Seven Ways to Get Jacked with Olympic Lifts -- Christian Thibaudeau (2015)

 

Note: This article is already online, but I like it and am making an exception here to draw attention to the interesting points it brings up. Thanks, Chris! 

Here's what you need to know . . . 

1) Training like an Olympic lifter won't automatically give you gains, but there are ways to train the O-lifts and build muscle. 

2) Most modern Olympic lifters aren't jacked. They're not trying to be. Old school weightlifters were more muscular because they spent more time under tension. 

3) To make gains while training the O-lifts, include assistance work and slow eccentrics (negatives). Use higher rep ranges as well.

4) Accumulate training volume by lifting at 75-85% of your max instead of going all out, all the time. 

5) Isolate the muscles you want to build. Don't prioritize isolation work at the beginning of your workouts. Save it for the end. 

What Olympic Lifts Will Do For You

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You won't end up looking like Klokov by training the Olympic lifts. This doesn't mean Olympic lifts can't develop your physique. It's possible to train like an Olympic weightlifter and still improve your look. 

Olympic lift variations and their assistance exercises can be very effective in building the traps, legs, glutes, upper and lower back, and shoulders. But to be able to build muscle mass while training like a weightlifter you need to know why elite weightlifting training isn't effective at stimulating overall muscle growth.

Once you know this, you can modify your your training to reach your goals. 

Six Facts About Elite Olympic Lifters

1) At the elite level, the top lifters strive to stay in the same weight class for most of their career. There are a few exceptions. Some will hop back and forth between two classes depending on the competition. But very few actually let their body grow one or two full classes up. Once they find their optimal weight class, they tend to limit methods that'll make them gain size.  

2) Most modern weightlifters use a highly specialized approach. This means doing very few assistance exercises. Their volume is spent mainly training the snatch and the clean & jerk (and their variations), front and back squats, and hyperextensions. Depending on the coach's philosophy, this will be anywhere between 75 to 100% of their training volume. Modern-day lifting is all about technical mastery -- being as efficient as possible -- and neural efficiency. 

3) Reps are normally kept between 1 and 3 on most lifting exercises. This will give the lifter mostly neural adaptations and won't lead to much muscle growth. A paper by the coaches for the Kazakhstan national team even goes as far as stating that the goal is an increase in strength without an increase in body mass. Training is planned with that goal in mind.  

Note: This may be of use . . . 

https://www.sportivnypress.com/2014/scientific-methodological-aspects-of-training-the-kazakhstan-select-team/  

4) The eccentric (negative) component is greatly diminished when performing the Olympic lifts because modern lifters drop pretty much every rep from the lockout/end position to the floor. There's a minimal eccentric component when the lifter catches/receives the barbell (to break its downward movement) but this lasts just a fraction of a second and is done in large part by the stretch reflex. That makes this "eccentric loading" insufficient to stimulate much growth. 

5) The development of the proper lifting technique has evolved a lot in the past 20-30 years. The best lifters are extremely efficient, decreasing to a minimum the height at which the barbell is pulled. The best lifters are normally those who move the fastest and more precisely under the barbell. At that point, leg strength is the limiting factor (to stand up with the barbell) which is why front/back squats are a huge part of their training. 

If you compare that to the technique of lifters from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the latter weren't as fast getting under the barbell. Instead they pulled to a greater height, which required a big emphasis on pulling strength, both upper and lower body.

6) The time under tension for each set is very short, roughly 3-12 seconds per set. This is suboptimal for the development of hypertrophy, which is best accomplished by sets in the 30-60 second range.

Olympic Lifting for Bodybuilders

Furthermore, most of that 3-12 seconds isn't spent under maximum tension because in the Olympic lifts you only produce maximum force for a very brief period of time -- at the point of explosion in the lower position. 

Prior to the "explosion" the lifting is submaximal, essentially a deadlift-like motion with 40-60% of your deadlift, and afterward the barbell is largely moving up due to the imparted momentum. 

Modern-day weightlifting has a lot more emphasis on speed and power than slower-speed strength. 

Out of the modern-day lifters, the Asian athletes -- from China and North Korea mostly -- have the most muscular bodies. We're speaking in terms of body composition and having a lean and muscular look. Out of all the elite weightlifters, they're the ones using the most assistance exercises: lots of pulls, rows, chin-ups, dips, handstand pushups, lateral raises, triceps extensions, and even barbell curls. It's not unusual for them to do 30-45 minutes of bodybuilding work at the end of their lifting session.

Lifters from Russia and Poland also tend to have plenty of muscle and they use a lot of assistance exercises too, mostly various pulls and presses. They don't have the same type of development as the Asians (less arms and development) but they still look more muscular than the lifters using a program relying only on the competition lifts and squats. These two groups of lifters also tend to do more volume work with a lower average weight.

Note: This Tony Ditillo article may be of use . . . 

http://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2008/05/olympic-assistance-movements-anthony.html  

Lessons From Old-School Weightlifters

Weightlifters from the 60s, 70s, and 80s were more muscular than today's lifters. They had more arm, shoulder, and upper back development. On average they were also leaner.

Here's why: The Press was included in competition prior to 1972, a third lift contested till then, the Clean & Press. The press was more of a slow-speed strength movement and involved the upper body a lot. The press actually had a huge place in the training of weightlifters from the 60s and early 70s. 

