, I would like to maintain my muscle mass while improving my strength, cardiovascular endurance and technique at weightlifting.

My maximum weight with the squat is 150KG for five repetitions with strict form while my maximum bench press is 160KG.
I have also done 3/2/1 and 5/3/1 ramping in the past but I find that 6x4, 4x6 or 4x8 stimulates both strength and hypertrophy.

As for the 8x8 exercises for the triceps and biceps, I enjoy volume work as it gives me the pump while depleting my glycogen stores.

I will often rest 20-30 seconds on heavy compound lifts and rest for only 5 seconds on rows, shrugs, extensions and curls to deplete my glycogen stores.

I would like to increase both to 200KG and that's why I'm eager to do the squat and deadlift with power walking in between.
I wish to develop both my hamstrings and quadriceps as well.

I did a six-day split previously which was fatiguing but I grew from 80KG to 100KG at a height of 186CM. I found the splits to be too isolated and fractured compared to full-body workouts and I enjoy the full-body workouts more as I can focus on compounds more often.

You've accomplished a lot with strength and hypertrophy and sounds like you have figured out what works for you.

Interested to see how the foray into Olympic lifting goes.

Would it be more preferable to do Olympic Weightlifting on a recovery day one day a week or to add them to the routine itself? Which type of routine could I do on the Sunday to learn the technique and which progressions are the greatest to focus on first?

This is a good question. Seems there are two types of Olympic lifters, those who learn it from the beginning of their strength training, and those who come to it after already strength training for a while and having some strength and muscle to work with. Those of use who come to it later have a good basis, but many holes to fill. Most of those are skill-related, as there's a lot to learn and master. And that makes it hard to get a solid workout while practicing skill with less weight than we are used to moving in a session. But also, specific strength -- for instance, supporting the weight overhead in a snatch using the upper back muscles feels quite different than supporting a kettlebell overhead, or even a barbell overhead for presses.

Sorry I don't have any additional advice... Just musing through these things for myself as well.

 

[Timo Keskitalo]

I have done OL as warm up for quite some time. I think it has helped my mobility somewhat. My first thought was that big muscles and OL don't go well together. I guess I'm wrong. I bet one can be flexible if one wants to, even with muscle.

Anyway my opinion is that the weights are so small that it goes as a good warm up. Most of the time I do a combination of moves, which also keeps the weights small.

So, +1 for do it every time as warm up.

Cause that's the way, I like it

 

[movestrength]

Thank you all for the responses, I have edited the hybrid routine.

I have removed some of the hypertrophy exercises in favour of Olympic Weightlifting exercises which I will perform before the powerlifting exercise. I have also dedicated one day to hypertrophy to maintain the muscular hypertrophy development and keep up the vanity training as I am worried I'll lose muscle without it, haha.

I have also devoted Saturday to development of strength-speed and Sunday to Olympic Weightlifting technical practice where I will focus on the progressions and hierarchy of the Olympic Lifts with only the barbell.

I don't yet know what my Olympic Weightlifting Technical Practice could consist of but I will continue to read up and buy a few books on the topic of Olympic Weightlifting.

Any more advice is greatly appreciated.

Pre-workout
Warmup and Skills Transfer

Strength Workout
Strength Specialization - Squat
Power Clean - 4 x 3
Squats - 4 x 3
Strength Specialization - Bench Press
Bench Press: 4 x 4
Incline Bench: 4 x 6
Strength Specialization - Deadlift
Deadlift - 4 x 4
Bent Over Barbell Rows - 4 x 6
Strength Specialization - Overhead Press
Rack Jerk - 4 x 3
Standing Military Press - 4 x 10
Hypertrophy Specialization
Shrugs - 4 x 10
Triceps Extensions - 4 x 10
Triceps Pressdown - 4 x 10
Supine Curl - 4 x 10

Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy Specialization - Legs
Leg Extensions - 4 x 10
Leg Curls - 4 x 10
Hypertrophy Specialization - Back
Barbell Back Row - 4 x 10
Lat Pulldown - 4 x 10
Hypertrophy Specialization - Chest
Cable Crossover - 4 x 10
Pec-Deck Fly - 4 x 10
Hypertrophy - Arms
Shrugs - 4 x 10
Tricep Extensions - 4 x 10
Tricep Pressdown - 4 x 10
Supine Curl - 4 x 10

Routine
Day 1: Strength
Day 2: Recovery
Day 3: Hypertrophy
Day 4: Recovery
Day 5: Strength
Day 6: Recovery
Day 7: Olympic Weightlifting Technical

 

[Anna C]

I like the changes.

