How to get better at Olympic Weightlifting Over the next 3 months.

Technique –

Know the positions of the Top down Progression. If you even have to question what the positions are, ASK a coach. Drill the Positions daily before and after every workout.

Strength –

You should always be striving to become stronger. Every 3 to 4 weeks switch up how you perform your strength exercises and keep going for PR’s on a weekly basis. Become a master of body weight exercises. Finish each day with some push ups, planks, or some kind of leg raises! Also there is just something about being able to get in a good handstand hold that will help you lock your arms in your lifts. If you can’t do something it’s because you haven’t practiced enough!

Expectations / Training Mentality –

It is up to you to set goals. I will not tell you anything is unrealistic, BUT do not lift 2 times a week and expect to snatch body weight in 3 months or be an Olympian by the end of the year. If you want to be a world champ you have to train like one. Every time you’re about to quit or you think something sucks, ask yourself how a world champ would train, how would a world champ eat, how would a world champ recover, and do it. With that being said every day you come to work out you should expect great things to happen. Whether that means hitting all your lifts or PR’ing all progress is great. This last piece of info is the biggest one, no matter how you feel or how your lift goes, every time you work out you are stronger. Even if you don’t PR and the weights feel like 100 tons and you miss a couple reps you should have made, you are getting stronger. If a bridge gets blown up, you build it back stronger (this is an analogy about your muscle fibers).

Pure will to succeed – I’ve already had people asking how I win this challenge. Also I’ve had people comment they’ll never win because their body weight is too heavy compared to their lifts; might as well not try. Bottom line this challenge is about finding your maximum potential, whether you snatch body weight or not in 3 months doesn’t matter. If you set new PR’s and bested what you thought previously was your best you have succeeded. If you really do want to win or have the highest total compared to your body weight then you will find a way to work on Olympic Weightlifting everyday until you succeed; It may take longer than this challenge. NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER!

 

 

Training Focus-

suggestions on what to include in your training to get optimal results.

Snatch – 3 x a week

Clean and jerk – 3 x a week

Back Squats – 2 x a week (DO NOT squat more than 3 times a week including front squats. Squatting is not the focus of the challenge. I do not care how much you squat as long as it is heavier than your clean and jerk.)

Front squats –  1-2 x a week ( if your clean is weak make it 2, and by weak I mean you have trouble standing up cleans. This is the exception to only squatting 3 times a week.)

Notes on squatting: if you knees start to become sore, back off a day on the back squats and replace them with front squats. It is easy to overdo squats, just pay attention to how your body is feeling. You should not be squatting more than 4 times a week between Front squats and Back Squats, there is no need too.

RDL’s – 3 x a week (change how you do them snatch grip, but perform them fairly heavy. These will make you super strong, do them. Also if there is deadlifting programmed in the WOD’s that counts.)

Pressing – 2 – 3 x a week (change exercises every 3 to 4 weeks)

***Most of these will be covered in the daily WOD’s, Olympic Weightlifting Class, or Matt’s strength programming. If you want to get the best possible results you might have to start living in the progression room an extra day or two a week. TIME = RESULTS

 

 

Diet –

In weightlifting it is most beneficial to have the highest amount of functional body mass as possible; leaner stronger muscles = bigger weights. With that being said this is not a weight loss challenge. If anything you should maintain and become leaner if not gain weight through muscle. You should maintain a pretty paleo life-style but here are a couple of staples to live by.

– Water – At least 1 Gallon per day. Start your day with 3-5 big glasses of water, GET HYDRATED!

– Paleo – 90-10% – this is not an excuse to be on a “bulking phase” of donuts for 3 months. Stay focused live disciplined it will carry over into your training and the rest of your life. There are tons of great paleo websites out there and CFP has an amazing health challenge page on facebook where members like to share recipes.

– Eat at least 1 gram of protein for every KG of body weight. This is a minimum, if you want to gain weight you need to be eating more like 1.5 grams of protein for every KG of bodyweight if not more. EGG’s are your best friend, eat lots of them.

– Dairy – Great for quick snacks post workout. Also a great way to constantly be restoring your protein levels in your body. Whole milk and cheese are favorite snacks of mine. If you are trying to gain weight liquid calories via milk are awesome!

 

 

Recovery –

EAT, Sleep, Relax,

– sleep 7- 8 hrs. a day if possible.

– drink at least a gallon of water

– practice some form of meditation for at least 10 min. a day. Go for a walk in the woods without your phone. Sit quietly, try to visualize nothing. One of my favorites is counting your breaths. Try sitting with your eyes closed to only focus on counting your breaths if you can get past 50 on your first try without losing focus I’ll be impressed. Breaths should be deep and relaxed.

– practice some form of mobility at least 10 min. a day. If you can’t get in a deep squat, sit in a deep squat, if your ham strings are tight, stretch them, basically take care of your body and perform self maintenance. We were all born mobile, and through what our daily routines have become something you do makes your hips tight, your upper back slouch, your shoulders crack, or etc. Find it, mobilize it, and fix it.

 

 

10,000 rep challenge –

perform reps with an empty bar or stick, pipe, pole, of some kind. The thought behind this is that it roughly takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become a prodigy at something. Where we won’t get 10,000 hours of weightlifting in 3 months we easily can get 10,000 reps. These reps should be done after work outs as cool downs. Also don’t just do these reps to do them; FOCUS make every rep count, feel your positions, feel the weight shifting to the back part of your foot, hear the cracking noise of your shoes as you catch in a tight bottom position. Make sure you are getting as low as possible! there is no point in doing bar work if you aren’t going to perform it correctly!

When I do extra reps like this I usually perform 50 snatches and 50 clean and jerks. I just use the bar, a PVC pipe or broom stick will work well too. I’ll do 5 lifts from Position 1 and 5 lifts from Position 2. This way you only have 5 sets of snatch and 5 sets of clean and jerk to perform. This should take you 10 – 12 minutes maximum. If you take short breaks you can probably get the reps finished in 7-8 minutes. Bottom line more time spent under the barbell equals more results! Anyone who participated in the Olympic Weightlifting Seminar July 13th can attest to this. If you are able to do 60 snatches and 60 clean and jerks everyday, with an empty bar, pvc pipe, or broom stick you will be able to get to 10,000 reps by the end of the challenge.

 

 

ASK – If you have any questions about the challenge please ASK! You can contact me on facebook, e-mail ([email protected]), or talk to me in person at the gym!

Train heavy, Train hard, Dream, and Repeat,

Written By:

Nic Scudamore