Should I focus on strength more?

[matjusm]

I train for Olympic weightlifting, though not at a competitive level of any sort.

Currently the way my workout is set up is that I always start off with an Olympic lift(s) and then move on to strength exercises later on. Hence I'm always somewhat fatigued when it gets to squats as they're the 2nd or third exercise I do.

Currently my all time best lifts (in the sense that I wouldn't say I could do them right now but I've hit all of these in the past year) are:

C&J: 135 kg
Snatch: 102kg (my technique is pretty poor, usually can only get to about 90kg or so in training)
Clean: 145kg
Front squat: 155kg
Back squat: 170kg
Deadlift (conventional): 235kg- this one is a bit ahead of the others

In the snatch my limiting factor is definitely technique more so than strength.

However in the clean (and jerk) I feel that I'm operating right at the limit of what my squat strength is capable of. My heaviest cleans can be somewhat grinders, even if I do catch the bounce and I just don't see myself having much room for development in the C&J without some additional strength.

As such I was wondering if perhaps it would be wise to for at least part of my training days (currently training 4x a week) to switch the squat to be the first exercise and work on improving my strength while at the same time still having other days where the classical lift would be done first so as to keep working on technique as well?

Thoughts?

[olyw8lifter]

I've done this before, and am even considering doing it again for a short time. It works well, so long as you don't have a meet to prepare for. Keep in mind that your lifts will go down somewhat as the legs, and possibly the back, will be more fatigued when you do get to the lifts!!

I would just do a short cycle of 4-6 weeks with squatting first on all squat days. Then go back to normal, rinse and repeat. Best time to do it is usually right after a meet.