My thought would be to let go of the Hypertrophy routine for now and see what sort of maintenance and/or changes hypertrophy-wise you get from weightlifting. You might be surprised. And trying to focus on three things at once (strength, hypertrophy, and power/weightlifting) may be too wide of a net to cast.

If you dropped the hypertrophy day, Day 3 could be entirely dedicated to weightlifting progressions; power cleans, front squats, clean and jerks, power snatch, snatch, press variations (strict press, push press, heavy pin press)... Much faster progress, and would actually get some "work" out of it vs. just the technical practice on Day 7 which I assume would be lighter weights.

I don't yet know what my Olympic Weightlifting Technical Practice could consist of but I will continue to read up and buy a few books on the topic of Olympic Weightlifting.

I'm just beginning to explore what's out there but have recently acquired "Beginner's Guide to Weightlifting-Max Aita" (Juggernaut Training Systems) which seems to be a quality resource, and also an Olympic lifting template from Barbell Medicine. These plus the Catalyst Athletics videos are my main resources currently.

 

[Anna C]

Heaving Snatch Balance

What's this, Geoff?

 

[JeffC]

It’s a great progression and correction for the Snatch receiving position. Also used as a speed strength exercise for overhead. It allowed for more weight than a Drop Snatch or Snatch Balance which I would use as technique primers.

Heaving Snatch Balance Exercise Demo Video and Info

If you often lose the weight forward, these may help.

 

[Anna C]

It’s a great progression and correction for the Snatch receiving position. Also used as a speed strength exercise for overhead. It allowed for more weight than a Drop Snatch or Snatch Balance which I would use as technique primers.

Heaving Snatch Balance Exercise Demo Video and Info

If you oven lose the weight forward, these may help:

OK, yeah, that looks like a good one. So many interesting progressions and skills on the way to performance in the two lifts!

 

[MikeTheBear]

Some thoughts:

- do the Bergner Warmup and Skills Transfer exercises every day

- do your Olympic Lift or variation first every session, and sets of 1-3 until competent, then try some sets of 5

- drop some of the fluff and puff for a while

- the hierarchy is technique primer, competition lift or variation/progression, speed strength, strength

- you will lose strength if you are serious about learning the lifts

- check out Catalyst Athletics, the best and only Weighlifting resource

- Push Press, Rack Jerk, and Heaving Snatch Balance are your options for competency overhead

- a few sets of Overhead Squats in your Back Squat warmup will help

- lots of Front Squats

I recommend this 1000 times over.

Performing the lifts 1x is not enough if you really want to get good at the lifts. Every day is ideal, 4x/week if recovery is an issue. Geoff is correct that it is possible to lose some strength while working on technique simply because you will be using light loads. But don't worry about it - not even a little. Once you improve on the lifts and can use more weight, practicing the lifts themselves will result in strength gains.

 

[Hung]

We have few members who has experience with O-lift, and two of them are Geoff and Mike ( and they have both answered your question). Consider those strongly.

 

[movestrength]

Thank you for the replies.

I have been warming up on my workout days with clean pulls and power cleans while I develop more mobility, flexibility and technique. I have added one Olympic lift a day as the first exercise I do followed by my powerlifting compound exercise.

After finishing both compound exercises, I move on to my hypertrophy and burn sets.

