If you’ve been reading Performance Menu for a while, you know that I love to include a lot of film and literature references in the articles I write. I’m a big reader and a movie lover, so famous quotes and one-liners always seem to poke through my thoughts. That’s why this article is going to start with probably the greatest quote in movie history that can be applied to weightlifting. It’s from the Paul Newman/Tom Cruise classic The Color of Money. In this one, Cruise plays a young hot-shot pool player named Vincent with tons of talent, testosterone, and attitude. Newman is Fast Eddie Felson, the cagey old pool veteran who tries to act as a coach to Vincent, struggling to tame his wild behavior throughout the story. At one point in the movie, after Vincent’s crazy antics have blown a big payday for them, Eddie pulls him into the car for a come-to-Jesus conversation. Eddie tells Vincent, “Kid, you’ve gotta have two things to win. You’ve gotta have brains and you’ve gotta have balls. You’ve got too much of one and not enough of the other.”

The thing that makes that such a perfect weightlifting quote is that it applies to so many athletes who want to train the one-hundred percent, push to the absolute maximum, go-as-heavy-as-you-can-every-single-day style. We’ve discussed proper training volume in previous articles, along with the challenges of regulating appropriate loading to find the perfect blend of intensity and recovery time. It’s all been talked about before. But since this issue is probably the single most important topic in the sport (and weight training in general), it’s important to revisit it and also add some more ideas. What we’re going to look at in this article is the use of “technique work” in training. When we use the phrase “technique work” in this article, we’re simply going to be referring to performing several sets and reps in the snatch and clean and jerk with very light weights. For example, if we have an athlete who can snatch 110 kilos, technique work would consist of this lifter working up to six or seven doubles (or more) with 70-75 kilos. These weights are only around 65-70% of the athlete’s best snatch and they aren’t going to strenuously test strength levels. But the idea is that the athlete is using these light attempts to focus completely on speed, precise technique, and accurate positions. Even though the weights aren’t heavy, the desired result is that the athlete’s motor patterns are going to be perfected and “muscle memory” is going to improve.

Does this stuff help? If you can snatch 110 kilos, are you gaining anything by snatching set after set with 70 kilos? Or are you wasting your time when you should be doing a quick warm-up set with 70 kilos before you build up to something closer to 105-110 on a daily basis and attacking it? Let me throw out a few comments on this. If anybody disagrees with any of these comments, that’s fine. Unlike a lot of other American weightlifting coaches, I don’t think I’m the only one with the answers.

Our overseas Yodas…

Since America has been struggling to compete successfully at the international level for the last thirty years, most athletes and coaches in the US have looked to the championship weightlifting countries of Europe and Asia to learn their training methodology. This is understandable because if you want to learn how to do something well, it helps to find out how it’s being done by the best in the world. Makes sense, right? And throughout the eighties and much of the nineties, probably the most idolized and emulated program for the US weightlifting community was the Bulgarian system.

Ivan Abadjiev developed a weightlifting system in this tiny European country, and then the world watched while this system set the sport of weightlifting on fire. The Bulgarian weightlifting program rocked the universe off its axis by grinding out world champions like link sausages and pushing the world records up into the stratosphere. In the old 75 kilo bodyweight class (165 pounds), Alexander Varbanov clean and jerked 215.5 kilos (474 pounds). I want you to stop and think for a second about seeing a 165 pound man clean and jerk 474 pounds. Because of how phenomenal and mind-numbing the Bulgarians’ success was, Americans were scrambling to learn as much as they could about how these champions trained. Randall Strossen traveled to Bulgaria several times, recorded hours of training footage at their national weightlifting centers, and sold the videos to the American weightlifting community. Other information about the Bulgarian method was distributed through lectures and seminars by Abadjiev himself and other Bulgarian veterans. This is where everybody learned about how the Bulgarians trained several times per day and pushed themselves close to maximum weights in every workout (at least that’s what it looked like at the time). American lifters and coaches were jabbering about the idea that Bulgarian athletes supposedly maxed out in the snatch, clean and jerk, and squat several times a week. They worked hard, they worked fast, they warmed up quickly, and they took lots of attempts at near-world record weights in the gym every day. The workload didn’t seem bearable by human standards, and the last twenty years have seen multiple attempts to duplicate or modify this system in a way that will make American athletes successful. The basic idea has usually remained in pushing athletes as close as possible to their maximum capabilities on a weekly (or daily) basis.

Now, the years have passed by and the Bulgarian program has basically collapsed, so there is a new flavor of the month out there. Yes, we’re talking about China. China’s rise to the top of the weightlifting world has been a lot like Bulgaria twenty years ago. Their program is now the superhuman barbell machine of the planet. And once again, athletes and coaches are working overtime to find out what makes them so successful. This is where we find some interesting details because, just like Bulgaria in the old days, a great deal of video and training information about the Chinese has been circulated throughout the lifting world. And one thing that is clear is that the Chinese spend a great deal of training time doing “technique work.” When you watch Chinese lifters train, it is not uncommon to see lots and lots of sets with relatively light weights. For example, you might see a workout where a world champion in one of the light weight classes who can snatch 145 kilos spends most of his training time snatching 100-110 kilos for multiple singles. It’s very different from the old Bulgarian method where a 145 kilo snatcher would often warm up quickly and then take six or seven attempts at 140-150 in a workout.

This obviously does not imply that the Chinese don’t attempt maximum weights in training. Their stunning championship results clearly show us that they are comfortable handling record-breaking poundages. But it has also become clear that technique work is a big part of their scheme. They spend a lot of time practicing with light weights.

