Hybrid Power

[Arlecchino]

This journal is me tracking an athlete that I am training, and may be asking others for feedback.

Basic focus is building power, with the focus on the Olympic lifts and/or variants thereof. I am an old school coach, so it is not just about technique, and a basic grounding in developing the supporting musculature as well as specific conditioning for the quick lifts will occur before proper training on the classic lifts (snatch and clean and jerk).

She has been training ~ 12 years. Injuries include a herniation at L5/S1, SI joint issues, and chronic tendonitis. This will result in the following changes:

Limited squatting. The squat irritates the SI joint issues, but other squats do not, so more focus will be placed on sport specific squatting, with back squats being done light to assure proper technique.

Rehab/prehab for lower back. Stretching, reverse hypers (with bands at first) and plenty of ab and oblique work to strengthen everything around the weak SI joint.

Limited cleans at first. Tendonitis is in the wrists, and racking the clean or power clean. Most of the initial clean training will revolve around learning the pull.

Extra forearm work. To stabilize the wrist joint, more work will be done for the brachioradialis, as well as the flexors and extensors of the forearms.

More initial emphasis on the snatch than the clean. In addition to the wrist issue, this will also supply some additional work for the upper back and even more specific work for the external rotators. As she will never compete, the need to quickly develop special skill is not there, where it would be different for someone I was coaching for competition. As many of the mechanics of the pull are similar between the two lifts, and certain aspects of receiving the bar are similar (need to rebend the knees to catch, etc.) hopefully this will transfer to learning to rack the clean. There will need to be a considerable amount of time spent on learning the elbow whip for the clean.

[Arlecchino]

Basics of program are spread out over a four day training week, with the off days being spent on conditioning. Most conditioning will be done with a barbell or dumbell, as well as some band work. Cardio is not the point. The 60% rule for conditioning will be in effect.

Sunday: Light pressing and assistance work (see jerk progressions later in this post)
Monday: Snatch
Tuesday: Conditioning (60% of Monday)
Wednesday: Heavy pressing
Thursday: Conditioning (60% of Wednesday)
Friday: Clean work
Saturday: General conditioning.

If she wants to do cardio, she can do it on her own time.

Jerk Progressions:
Press (strict military press)
Push press
Push jerk
Jerk

Additional work for overhead pressing will consist of snatch grip pressing behind the neck and specialized versions of this lift.

[Arlecchino]

Power snatch from mid-thigh: 45x3x6
Overhead squat: 45x5x5
Snatch grip push press behind the neck: 45x5x3
Snatch grip pulls from pins (mid thigh) 45x5x3
Reverse hypers: green band x10x3
Leg raise: 15x3


Notes: Power snatch first involved working up with weighted sticks, lighter bars, then the Olympic bar. Notes on this lift: Need to work on pulling the elbows out and dropping under the bar to catch. Too much effort to muscle the bar up into position results in deviation of bar path to the front.

Overhead squat solid. Easy to achieve weight increase next week. Will really push this the next two weeks.

Snatch grip push press BTN: Done really to work on learning to re-bend and catch the bar while extended. All of the power from this comes from the initial leg drive.

Snatch grip pulls: Done to work on pulling the elbows out instead of back.

[Arlecchino]

Overhead squat: 45x5x3
Front squat:45x8x8 (tabata style)

Streching.

[Arlecchino]

Press: 60x1/55x5/55x4
DB decline skullcrushers: 10x10x6
Pulldowns: 90x10x3
Chest supported t-bar rows: 10x10x3
Power snatch: 45x5x3
Shrugs on chest supported row: 25x8x3


Notes: Relative strength on press very high, despite solid technique on 1RM, which is indicative of either poor CNS (motor unit) recruitment or lack of confidence. Critical to obtain this, to not only build strength, but confidence in working overhead.
DB skulls: Trouble with left elbow tracking away from midline secondary to fatigue. Need to work on conditioning.
Pulldowns: A bit too much lower back involvement. Will drop weight next week, and concentrate on pulling more with the lats and more concentrated scapular retraction at the termination of the concentric portion of the lift.
T-bar: Not bad, need to work on adding poundage.
Power snatch: Done for additional practice as well as upper back work. Doing this lift while in a fatigued state had a telling effect on the technically mastery required to successfully receive the bar.
Shrugs: Good. Need to work on this to build stability in the upper back via strengthening traps 3&4, rhomboids, etc.