Pre-Workout
Olympic Lift - 5 x 1

Day 1 - Chest and Triceps
Power: Bench Press - 4 x 4
Muscle: Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Dumbbell Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Cable Crossover - 3 x 10
Burn: Dumbbell Flyes - 2 x 50
Muscle: Cable Triceps Extension - 3 x 10
Muscle: Triceps Pushdown - 3 x 10
Burn: Triceps Dips - 2 x 50

Day 2 - Back and Traps
Power: Barbell Rows - 4 x 6
Muscle: Dumbbell Rows - 3 x 10
Muscle: Lat Pulldown - 3 x 10
Muscle - Reverse Pec-Deck Fly - 3 x 10
Burn: Rear Delt Raise - 2 x 50
Power: Power Barbell Shrugs - 3 x 5
Muscle: Plate Shrugs - 3 x 10
Burn: Power Barbell Shrugs - 2 x 50

Day 3 - Quads and Calves
Power: Squat - 4 x 4
Muscle: Leg Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Leg Extensions - 3 x 10
Burn: Leg Press - 2 x 50
Muscle: Barbell Calf Raise - 2 x 10
Burn: Calf Raise - 2 x 50

Day 4 - Shoulders and Biceps
Power: Seated Barbell Press - 4 x 4
Muscle: Seated Arnold Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Upright Row - 3 x 10
Muscle: Front Raise - 3 x 10
Burn: Dumbbell Lateral Raise - 2 x 50
Power: Barbell Curl - 3 x 5
Muscle: Lying Supine Curl - 4 x 10
Burn: Preacher Curl - 2 x 40

Day 5 - Deadlift and Hamstrings
Power: Deadlift - 4 x 4
Muscle: Stiff-Legged Deadlift - 4 x 6
Muscle: Leg Curl - 4 x 10
Burn: Leg Curl - 2 x 50

Olympic Weightlifting - Daily@Home

Pre-routine
Skill Transfer Exercises for Snatch

Daily Conditioning
Calf Smash
Tibialis Roll
Hip Flexor Roll
Hip Rotator Roll
Quad Roll
IT Band Roll
Abductor Roll
Thoracic Roll
Pectoralis Roll
Forearm and Elbow Roll

Stretching
Hip Flexor/Quad Stretch
T-Spine Rotations
Frog
Hamstring Stretch
Wrist Stretch and Mobilization
Wall Slides
Pectoralis Stretch

Olympic Weightlifting Movements
Ankle Dorsiflexion
Hip Flexion
Thoracic Spine Extension
Shoulder External Rotation

Bar Movements
Overhead Squat
Overhead Split Lunge
Muscle Snatch From Hip
Muscle Clean From Hip
Two Second Pull Snatch
Two Second Pull Clean

 

[movestrength]

I like the changes.

My thought would be to let go of the Hypertrophy routine for now and see what sort of maintenance and/or changes hypertrophy-wise you get from weightlifting. You might be surprised. And trying to focus on three things at once (strength, hypertrophy, and power/weightlifting) may be too wide of a net to cast.

If you dropped the hypertrophy day, Day 3 could be entirely dedicated to weightlifting progressions; power cleans, front squats, clean and jerks, power snatch, snatch, press variations (strict press, push press, heavy pin press)... Much faster progress, and would actually get some "work" out of it vs. just the technical practice on Day 7 which I assume would be lighter weights.



I'm just beginning to explore what's out there but have recently acquired "Beginner's Guide to Weightlifting-Max Aita" (Juggernaut Training Systems) which seems to be a quality resource, and also an Olympic lifting template from Barbell Medicine. These plus the Catalyst Athletics videos are my main resources currently.

Thank you for your reply, Anna.

I am someone that enjoys a high-frequency and high-volume workout which a reason I only train each major muscle group only once a week as me and my friend enjoy fatiguing ourselves and getting a pump with high-volume burn sets. I don't think I want to abandon the bodybuilding but I have found that Olympic lifts are enjoyable if done pre-workout.

I am at the gym at least two hours a day six days a week which gives me a lot of time to train the different muscle groups.

My training partner doesn't believe he can do Olympic weightlifting because of the mobility and flexibility you have to develop and prefers to do powerlifting or hypertrophy workouts which I also do. I can manage one Olympic weightlifting today but I also have to be considerate of my training partner and his time.

I am 220lbs at 6'1 and he is 240lbs at 6'4, would powerlifting be the sport for us to practice instead of Olympic weightlifting?

 

[JeffC]

Thank you for the replies.

I have been warming up on my workout days with clean pulls and power cleans while I develop more mobility, flexibility and technique. I have added one Olympic lift a day as the first exercise I do followed by my powerlifting compound exercise.

After finishing both compound exercises, I move on to my hypertrophy and burn sets.

