Starting Out

[TehLegend]

Over my winter break I visited an OL coach who taught me how to clean, jerk, and snatch. My clean's pretty solid, my jerk is alright, and my snatch has to be improved. But now I'm back at school, and working on cutting my fat a bit while hopefully continually adding more muscle and improving technique.

First thing: at the starting position for the clean and snatch I have a hard time getting a nice arch in my back. I guess I got kinda messed up from doing deadlifts with a flat lower back and loose upper back. Any idea how I can improve my flexibility so I can improve my starting position?

Second thing: a common criticism of my technique for pulls and the snatch is that my hips weren't coming forward enough (So the bar was too far away). Any tips on how to start trying to improve this?

Thirdly: How does this routine sound?

Walk every morning for 20 minutes. Workout 3 days a week in the late evening (Sun/Tues/Thurs) and do sprinting workouts on the off days except Saturday. The 2 workouts alternate.

Day 1
Squat Clean - 4x3
Clean Pulls - 3x3
Front Squat - 3x5
Military Press - 3x5 or Power Jerk 3x4
Pullups - 2x8
Ab work

Day 2
Snatch - 4x3
Snatch Pulls - 3x3
Dumbbell bench press - 3x8-12
Deadlift - 1x3 with different variations
Dips - 2x8
Ab work

Thoughts? Are these workouts able to be done with an hour without sacrificing performance? Will this routine be able to maintain my current amount of muscle while I work on cutting some fat, and possibly help increase?

[madaozeki]

Solid-looking routine. Covers all the major musculature fairly efficiently. The only major overlap is dumbell bench and dips, but that shouldn't be too big a deal. If it's taking too long, cut one of them.

Doing triples in squat clean and snatch means you won't be able to go very heavy on them, so they shouldn't be very taxing once you're used to them. Volume on everything else looks fine, though I'm wondering what you meant by:

"Deadlift - 1x3 with different variations"

You can definitely maintain your muscle mass and even gain as long as you're not killing yourself with the sprinting. What's your event and what does your sprinting training look like?

As for keeping it under an hour, it's pretty doubtful unless you either (a) keep the weight pretty light so you don't have to rest much between sets, or (b) do some of the exercises in a circuit, going back and forth without resting. For example, if you're quite fit and your form is tight, you could circuit the Front Squat, Military Press and Pullups on the Day 1 workout. It'll save you about 15 minutes.

One thing to remember about Olympic lifts: they're not designed for high reps. Once your form breaks down, they get dangerous FAST. Make sure you're resting adequately between sets and your form stays sharp.

If the sprinting is taking too much out of you, just do this routine twice a week, instead of 3 times, especially if sprinting is your sport. Cutting the walking shouldn't make any difference whatsoever.

As for your form questions, watch lots of videos of proper pulls and try to mimic them. I'd have to see videos of you to comment intelligently on your back arch and hip action.

[TehLegend]

Yeah, the thing is I don't want to go too heavy in the squat clean and snatch because I just want to make sure my form is doing decent. And by the deadlift variations, I meant Romanian deadlifts and deadlifts/Romanian deadlifts with snatch grip. Maybe even trap bar deadlifts.

I actually don't sprint for track, I'm doing it for ultimate frisbee (Which requires a lot of speed and ability to rapidly change direction). My sprinting training would be like what DeFranco does. One day focus on linear speed, another on change of direction. Like an example of the change of direction workout would be:

20-yard pro-agility shuttle ? 3 reps starting to the left, 3 reps starting to your right. Rest 30 seconds between reps.
3-cone drill ? 5 reps, rest 1 minute between reps.
Illinois drill ? 3 reps (The goal is to complete all 3 reps in under 15 seconds. Rest 2 min. between sets.)

Also do you think doing the front squat/military press/pull up circuit would really affect the weight I'm able to use? I imagine I would get really tired pretty quick, but I suppose that's why you said "if you're quite fit."

But yeah, my main focus is a muscular build without sacrificing ultimate playing ability. OL is probably the best way to meet this goal.

[madaozeki]

Ultimate frisbee, eh? Cool, explosive sport :)

Your sprinting drills and actually frisbee work should obviously make up the majority of your training. Because of that, I think 2x a week training Olympic lifts (or weights at all) is plenty for your age, size and goals.

Knowing more details, you can cut the clean pulls and snatch pulls following your actual cleans and snatches. You'll stay fresher and save time. Add them in once a month or so for some extra work if you like. Taking them out will also allow you to concentrate on your other exercises and NOT do anything as a circuit, so you can make the best possible strength gains from them. You'll be doing plenty of fitness work with your other training, so no need to go overboard :)

As for the deadlifts, I'm not convinced they'll be effective for your goals at only 1x3. Either cut them completely, or add a bit of volume to benefit from them. If you're doing Romanian deadlifts (a nice complement to the rest of your work), maybe try 2x8 with a moderately-challenging weight.

I think you've got a great-looking program here and you should be able to meet your goals with this.

I've shifted around your exercises a bit for balance. Front squats after squat cleans will be tough once your form improves on cleans and the weight gets tough. Do them on snatch day. I cut dips since they duplicate dumbell presses and (to a much lesser extent) military press. I increased volume on deadlifts and put them immediately after front squats. Besides that, I've stuck to your basic exercises and format.

If you're doing the pulls for FORM WORK, then by all means, keep them in until you're happy with your form, then drop them.

Revised program (2x/week, once each workout)

#1
Squat Clean - 4x3
Military Press - 3x5 or Power Jerk 3x4
Pullups - 2x8
Ab work

#2
Snatch - 4x3
Front Squat - 3x5
Romanian Deadlift - 2x8
Dumbbell bench press - 3x8-12
Ab work

[TehLegend]

You've been a terrific help dude! I might add light pulls in here or there just for form work (Which was their purpose), but overall that definitely looks like a solid program. I'll let you know how everything goes as the season progresses. :D

[madaozeki]

Awesome :)

Looking forward to tracking your progress!

Remember the purpose of pulls is to work on positioning with a slight overload. So "light" pulls aren't particularly beneficial. Do pulls with about 110% of your weight for the lift.

Example:

Clean 4x3 - 185
Clean pull - 2x3 - 205

Snatch - 4x3 - 155
Snatch pull - 2x3 - 170

Along those lines. These pulls will still be pretty light since they're based off your triples, rather than the weight you use for a single. You can go up to 120% if you feel it's not challenging enough.