[Arlecchino]

DB Bench: 25x10x3/20x10x2
DB Rows: 25x10x5
Band pull aparts: pink x10x5
One arm pushdowns: pink x10x10
Hammer curls: 15x10x5

Notes: Upper body conditioning is not what it could be, but that is true of most people. This will quickly improve, which will raise the tolerance for training volume. Nothing particularly noteworthy here, as if there are strong technical flaws when conditioning, there are clearly underlying issues.

[Arlecchino]

Clean Pull: 45x5/50/55/60/65/70x5
Front Squat: 50/55/60/65/70/75/80/85/90/95/100x2
Power shrugs: 135x5x5/185x2
Reverse hypers: Green band x10x2
Russian Twist: 25x15x2/30x15


Notes: Trouble with hyperextending (not doing it enough) on the pull, but improving. Front squats strong, still finding decent working weight. Could have gone heavier, but no point given volume. Next week will start at 95. Power shrugs pretty solid for first time, and actually better upper back use/recruitment with 185. Reverse hypers improvised, and Russian twist went well.


Need to work on wrist/tendonitis issue to develop proper clean technique, so proper exercise prescription and programming is necessary to ensure stability of wrist joints. First practices with power cleans will not occur for at least another two weeks, allowing development of not only the supporting musculature, but some of the proper recruitment patterns as well. This way when the power clean is taught, all of the focus can simply be on catching/racking the bar.

[gbg]

Sounds like you have a real winner

[Arlecchino]

Sounds like you have a real winner

Definitely has potential. Keys here are to not only train around injuries, but use proper exercise prescription and programming to help re-hab the existing injuries.

The primary focus is on skill, of course, as the quick lifts are the most skilled lifts, but also in CNS conditioning. Like many, she has not had much experience working in a very low rep range on a consistent basis, so the need to improve motor unit recruitment as well as both inter- and intra-muscular coordination is far more important than hypertrophy at this point.

Only real training areas that are currently hypertrophy based are the hamstrings, triceps, and lats, as they will primarily provide support for the other muscle groups and systems during the lifts.

[gbg]

Definitely has potential. Keys here are to not only train around injuries, but use proper exercise prescription and programming to help re-hab the existing injuries.

The primary focus is on skill, of course, as the quick lifts are the most skilled lifts, but also in CNS conditioning. Like many, she has not had much experience working in a very low rep range on a consistent basis, so the need to improve motor unit recruitment as well as both inter- and intra-muscular coordination is far more important than hypertrophy at this point.

Only real training areas that are currently hypertrophy based are the hamstrings, triceps, and lats, as they will primarily provide support for the other muscle groups and systems during the lifts.

I'm sure with you as her coach she will excell.

[Arlecchino]

Overhead squat: 45x2x10
Snatch grip deads: 95-110x3/115-125x2/135x1/140 (BW)x1

Notes: SGD done to practice basic pulling position from the platform, as well as building confidence.


Will do summary of week and goals for next week in a later post.

[Arlecchino]

Do you also give her a strict diet she has to follow in order to keep in shape? and is she taking any suppliments like hydroxycut etc?

She controls her own diet (she has been lifting about 12 years and is knowledgeable in many areas) and her supps are limited. I will list them later today.

[StlBarbie]

She is SO fortunate to have you, Eric!!!
Your knowledge and experience is invaluable!
I was telling Fitty that I wished I could find a good OLY lifter at our gym ...
I have yet to do so ...

[Arlecchino]

She is SO fortunate to have you, Eric!!!
Your knowledge and experience is invaluable!
I was telling Fitty that I wished I could find a good OLY lifter at our gym ...
I have yet to do so ...

There is a club not too far from where I think you are. I could look if you were really interested.

[StlBarbie]

I Would Be!!

