Khaled Asks: I am a CrossFit trainer at CrossFit Norwalk, and I am writing to you regarding programming of dedicated Olympic lifting sessions with a regular CrossFit schedule. I know many high-level CrossFitters will do extra oly lifting work in addition to the CrossFit WODs, but having tried to use the Intermediate Program on p291 of The Complete Guide, I found that the 3-on-1-off-2-on program didn't permit enough time for recovery. On the other hand, doing Olympic lifting occasionally whenever it might happen to pop up in the CrossFit variable programming doesn't seem regular enough to produce consistent growth or results.

Do you have any recommendations for programming Olympic Lifting sessions in the context of CrossFit? Is it a good idea to just focus on the classic lifts and leave the other stuff (squats, DLs, core) to the WODs? Or would you suggest taking these latter elements out of the WODs and separating them out? Basically, this would result in no 'pure strength' days in the CrossFit programming (presumably having more rest days, since you'd only have metcons), and having a completely separate schedule for the Olympic lifting/strength development that follows its own progression and rest schedule.

I have been trying to sort this out for a long time, but haven't been able to do so to my satisfaction, which is why I'm e-mailing you. Getting things to sort with CrossFit is only the first step, since I also train as a gymnast 3 times a week. I sincerely want to find a way to be really good at Olympic Lifting, gymnastics, and metabolic work capacity, as much as it is possible. Any help or advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Greg Says: First, you have to understand that all of this training needs to be integrated in some fashion—you’ll never get ideal results if you simply try to force two distinct training programs together. In other words, it needs to be a single program that covers all of the aspects you’re attempting to train.

In my opinion, a strength program should be the foundation of any CrossFit program (I’m including Olympic lifts when I say strength program). As a corollary to this, I believe crossfit.com should not be a part of anyone’s program; there is no plan, no progression, and no sense at all (see my article Plandomization for more on this).

What I would suggest is prioritizing. Decide what qualities are most important to you and literally order them. For example, if you’re a competitive gymnast and that’s your primary focus, improvement of gymnastics skills should be at the top of your list. Whatever this primary focus is, the rest of your training should be built around it. Develop a basic training plan for that primary goal, and then move down the list adding training for each element in appropriate quantity given its ranking. Initially, don’t worry about doing too much—just get it all down and see what you have. Once you have that basic plan, you’ll more than likely need to trim it down to a reasonable volume of training; again, pare it down based on priorities.

The reality is that you can’t do everything at once with the same emphasis; if you have multiple broad athletic goals, you’ll need to alternate emphases to some degree over time. This doesn’t mean you train one thing and neglect everything else; it simply means you set aside more time and energy to what you’ve determined is most important at that time.

As an example, let’s say you’re comfortable with your current gymnastics abilities and are more interested in improving your weightlifting at the moment. Consider spending 1-3 months focusing on lifting and reducing the amount of time you spend training gymnastics. You might lift 3 days/week, train gymnastics 2 days instead of your current 3 and throw in 1-3 relatively short conditioning workouts each week, likely after your gymnastics training. After this period of emphasis, you might shift to a gymnastics focus with more conditioning or whatever you then feel takes priority.

Just remember that it takes a lot less training to maintain capacity than develop it; just because you’re not training a given quality at 100%, it won’t disappear.

David Asks: How can I get more height out of my pull during snatches and cleans? A lot of the time, I feel like I can not pull the bar high enough to get under it, especially in the clean. Are snatch/clean high pulls my best bet, or do you recommend something else? Thanks!

Greg Says: I can’t think of a time I’ve ever seen a relatively new lifter unable to elevate the bar adequately with the exception of occasional errors. It’s typical for these individuals to be snatching and cleaning fractions of their basic strength numbers, and their pulling strength usually far exceeds their classic lift numbers. In other words, without seeing you lift, I would venture a guess that the actual height of the bar is not the problem.

If for some reason you genuinely are unable to elevate the bar sufficiently, then pull variations and strength improvement in general is what you need. High-pulls are not intended to get you pulling the bar higher in the snatch and clean—bar height is not achieved by pulling with the arms. They’re intended to do things like train proper bar/body proximity and strengthen the third pull. You can do high-pulls in addition to heavier pulls, but understand that you’re not trying to high-pull the bar when doing the actual lifts.

Add more pulls to your program and more variations like pulls from high blocks to emphasize the final explosion. You can also try a complex of a pull + lift, eg snatch pull + snatch to both strengthen the pull and also encourage a complete pull when actually lifting. Power snatches and cleans and work from the hang or blocks will also help you develop more force at the top of the pull and consequently more bar height.

If bar height isn’t really the problem as I suspect, I would guess the issue is more related to your change of direction after the pull and your pull under the bar not being fast enough. The height of the bar doesn’t matter if you can’t get under it in time. Hang and block lifts are great for improving this.