@TimmyCK
IMO, the ballistic part of ROP is a half-baked afterthought to the press ladders. There are lots of better ways to prepare for the 5 or 10 minute test.
In general, the two things that I think had the most transfer to the snatch test were building volume with the 28 and developing a reserve of grip endurance so I could use a 20/20/15/15/10/10/10 (start and finish on strong hand) rep scheme. Having that reserve of grip strength and endurance just seems to make the whole effort easier and more efficient, and gives that sense of comfort and confidence.
Here's a little bit about my favorite training plan for the snatch test, but as I said, there are LOTS of approaches that people have used successfully.
My go to snatch prep plan is based on an article by Ken Froese that was based on a plan by Randy Hauer. My take on the plan is to incorporate a 28kg bell in addition to a 24kg bell. I find that the 28 gives me enough overload to make the 24 feel easy, but I can still do a reasonable amount of volume with it. Here's the plan:
Test the maximum number of repetitions you can do with your weaker hand with both the 28kg and the 24kg. Do both tests relatively fresh. Make it a slightly uncomfortable max, but not all out to where you are compromising technique to hold onto the bell. Now calculate 120% of each number. That is the number of snatches you will do in each session with each arm, with each bell, but you will break that number up into two sets for each arm for each bell, using a different split each session. There are three sessions per week. The first is a 70%/50% split, the second day is 60%/60%, and the third day is 80%/50%. Round up to the nearest rep when calculating the percentages, although a difference of one rep plus of minus doesn't really matter.
Each day follows the same format, but with different percentages. Start with 28kg. Do both sets with the same arm with 1 minute rest in between, then train the other arm. Then switch bells without resting and do the same thing with 24kg. Here's what the 70/50 session would look like:
28kg: 70%L/Rest 1 min/50%L/70%R/Rest 1 min/50%R
24kg: 70%L/Rest 1 min/50%L/70%R/Rest 1 min/50%R
Adjustments:
--You can reset maxes once a month, or when the current level starts feeling comfortable.
--At the beginning, if you need a minute rest when switching bells, that's okay.
--If you have trouble completing the sessions at the beginning, scale down your maxes so you can get all your reps.
--If you are not comfortable with snatching 28kg, you can start using all 24kg, or any combination of bells that is appropriate for you. If you need to start with lighter bells, you will need to allow for a longer preparation period before you can expect to crush the test, but this would be true of any prep plan. If you can already do a high volume and longer sets with 32kg, you probably don't need a plan to prepare for the test.
--The original plan was only one run through per session with just 24kg, supplemented by swings for more conditioning volume. When I prepped for my last certification test, I did a lot of heavy swings with a combination of grips, at least one very high volume session each week (400-800 swings, but mostly 500-600). Some certification prep plans use a lot of swings as snatch test prep. I've never found great carryover from swings to snatches. Even though they overlap a lot, the groove is different enough so that I've never felt as much transfer, from swings to snatches or snatches to swings, as might be expected. When I did my cert, back in the RKC days when Pavel was there, we did an unbelievably high volume of swings during the cert weekend. I'm not sure if the current cert has the same beat down element to it, but for when I did it, it definitely paid to be acclimated to a high volume of swings.
One other thing I threw in the mix every once in a while was snatch time ladders. For each work set, keep the bell in the air the whole time. "Rest" in the lockout. Don't worry about cadence, don't worry about counting reps, and switch hands as often as you need to, just keep the bell off the ground for the allotted time. Snatch 1 minute/rest 1 minute/snatch 2 minutes/rest 1 minute/snatch 3 minutes/rest 1 minute/snatch 4 minutes. I never went above 4 minutes, but that was bad enough after the previous sets. I used this progression to build up to a 1-4 snatch time ladder, moving up when I could increase the cadence at each level and was confident I could keep the bell in the air for the full time at the next level:
1,1,1,1,1 (if necessary, you can build up to five sets or start with longer rest intervals)
1, 2,1, 1
1,2, 2,1
1,2,2,2
1,2,3,1
1,2,3,2
1,2,3,3
1,2,3,4
Finally, I found actually practicing the test (although not necessarily all out) to be very valuable. It gives you a benchmark for progress, a feel for the pacing, and just a sense of familiarity, comfort and confidence, so you can be more relaxed and not have anxious tension inhibiting your performance.
Although I haven't tested it out, I think Q&D could serve as a good snatch test program. I think if you could do 28kg x 10/2 x 6 series (to make it even between arms) and/or 24kg x 15/2 x 6 series (yes, 15/2 is an option in the book, in the section near the end on varying the weight, although it is not one of the "standard" rep schemes), then the snatch test would be no problem.