[Arlecchino]

Bench: 45x3x9
Close grip bench: 55x8x2/60x8
Pulldowns: 60/70/80x10
Chest-supported t-bar row: 10/12.5/15x8
Reverse Laterals: 15x10x3
Curls: 30x10/20x10x3

Notes:

Bench would not normally be an included exercise, but there are multiple reasons for this:
1. Lack of strength on pressing movements in general, and the bench is generally the one where an athlete can shove the most, so greatest degree of overall CNS recruitment.
2. Stability of shoulder girdle. See lack of strength on pressing (above). Done correctly, the bench will recruit a siginficant number of muscles that stabilize the other lifts. There has been some residual musculature fatigue in the pecs which have only been acting as stabilizers, so clearlly this is an area that needs to be strengthened. And given that the most weight can be used when benching, and that MHC isoforms have the greatest potential for hypertrophy, this makes the bench an ideal lift for this purpose.
3. Lack of practice accelerating the bar. The ability to quickly generate force is not something that has been practiced, so this exercise is a good teaching tool to improve RFD (rate of force development).

Close grip bench: good exercise for task-specific strength as well as a great tricep exercise. In both pressing exercises, the need to bring the bar lower on the chest was evident, and was beginning to be corrected towards the end of this exercise. Strong triceps are needed for heavy overhead pressing, which is a primary assistance exercise, so this is an excellent secondary assitance exercise.

Pulldowns: Done with hammer grip, more controlled than on Wednesday.

T-bar row: Better today. Form more in line with the rowing form need to teach proper recruitment of the lats and scapular retraction when benching. Much better at keeping the elbows tucked instead of flared outward.

Reverse laterals: Done for general hypertrophy. Stability somewhat when working overhead, and cannot do much today in terms of compound lifts without screwing up tomorrow's workout. Good for posterior delts, as well as some involvement of lower traps and rhomboids.

Curls: I hate this exercise, but given wrist issues and general stability problems, a bit of time strengthening the elbow flexors should help stabilize the forearm. I dislike curls for a lot of reasons, but the main one that is specific here is that excessive development of the biceps impedes the ability to rack the clean.

[Arlecchino]

She controls her own diet (she has been lifting about 12 years and is knowledgeable in many areas) and her supps are limited. I will list them later today.

Supps:
XF Ultra peptide 2.0 Vanilla


Edited to add: Routinely noted pirating someone else's Universal EAA stack.

[Arlecchino]

Power Snatch (AK): 45x2x8
Overhead Squat: 45x2x8
Snatch Pull (to upper chest): 45/55/65x3/75x3x2
Reverse Hypers: 25x10x3
Sit ups: 25x15x3

Notes:
Power snatch from above knee. Technique improving, noticably after warm up. Need to work on secondary flexion of the knees when receiving the bar. Timing of the various elements still needs to improve, but that is true of all novice lifters. Overhead squat solid, will start adding weight next week. Snatch pull improving, and 75 was a good working weight, will start with that next week. Reverse hypers good, and sit ups done medicine ball style (plate swung behind head on decline, increasing stretch of the RA as well as raising COG, which makes the exercise harder.

Edit:

PM Session: 20 minutes treadmill

[Arlecchino]

I will edit this post over time as I throw a lot of terms and acronyms around.

Many of the terms that I used are based on the old Russian system, because that is what I originally came up under. Others are based on adaptations of this system by Louie Simmons, coach of Westside Barbell Club. Some reflect my training in ex phys. So it is a compendium of terms, but most have been fairly standardized over the years.

Light weight: Less than 70% 1RM
Medium/moderate weigth: 70-80%
Heavy Weight: 90%+ 1RM

DE: Dynamic Effort. Using sub-maximal (light) weights and attempting to apply maximal accleration to the bar in an effort to improve the bodies ability to quickly generate force.
ME: Maximal Effort. Heavy weights use to improve overall CNS recruitment.
RM: Repetition Method. Standard-issue training to induce hypertrophy. Most of the site is geared toward this.
Explanation of the types of training and their effects can be found here. Some very useful links can be found in the OP of that post.