Lifters used a lot of of assistance work like the bench press, incline press (standing), and push press to strengthen that lift. Even though the press was removed from competition after 1972, it took some time for coaches and athletes to change the training approach. So lifters from the 70s and early 80s trained in the press era and had time to develop their upper bodies. 

Technique wasn't as efficient in those times either. On average, lifters pulled the bar higher in the clean and snatch and "pushed" the bar higher in jerks.

Today's lifter has a more efficient technique. They get under the bar faster, which means less emphasis is placed on pulling high. When you pull the bar higher, you focus a lot more on the strength of the upper back, traps and even arms, as opposed to only maximizing leg and lower back strength. This partly explains the thicker traps and upper back of lifters from 60s through 80s. 

Another major factor contributing to the thicker traps, upper back, and arms was bumper plates -- the lack thereof. 

Bumper plates, which can be dropped without damaging the barbell and platform, were introduced in the late 60s. Prior to that, lifters trained on iron plates. The competition rules stated that the lifter had to lower the barbell down to the platform (control of the descent) after a lift, and it was done in training. They didn't drop the barbell (unless it was a missed lift) because it would damage the bar. The lowering portion of the Olympic lifts placed a tremendous eccentric load on the shoulders (when lowering a jerk or snatch down from overhead) and on the traps and arms (when lowering down to the thighs and floor). This increase in eccentric loading relative to today's lifting practices no doubt contributed to building more muscle mass. 

They Used Higher Reps

Finally, old-school lifters used higher rep ranges in training. The norm was closer to 3 reps per set on the competition lifts and 5 reps on the strength building movements. Today it's 1-2 and 2-3 reps. Not surprisingly, this longer time under load created more physiological adaptations. 

It's also worth mentioning that in the U.S. it was typical for Olympic lifters to do bodybuilding work either off-season or between competitions. Tommy Kono, John Grimek, and Steve Stanko were international lifters who also won bodybuilding competitions. 

Seven Training Modifications for Muscle Mass

Who this is for: Those who enjoy training the Olympic lifts and want to make them the cornerstone of their routine. They like the feeling of explosion and being athletic, but they also want gains. 

Who this is NOT for: Those interested in competing at a high level in Olympic lifting. Those people would be well served to train in a way that's more in line with modern-day weightlifting programming. 

1) Use More Assistance Exercises

Your first choice should be movements that will have a positive impact on your Olympic lifts: pulls (hang, floor, blocks), deadlifts with your clean and/or snatch form, military presses, push presses, deficit deadlifts, power shrugs, and barbell rows for example.

A typical session for me will include: 

 - One competitive lift or a variation, like snatch or power snatch from hang/floor/blocks, clean or power clean from hang/floor/blocks. 

Good assistance exercises include:

Snatch Related 

 - Snatch high pull (hang, floor, or blocks)

 - Snatch extension/low pull (hang, floor, or blocks)

 - Snatch deadlift (floor, deficit, blocks below knees)

 - Overhead squat

 - Behind the neck press with snatch grip

 - Behind the neck push press with snatch grip

Clean Related 

 - Clean high pull (hang, floor, or blocks)

 - Clean extension/low pull (hang, floor, or blocks)

 - Clean deadlift (floor, deficit, blocks below knees)

 - Shrugs or power shrugs

Jerk Related

 - Push press

 - Military press

 - Behind the neck push press

 - Half or quarter front squat

 - Strict press from a split position

 - Power jerk

2) Use a slightly higher rep number most of the time. Do sets of 3 for the Olympic variations and 4-6 reps for the assistance movements. 

3) Include plenty of work from the hang or blocks. These force you to lower the weight back to the starting position after a completed lift and add a bit of eccentric loading. Lowering a snatch/clean or absorbing the bar on the way down on high pulls from the hang can build traps fast.

4) Focus on accumulating volume in the 75-80% range rather than going all-out all the time. Do 6 x 3 for the Olympic lift variations and 4-5 x 4-6 on assistance exercises. Accumulate quality volume focusing on technical precision and speed. 

5) When doing slow-speed strength exercises, focus on lowering the weight slowly in 3-4 seconds. Think military press, back/front squats, and good mornings. This will add the eccentric component that's lacking from training on the competitive lifts and their variations. 

6) Add dips and pullups to the program. Dips will hit the triceps and chest nicely while maintaining proper range of motion at the shoulder joint. Pullups will improve back, arm, and grip strength. For these "bodybuilding" exercises do 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps. 

7) Do isolation work for a muscle that you feel is neglected by the program. Just make sure that it's trained at the end of the session and no longer than 15 minutes. 

The Benefits

Making these adjustments will allow you to build plenty of muscle while working on your Olympic lifts. They'll also help you get leaner. 

Explosive work has shown to increase insulin sensitivity more than other forms of training. And the more sensitive you are to insulin, the easier it is to  get lean. 

Yes, focus on increasing the load, but not at the expense of form, speed, and volume. 

If you ever decide to test yourself, you'll only need 1-2 weeks of training on sets of 1-2 reps with reduced assistance work to peak your strength and get used to the feeling of maximal weights. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!