Pre-Workout
Olympic Lift - 5 x 1

Day 1 - Quads and Calves
Power: Squat - 4 x 4
Muscle: Leg Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Leg Extensions - 3 x 10
Burn: Leg Press - 2 x 50
Muscle: Barbell Calf Raise - 2 x 10
Burn: Calf Raise - 2 x 50

Day 2 - Shoulders and Biceps
Power: Seated Barbell Press - 4 x 4
Muscle: Seated Arnold Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Front Raise - 3 x 10
Burn: Dumbbell Lateral Raise - 2 x 50
Power: Barbell Curl - 3 x 5
Muscle: Lying Supine Curl - 4 x 10
Burn: Preacher Curl - 2 x 40

Day 3 - Chest and Triceps
Power: Bench Press - 4 x 4
Muscle: Incline Dumbbell Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Dumbbell Press - 3 x 10
Muscle: Cable Crossover - 3 x 10
Burn: Dumbbell Flyes - 2 x 50
Muscle: Cable Triceps Extension - 3 x 10
Muscle: Triceps Pushdown - 3 x 10
Burn: Triceps Dips - 2 x 50

Day 4 - Back and Traps
Power: Barbell Rows - 4 x 6
Muscle: Dumbbell Rows - 3 x 10
Muscle: Lat Pulldown - 3 x 10
Muscle - Reverse Pec-Deck Fly - 3 x 10
Burn: Rear Delt Raise - 2 x 50
Power: Power Barbell Shrugs - 3 x 5
Muscle: Plate Shrugs - 3 x 10
Burn: Power Barbell Shrugs - 2 x 50

Day 5 - Deadlift and Hamstrings
Power: Deadlift - 4 x 4
Muscle: Stiff-Legged Deadlift - 4 x 6
Muscle: Leg Curl - 4 x 10
Burn: Leg Curl - 2 x 50

Day 6 - Delts and Arms
Muscle: Lateral Raise - 3 x 10
Muscle: Front Raise - 3 x 10
Muscle: Cable Triceps Extension - 3 x 10
Muscle: Triceps Pushdown - 3 x 10
Muscle: Lying Supine Curl - 3 x 10
Muscle: Preacher Curl - 3 x 10

Day 7 - Rest

Olympic Weightlifting - Daily@Home

Pre-routine
Skill Transfer Exercises for Snatch

Daily Conditioning
Calf Smash
Tibialis Roll
Hip Flexor Roll
Hip Rotator Roll
Quad Roll
IT Band Roll
Abductor Roll
Thoracic Roll
Pectoralis Roll
Forearm and Elbow Roll

Stretching
Hip Flexor/Quad Stretch
T-Spine Rotations
Frog
Hamstring Stretch
Wrist Stretch and Mobilization
Wall Slides
Pectoralis Stretch

Olympic Weightlifting Movements
Ankle Dorsiflexion
Hip Flexion
Thoracic Spine Extension
Shoulder External Rotation

Bar Movements
Overhead Squat
Overhead Split Lunge
Muscle Snatch From Hip
Muscle Clean From Hip
Two Second Pull Snatch
Two Second Pull Clean

Looks like a full time job.

 

[MikeTheBear]

I am 220lbs at 6'1 and he is 240lbs at 6'4, would powerlifting be the sport for us to practice instead of Olympic weightlifting?

Google Zack Telander. He is an Olympic weightlifter and coach who regularly posts Youtube videos. He is 6' 4". Some of his videos discuss issues facing taller lifters. I've actually posted one of Zack's videos in my discussion on flexibility and mobility below.

Then there's Lasha Talakhadze. His height of 6' 6" doesn't seem to have any negative effects.

My training partner doesn't believe he can do Olympic weightlifting because of the mobility and flexibility you have to develop and prefers to do powerlifting or hypertrophy workouts which I also do. I can manage one Olympic weightlifting today but I also have to be considerate of my training partner and his time.

