It is easy to feel overwhelmed by Olympic weightlifting training! The lifts are complicated. Practice is the only way to get better at them, but we only have a set amount of time in the gym every week. How does a person know what to focus on? How do we fit snatches, cleans, jerks and squats into our training routine? Here is my advice on how to simplify your weightlifting programme so as not to feel overwhelmed.
 
Do few exercises per session

Doing too many different exercises per session destroys my motivation. It makes me feel I’ve got a huge list of tasks to do and makes it hard for me to actually enjoy any of them. An Olympic weightlifter doesn’t need to be a jack of all trades; we want to be masters of snatch and clean and jerk!
I prefer to do up to only three different movements per session. For example, a typical workout for me would be sets of snatch pulls and snatches, then just snatches, and then maybe some sort of press at the end. Another workout might be power snatches, snatches and jerks from blocks.
Make the full lifts your focus

Throughout all the years I’ve been lifting, I have only done the variation exercises (such as hang or power or behind the neck) a small number of times in comparison to the number of times I’ve done the full lifts. I think the variation exercises have their use, but I truly feel that the best way to get good at the snatch and clean and jerk is to snatch and clean and jerk.

By cutting down the number of variations of exercises you do, you will immediately feel that your weightlifting has been simplified.

Do pause jerks and power jerks

If you are struggling with your split jerk, you can keep jerk training simple by using extremely similar variations of the jerk to get better. Doing split jerks with a pause in the dip or a pause in the split position can fix a lot of jerk problems, whilst still having maximal carryover to the standard split jerk.

Similarly, power jerks can fix a lot of jerk problems. This is another exercise that is exactly the same as the standard split jerk, the only difference is the foot position at the end.

These exercises are very simple variations of the split jerk which you can incorporate into your training.
You can even just use them as warm up drills as you work your way up to maximal jerk weights. You don’t necessarily need to do them as a completely separate exercises or for specific sets. Using them as warm ups on your ladder up to maximal jerk weights can help you feel less overwhelmed. For example, if you plan to do some reps at 80kg, you could do power jerk+pause jerk+jerk 1+1+1 all the way up to 80kg and then do your jerk reps at 80kg normally.

These exercises are so similar to the normal jerk that there should not be much to learn if you’re already competent with the split jerk.

Clean and jerk separately

It can sometimes feel less overwhelming if you do cleans and jerks separately because it means you can put all your focus into each lift.

I have gone through phases of doing cleans on their own on one day and jerks on their own on another day. It stops me from feeling overwhelmed at the number of technique drills I need to practice and focus on because the workload has been halved. It can also help you to get comfortable at heavier weights as you might be able to clean and jerk separately a heavier weight than you can clean and jerk together.

Do little complexes

Little complexes consisting of two or three movements can be a simple way to ensure you are practicing what you need to while keeping the overall number of exercises and length of the training session down.

 You can use these complexes as you work your way up to maximal weights. For example, a snatch session might look like: snatch pull+snatch all the way up to just snatches. Doing the lifts together in the form of a complex also helps you try to keep your technique the same as you can try to make your snatch feel exactly like the pull before, for example. It’s another way to stop feeling overwhelmed as the aim is that the lifts ought to feel the same. So again, you’re pretty much practicing the exact same movement… training is kept simple!

Squat on a separate day

This might not be possible if you only go to the gym three or four times a week, but if you go five or six times a week, it might feel less overwhelming if you dedicate one or two of those days solely to squats and don’t do any Olympic lifts.

I personally feel very overwhelmed if I have to do the Olympic lifts and squats on the same day. They are all extremely taxing exercises (even at light weights because you still have to fully concentrate) and I can feel daunted by the amount of mental and physical work that needs to be done. I feel much more focused if I do squats (and any other non-Olympic weightlifting exercises), on a separate day. So, for me, I have two days per week where I do front squats, a lunge variation and a hamstring exercise. Other people might like to do bench pressing, shoulder pressing or pull ups. I don’t do any Olympic lifting on these days.

Keep reps minimal

This is obvious in Olympic weightlifting, but I wanted to point it out because it’s another way to reduce the feeling of overwhelm. Doing lots of single repetitions, for me, makes me feel less overwhelmed. It helps me to really focus on every single lift, not feel rushed or under pressure to get the next rep done, and I can make sure every rep feels perfect. 

Do sub-maximal weights more times

It can be common to feel nervous, stressed, or overwhelmed at lifting a certain weight. In order to take some of this pressure off, instead of attempting a maximal weight for one rep, I like to lift sub-maximal weights up to five times. You can have a very worthwhile, confidence-boosting workout, knowing you were able to lift e.g. 85% for five singles, as opposed to lifting 100% for one single. Training in this manner is, for me, one of the most enjoyable ways to train.

If you don’t compete, then there’s an argument that lifting maximal weights often, is unnecessary. Unless you enjoy going for maximal weights, for a lot of people, there’s no need. That pressure can be taken off.

You can still improve by lifting smaller weights more times and it can be a lot more mentally freeing.
Olympic weightlifting is complicated enough already, just through the nature of the movements! It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of work we need to do, the areas of the lifts we need to improve, or by the amount of weight we feel we need to be lifting. I hope I have given you some ideas in this article on how to keep weightlifting simpler. I find that when it’s simple, it’s a lot more enjoyable.