Other terms that may or may not be used:

COG: Center of gravity.
CCOG: Combined center of gravity
ABS: Athlete-barbell system



When describing lifts:
AK (above the knee)
BK (below the knee)
(these two primarily refer to pulling positions for the snatch and clean.

Microcycle: Short term training cycle that lasts no more than a few weeks (generally three) with very short term goals.
Mesocycle: Series of microcycles focused on longer term goals.
Macrocycle: Two or more mesocycles.

Example: This program will consist of several microcycles designed to teach the basics of the lifts, in what will be termed the introductory mesocycle. The complete lifts will be learned by the end of the first macrocycle. For competitive lifters, macrocycles are generally the periods between major meets, but can vary depending on goals.

[Arlecchino]

Overhead Squat: 45x2x6
Front Squat (tabata): 45x8x8

Treadmill and stretching

Notes: Cut the rest periods down to where they should be this week, and it was noticeable on the front squats. Will keep the weight at 45, and work on increasing reps per set in 20 second intervals.

Overhead squat solid. Done light (still) to improve technique. One thing to remember about this exercise is that it does wonders for strengthening just about everything.

Good archive with lots of related material, including a great deal of info related to the overhead squat:
http://danjohn.org/ark.pdf

Large, disorganized PDF file.

[Arlecchino]

Press: 70x1/60x1x2/55x6
DB decline skullcrushers: 10x10x6
Pulldowns: 60/70/80
Chest supported t-bar rows: 10/15/25x8
Shrugs on chest supported row: 25/35/45x8

Power snatch:

Technique issues at first, too much trying to muscle the bar into place. Worked on jump/shrug portion of the lift. Finally able to teach proper retraction/abduction of the elbows when pulling. To really work on this, technique as follows:

Snatch pull from above the knee,
Power snatch
Snatch pull from above the knee,
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Worked very well.

Note for the day:

Where the arm bends, the power ends.


Notes:
Improving on press. Extra warm-up appears necessary because of limited experience in maximal CNS recruitment. PR's all around, and if someone expects me to use fruity little colors, you can freakin' forget it.
Skullcrushers better, still a minor issue with left elbow abduction.
Pulldowns and rows both better in terms of technique, and power improving on rows.

[gbg]

Sat= QOI.

Your creating a beast

[Arlecchino]

DB Bench: 20x10x5
DB Rows: 35x10x2/30x10x3
Band Pull Aparts: Pink x10x5
One Arm Pushdowns: Pink x10x10
Hammer Curls: 12.5x10x4/15x10

Notes:

DB Bench: Modified form to lower the position of the DB's on the chest (moved down slightly toward the feet) allowing the elbows to be tucked more. Less opening of the shoulder joint. From the comments made, it clearly targeted the chest and triceps more, as the belly-aching was heard across the gym.
DB Rows: Dropped weight after two sets to reduce the degree of over-rotation.
Pushdowns done very fast. As in one arm then the other, with little to no rest.
Hammer curls: Weight increase at the end is good. Strength over time on this exercise will help with stability on pressing movements.

[Arlecchino]

Treadmill: 30 minutes.

[Tifflex]

Informative journal, thanks for posting!

[JOHN GARGANI]

far too literate for this forum! LOL.......

I must admit, Eric, I am completely in the dark when it comes to this type of training.......

[Arlecchino]

Informative journal, thanks for posting!

far too literate for this forum! LOL.......

I must admit, Eric, I am completely in the dark when it comes to this type of training.......

Thanks both of you. I am going to be as detailed as possible. The glossary/notes post, wherever I put up further up the page, will get expanded as time goes on. May include links as well.

[StlBarbie]

Great resource information in here, Eric!!!
I am trying to suck it all in .......

[NuclearArms]

Loads of good info you are providing. I'd love to spell everthing out like you but just don't take the time.

[Arlecchino]

Great resource information in here, Eric!!!
I am trying to suck it all in .......

Loads of good info you are providing. I'd love to spell everthing out like you but just don't take the time.

OCD FTW!!!!