Sandusky Weightlifting is a relatively new USA Weightlifting club, officially registered in January 2009. However, the club had been in existence as branch of Team Houston for some time. The club is comprised of ten lifters, mostly school age, and we have what I believe to be a unique system of training our lifters. Instead of simply drawing from more or less the same basket of exercises from day one through most of the lifters career, where the only changes may be an increase in the number of training sessions, we continually drop exercises from our training programs as our lifters get older as well as increase the number of training sessions.

In order to understand our system, you need to know a few of the hallmarks that are consistent throughout all of our programs. First we do not used cycling, periodization or the like—it has all been thrown out. Cycling and periodization take too long and when working with American school age lifters who play other sports, the idea of 12-16 week programs with various peeks and phases of training seemed inefficient.

As a result all of our training programs (with the exception of the ‘Beginner’ program) use four weeks that we repeat over and over. We believe as a lifter becomes more experienced the idea is very simple: add more weight to the bar and lift it overhead. The four common phases of periodization are not used, and here is why we do not use them: Conditioning phase—makes little sense because if you practice the snatch and jerk everyday you will be in condition for a contest. I was never quite sure what kind of contest ten rep squats were preparing me for. Strength phase—if I snatch and clean and jerk more but my press does not increase did I get weaker? Power phase—see strength phase. Competition phase—the name of the game is being able to lift in a contest in a strange location, perhaps on a stage, in front of people, the only way to be sure you will perform your best is by having the contest lifts be as automatic as walking and talking.

Second, all the programs are used for a specific amount of time; we have drawn a line in the sand for when a lifter should progress onto the next program. The ‘Beginner’ program is used for the first year/season of lifting; the 13 & Under training is used for two years; the 14-15 is used for the two years they are competing in this division; and 16-17 training is used again for the two years they are competing in that division as well. I say year/season because in Sandusky, from the time they finish wrestling season in the first week of March, through the Ohio Weightlifting Championships sometime in July, we call it Weightlifting Season. I hold as many local contests as I can and we travel to as many as we can—usually about seven or eight in the 16 weeks of training we have. I began this after reading a quote by Ivan Abadjiev where he said something to the effect that one contest was worth two weeks of training due to the added stresses even though the loading in a contest is much lower. After starting Weightlifting Season, I can personally attest to the incredible progress that can be made by frequent contests. However, this only works if you push your lifters to maximum in each contest and do not have a “heavy workout” type contest.

Third, we do not use any kind of so-called squat program. We focus on snatches and clean and jerks and then we finish off with some squatting at the end. On some occasions, we even pass on the squats altogether if a lifter makes a big snatch or jerk in training. None of our guys are lacking in leg strength. The conventional thinking seems to be the squat is an assistance exercise for the snatch and clean and jerk but we view the snatch and clean and jerk as assistance exercises for the squat.

Fourth, we do not use any “strength” movements in our training. You will not find any shrugs, presses, push presses, muscle snatches, complexes, deadlifts, etc. Pulls and the power versions do not make their appearance until the second year of training and even then are treated as an afterthought. The focus is not on lifting the bar up as much as learning to lift the bar as low as possible and becoming efficient with the jump under.

The Beginner program is the first in the series and will be the primary focus here. This is what we use from day one through the first year/season of training. As can be seen, it works on a three-week rotation starting with more reps and working down to lower reps. The objective of the training program is to teach the competition lifts in a manageable way and also to give plenty of practice time on the full lifts. When we teach the lifts we teach them without the so-called “shrug”. It is our belief that the shrug is a reaction much like the so-called double knee bend—it appears to be an active motion but it is not: it happens as a result of the traps being stretched during the pull and then the elbows turning over as the lifter goes under the bar. This causes a shrugging motion to appear. Therefore, the areas we stress most are jumping down in the snatch/clean and pushing under the bar in the jerk. The following exercises are used to teach these skills.

Most everyone knows how to do front squats and overhead squats so I will not go into how or why we do them—it seems quite obvious. However, I will say one thing about front squats—we only do front squats during the first two programs; back squats are not introduced until the third program. This was something we started a long time ago and we stuck with it with no negative results.

The dead hang snatches/cleans are used to teach meeting the bar and jumping down. Jumping down is the most critical part of both snatch and cleaned and needs to be drilled extensively. We teach them to brush the bar with their hips and then jump down, which should hopefully prevent overextension or pulling on the barbell too long.

The snatches/cleans above the knee can either be done from the hang or from blocks. We mostly do them from the hang position and stress pushing the chest up, shoulders directly over the bar and keeping the bar close. The barbell moves up the legs and brushes the thighs and then the lifter jumps under the bar.

Snatches/cleans from below the knee are again done using the hang position. In this position we want the shoulders slightly forward of the bar with the chest pushed out. The feet push down through the floor to get the barbell past the knees and then they finish the same way as in the hang above the knee.

When we teach the full snatch/clean we have them simply walk up to bar and where their feet land becomes the same position they start from as this is where they are most comfortable. We have them all start with their shoulders directly over the bar, chest up, and arms straight. We tell them from this position to simply push their feet down hard through the platform as hard as they can while keeping their chest up and they move through the lift. It may look rough but eventually it pans itself out and they begin to figure out the best way to move their bodies through the lift and under the bar. We currently have ten lifters and all were taught the same way and they all start ten different ways as they figured out how to lift their own way.

The push jerk/jerk is taught holding the bar on the chest with the hands next to the shoulders with the elbows held in the position they are when the hands are on the bar. In other words, if the elbows are up when holding the bar that’s where they jerk from, if they are down then they are down. Comfort is key so that the lifter can relax and be comfortable and push under the bar. The dip for the jerk is performed by letting the barbell push the athlete down—this way the bar and lifter stay together. They drive up and then push themselves under the bar by either splitting the legs or squatting under the bar slightly. We use the push jerk because it helps teach driving the bar straight and pushing down under the bar.

This program works well at accomplishing its primary goal – to teach the lifts and prepare the lifter for the following programs. It establishes a good base in terms of technique, conditioning, strength, and education. It is important to remember that this program is used for beginner lifters and they need to practice, practice, practice. The weight will continue to be added to the bar as they become more and more efficient with their lifting skills and they begin to gain the confidence to try heavier weights.

(To see program, download PDF)