Goodies and Baddies…

One of the benefits of practicing with light weights in training: As an athlete, there are some hidden joys in technique work. First of all, there is simply less stress and reduced pounding on the joints when working with light weights. If a 165 kilo clean and jerker has a workout where the top weights are six singles with 130, the body’s overall physiology isn’t going to be taxed as severely as those workouts where the same athlete is planning to attempt 95-100%. Another benefit that I think is even bigger than the physical demand is the mental/emotional benefit of technique work. Pushing for maximum weights in training puts a massive strain on the athlete’s mind. When you know that you’re going to be attempting a new personal record in training on a particular day, you usually spend all day thinking about it and getting ready for it. You try to conserve your energy and make sure you don’t allow anything in your day that might screw up your workout. This is exciting, and most athletes look forward to the challenge of big weights. But if you put this type of mental stress on an athlete on a daily basis, it gets pretty rough after a while.

Also, technical breakdowns are always possible when the athlete constantly practices with maximum weights. When a lifter’s technique isn’t consistent or completely developed, the lifter will often resort to some improper movements (like jumping forward) in an effort to complete their heavy lifts. When personal records are on the bar, the athlete will twist, squirm, and tweak anything to get the lift done. If the athletes spend enough time twisting, squirming, and tweaking, those movements become a permanent part of their technique. Then you’ve got major problems, jack.

Don’t get me wrong…athletes have to be pushed to be successful. Nobody ever became a champion by being coddled. There are times in a training cycle when this type of daily mental hammering simply has to happen, and the athlete has to fight through the mental fatigue and find a way to get the job done. Any athlete who has trained and competed at a high level understands this. The path to the top of the mountain will have a lot of jagged rocks on it. But when technique work is implemented into an athlete’s regimen, it can have long-reaching benefits. Here’s a simple way of looking at it; if an athlete has a workout where he/she knows that 75% is going to be the top weight of the day, the athlete is free to focus 100% on technical perfection. There is no threat of failure, and there is no nervousness of a personal record hanging out there to be conquered. The pressure is basically off. The only thing the athlete can think about is making every rep as perfect and snappy as possible. This is when a tremendous amount of technical refinement can take place, and it’s obvious from the technique of the Chinese that they have utilized this concept in their preparation.

One of the difficulties of practicing with light weights in training: Obviously, full-time practice with light weights isn’t going to make an athlete better. Nobody ever went from a 120 snatch to a 150 snatch by training with 100 every single day. We all know this, and here is where we hit a snag.

Athletes are usually highly motivated and aggressive. When hungry weightlifters come to the gym, they want to lift big weights. This is where technique work can get dicey because the athlete has to trust the coach that there is a benefit to staying light. In America, people are raised to think independently and exercise their own judgment if they don’t think their leadership is sound. I think that’s why places like China have such optimal situations for weightlifting. In a communist society like theirs, the coaches have total control over the program. I don’t imagine there are too many situations in a Chinese training hall where an athlete says, “Coach told me to work on technique with light weights today, but I’m not going to. I’m gonna do what I want.” Much more likely is an environment where coaches dictate every move of every athlete, and the lifters follow orders. This is the situation that has to take place when a coach holds an athlete back from tearing into maximum attempts whenever they feel like it. The athlete has to be willing to obey.

So, when are you supposed to go light? Heavy?

Let’s make this a simple list. The following situations are times when technique work is crucial:

- Early in the learning process: When athletes are beginning the learning progression of the lifts, there is rarely a time when heavy weights should be loaded on the bar. If athletes learn the basics of the lifts and practice for a few sessions before the coach takes them to maximum attempts, technical breakdown is almost guaranteed. There is no biblical time period for when athletes are ready to attempt max lifts… three weeks, six weeks, nine weeks, etc. The coach has to use judgment and have a level of expertise in gauging when the lifters are ready to step forward. But in the earliest days of teaching, it is certain that technique work should dominate the schedule.

- After a competition: Once an athlete has completed a contest, it will most likely be at least eight to ten weeks before the next one. In the days following the competition, there is rarely a need to attempt max weights again. Now, it’s a neat trick when the athlete can pull this off. In a personal story, I remember the competition when I snatched 150 kilos for the first time. After the meet, I snatched the same 150 eight days later in the gym. Why did I do it again? Because I was training in a different gym from my normal place and I wanted to show off for everybody. Hey, what can I say? I think most good athletes like to show off for others, but there are plenty of chances for mistakes and accidents once you start running on ego. Do yourself a favor; go to technique work after a meet.

- Periodically planned de-loading phases: When setting up a training cycle, coaches should actually plan out certain time periods when the athlete will be practicing technique work instead of going after max attempts. This is the same idea as the de-loading week from Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 plan. Although Wendler is speaking specifically of lifts where the technical element is not as detailed as the Olympic Lifts (squat, bench press, deadlift, military press), the idea is still the same. There have to be sub-maximal time periods programmed into the lifter’s preparation. In weightlifting, this could even be tinkered with a little more. Perhaps you could plan a situation where an athlete has two snatch workouts each week, one a max-attempt workout and the other one devoted to technique work. Or put more simply, a heavy day and a light day. The principle is that on the light day, the athlete is given an opportunity to sharpen their speed and positions.

Do yourself a favor and have some faith that backing the weights off and working on technique with lighter poundages is a productive thing. If you don’t want to agree with me and you insist on just maxing out every single day to infinity and beyond, that’s fine. I’ll send some nice flowers to your hospital bed. Or you could borrow some ideas from the Chinese (i.e. the greatest lifters in the world), Fast Eddie Felson, and your old pal Mang Foremong. Take some plates off sometimes and turn yourself into a consistent, fast, efficient lifting machine. And when the time comes to go after new records, you’ll be much better prepared… mentally and physically. “Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string.”