Five, Four, Three, Two, One - Done! - Jim Schmitz (2000)

 MILO March 2000

As I stated in my previous MILO article, “Power Training for the +35-year-old Strength Athlete,” most of us can’t train like Bulgarians or even young weightlifters in their prime. I once coached and trained America’ strongest weightlifters: Patera, Wilhelm, Martinez and Clark, to name a few. Now I’m coaching more lifters past their prime than looking forward to their prime. These strength athletes want and can still lift some really heavy weights, but they must train quite differently. I am going to present here some training principles and programs for the strength athlete who might be past his or her prime or might not have the time, energy, desire, or ability to train long, hard hours, but would still like to be strong, healthy, and lift some pretty heavy weights, just for the fun of it.

Hopefully you already know how to do the Olympic lifts and have some experience and understanding of training and your ability. If you are a beginner, this really isn’t the program for you, but of course, if you want to try it, go ahead. If you are a beginner or making a comeback after a long layoff, then do the basic five exercises, but do them light and for three sets of five reps for one to two weeks.

The program consists of the five best and basic exercises for developing strength and power: snatch (S), clean and jerk (C&J), deadlift (CDL), squat [back squat (BS), front squat (FS)], and bench press (BP). However, included in these exercises are variations, such as high pulls [snatch (SHP), clean (CHP)], power snatches (PS), power cleans (PC), push jerks (PJ), and overhead squats (OHS). You could also do dumbbell bench press (DBP) instead of barbell. There is a lot of room for options, provided you do squats, pulls, and pushes. It’s very important not to do too many exercises or sets and reps. This is quality training at its optimum.

So, here we go: our example weightlifter is 40-years-old, weighs 90 kilos and does 90 snatch, 110 C&J, 140 back squat, 130 front squat, 140 deadlift, and 125 bench press. Let’s also say as a young lifter her did 110 S, 140 C&J, 180 BS, 160 FS, 180 DL, and 150 BP. Now I will outline a four week cycle, light (70%), medium (80%), heavy (90%), and maximum (100%), with three workouts per week. Also, remember I write weight x reps for only one set with that weight, or weight x sets x reps if more than one set with that weight.

*To try and make things easier here’s a key for the exercises abbreviated above:

S – Snatch          C&J – Clean & Jerk         CDL – Deadlift     BS – Back Squat          FS – Front Squat

BP – Bench Press           SHP – Snatch High Pull               CHP – Clean High Pull      

PS – Power Snatch    PC – Power Clean           PJ – Push Jerk      OHS – Overhead Squat            PC&PJ – Power Clean & Power Jerk    P&SS – Power Snatch followed by Squat Snatch on Final Rep 

P&SC – Power Clean followed by Squat Clean on Final Rep

There might be a tendency to want to lift more and do more sets and reps. Resist the temptation to do more; your knees, back and shoulders will appreciate it, big time. If the jumps between weights are too big, then take smaller, more comfortable jumps and add a set or weight at the end, but only do one rep. However, with practice and training you should be able to take the bigger jumps. When you finish the four-week cycle, start over again and adjust your weights where you can. If you are going to compete in a competition, then train light the week before. If you prefer to or you can only do this power strength program twice a week, then do programs A and C, eliminate B, but put B’s bench press workout in program C.

You can vary your exercises depending on how you like to do them, that is, all power snatches, or from the hang or off the blocks or combinations. But stick to the basic five, snatch, clean and jerk, deadlift (high pulls are in the deadlift category), squats, and bench presses (inclines are included here.) I’ve included some combinations such as PC&PJ, which is power clean followed by push jerk, that is one power clean and one push jerk for each rep, or five PC’s and one PJ after the last PC. P&SS and P&SC mean you power the first reps and squat the last rep; a set of five reps is four power followed by one squat.

Also, thoroughly warm up with at least 15 minutes of stretching all your joints and do lots of warm-up lifts with an empty 20-kilo bar. And do plenty of stomach exercises, sit-ups, let raises, crunches, etc.., and do them at the beginning of your workout, right after your stretches. I recommend two sets of 25 sit-ups, followed by side bends and trunk twisting, and then two sets of 25 leg raises.

Cardiovascular exercise, jogging, bicycling, swimming, cardio machines, or whatever should be done on alternate days, not your weightlifting days. Twenty minutes of cardio won’t take away from your strength; more than that might.

If you want to add some weight training (body-building) exercises, do so after you have done the above basic five. Also, follow the same principles as your power training, not too many exercises and sets and reps: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 will work very well. However, for weight training exercises I recommend 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 for sets and reps.

Be very patient, persistent, and conservative in your training and weight selection, and respectable weights and gains will happen. And most important of all your muscles and joints will feel great.

*Photo credit to Bruce Klemens