I have crappy mobility and I am convinced that I am the most inflexible person on the entire planet. But I can get into the proper positions for weightlifting. I think that the mobility/flexibility requirements for weightlifting have been blown out of proportion. I'm not saying mobility and flexibility aren't important - just that you don't need to be a contortionist. I also think that getting into the positions correctly solves a lot of mobility and flexibility "issues." Here is an example from my own experience. In the video below, Zack Telander provides an excellent discussion of how to hold the bar in the overhead squat. The correct way is to rotate your shoulders internally, not externally. He notes that the incorrect externally-rotated position has crept its way into the teaching of weightlifting coaches. He's right - I was taught to hold the bar overhead with the crooks of my elbows pointing up. As a result, I never felt stable in the overhead squat and whenever I tried to overhead squat I would get some serious impingement in my shoulders. I tried to work on mobility but it didn't help. I'd read that some people have shoulder joints that are so prone to impingement that they should never ever do overhead squats. I was figured as was one of those people and resigned myself to just doing power snatches.

Then I read about the correct way to hold the bar overhead. Magic happened. The impingement stopped completely. I finally felt stable in the bottom of the overhead squat. All of a sudden, the "mobility and flexibility issues" that prevented me from doing overhead squats were "fixed."

 

[movestrength]

Looks like a full time job.

It is a variation of the Power Muscle Burn workout by Steve Shaw and it only focuses on one body part a week which is less than 5-day and 6-day PPL routine that focuses on two body parts a week and allows me to recover.

I have less volume and exercises on Monday and Friday, what Olympic progressions could I do on those days?

I am having a lot of fun learning the lifts.

 

[MikeTheBear]

When I saw this initially I had the same reaction as Geoff - this is a full-time job. I then found the actual program and it actually is not that bad. I may incorporate some of these ideas into my own training. As for your routine I would make it more weightlifting specific. Here is what I would:

Day 1 - Chest and Triceps
If you want to keep the bench press that's fine. The bench press is a good general strength builder for weightlifting. Ditch all of the other chest exercises. Adding in all of these chest exercises will cause your pecs to get tight and interfere with mobility for the overhead squat. In place of the other chest exercises add in behind the neck presses using a snatch grip width. You can keep some of the triceps exercises if you want.

Day 2 - Back and Traps

Ditch all of the traps exercises. Your traps will get plenty of work doing the lifts - trust me. If you want you can do pulls on this day in place of the traps work.

Day 3 - Quads and Calves

Ditch the leg press and leg extension. Do back squats and front squats. I would also like to see overhead squats thrown into this day.
If you want to do a burn set on the leg press that's fine.

Calves: You can keep these exercises in if you want.

Day 4 - Shoulders and Biceps

Don't do anything seated. Weightlifters stand on their feet.
For you "power" exercise do a push press. You can even add jerks from the rack here if you want.
For one of your "muscle" exercises do the Cuban press. I find that this is a good exercises to strengthen the snatch.
Your other muscle exercise can be another day of behind the neck presses with a snatch grip.

Day 5 - Deadlift and Hamstrings

If you're going to do deadlifts do either a clean deadlift or snatch deadlift. The key is to do these exactly like the first pull of your clean or snatch. While it may be difficult to believe, conventional powerlifting deadlifts do not transfer well to weightlifting. Plenty of strong deadlifters have been disappointed when their 600+ lbs. deadlift did not give them a 300 lbs. clean.
You can also add in some pulls on this day.
Ditch the leg curls.
If you have any energy left after doing deadlifts and pulls:
Do a Romanian DL for your muscle exercise.
Do 50 swings for your burn exercise.

 

[movestrength]

Thank you for the response, Mike.

It appears that the compromise would be too great to solely focus on strict Olympic weightlifting and the Muscle Power Burn 5-day split by Steve Shaw was quite exhausting this week. I have also found evidence to promote the theory that Olympic weightlifting is not for the long-term development of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy which is another reason why I wish to keep the hypertrophy routines.

"Some researchers have also suggested that muscle fiber activation, resulting from motor unit recruitment, is a primary mechanism through which muscle growth is stimulated. But this cannot be the case, because full motor unit recruitment is approached in high-velocity muscle contractions, which cause little muscle growth."
- Hypertrophy by Chris Beardsley

"Since slower contraction velocities allow more actin-myosin crossbridges to form inside a fiber, larger external resistances thereby increase the tension that each fiber produces, because the number of attached actin-myosin crossbridges determines the force produced by a fiber."