Let’s face it; everyone wants to be yoked! There isn’t a weightlifter on earth that doesn’t want to be strong. If so, they are in the wrong sport. Muscle Driver USA hired me about two months ago as one of their coaches, and one of my first responsibilities was writing strength routines. My first two strength programs were written for Trevor Britton and Rebecca Gerdon.

Trevor started with me strictly to get his squat strength up. Trevor is an incredible athlete. He had already snatched 150k in competition at 85k body weight, but his clean & jerk was lacking. As a rule, if your front squat is within 20k of your clean, then you need to squat a lot. You are already efficient if you can get under the weight that you are front squatting. If your technique is efficient, then get strong.

Trevor’s workout was squatting three day per week, snatch technique, clean & jerk technique, and some assistance work. He did this workout for about six weeks before the MDUSA Fall Open, and only went moderately heavy two times. During the competition, he set PRs in the Snatch, Clean & Jerk, and Total. I wasn’t expecting those results. My goal was to get him strong after the competition, and then I was going to taper off the squats for the American Open and focus on the main lifts. Now, I am rethinking my approach. Here is the workout that he did:

Weeks 1-2 Hypertrophy Time

Day 1

AM
Snatch from Blocks 70-80%/1-3 reps x 4-5 sets
P. Clean & Push Jerk 65-75%/1-3 reps x 4-5 sets

PM
Back Squat 10RM, then -5&-10% for 10
Good mornings 3×10
Planks weighted 3 sets of 1-2 minutes

Day 2

assistance work targeting weaknesses

Day 3

AM
Snatch Pull to Snatch 70-80%/1-3 reps x 4-5 sets
Clean & Jerk from low blocks 70-80%/1-3reps x 4-5 sets

PM
Front Squats 5RM with 5 sec pause, then -5&-10% for 5
GHDs 3 x 10 reps

Day 4

assistance work

Day 5

AM
Snatch from High Blocks 72-82%/1-3 reps x 4-5 sets
Clean from High Blocks 72-82%/1-3 reps x 4-5 sets

PM
Back Squat pause 3 seconds in bottom 3RM, then -5&-10% for 3
Squats weight starts on Pins from bottom position 5RM, then -10% for 5

Weeks 3-6 Time to Get Strong

Day 1

AM
Snatch from low blocks 73-83%/1-3 reps x 4-5 sets
Clean & 2 Jerks 68-78%/1-2 reps x 4-5 sets
Back Squat up to 80%/2reps x 3 sets

PM
Back Squat (first after warming up, work up to 10% more than max set for walkout holds for 15 sec) wait 90 sec then 5RM, then -5&-10% for 5
Good mornings 3×5
Planks weighted 3 sets of 1-2 minutes

Day 2

Weakness targeting assistance work

Day 3

AM
Snatch to OH Squat 70-80%/1-3 reps x 4-5 sets
Clean, Front Squat & Jerk 70-80%/1-2reps x 4-5 sets
Front Squats work up to 80%/1 rep x 2 sets

PM
Front Squats 3RM with 3 sec pause, then -5&-10% for 3 (Drop 1 sec each week)
GHDs 3 x 10 reps (continue to increase difficulty either with weight or tempo)

Day 4

Pull work and assistance

Day 5

AM
Snatch Pull to Snatch 75-85%/1-2 reps x 5-6 sets
Clean 80-90%/1-2 reps x 4-5 sets
Back Squats 75%/1 rep paused 3 seconds x 3 sets

PM
Back Squat pause 5 seconds in bottom 1RM, then -15% for 3×3 all paused (Drop a second each week) ss Box Jumps/ 3reps each set

***Use a box that is about 80% of your max height, but focus on getting maximal height on jumps, so over jump!

Squats weight starts on pins from bottom position 3RM, then -10% for 3

Rebecca Gerdon was a whole different story. She broke her wrist the week before I joined the team. Rebecca is one of my original athletes, so I was dead set on making a program that would get her back in the game quickly. Her routine was similar to Trevor’s, but we added a lot of Zercher work to mimic pulls and work the posterior chain. Here is what it looked like:

Weeks 5-8 Time to Get Strong

Day 1

AM
Back Squat up to 80%/2reps x 3 sets

PM
Back Squat (first after warming up, work up to 10% more than max set for walkout holds for 15 sec) wait 90 sec then 5RM, then -5&-10% for 5
Good mornings 3×5
Planks weighted 3 sets of 1-2 minutes

Day 2

Rear Leg Elevated BB Squats 5 reps x 3 sets
Blackburns 20 sec ea position x 3
Elbow Dips 10 reps x 3

Day 3

AM
Front Squats work up to 80%/1 rep x 2 sets

PM
Front Squats 3RM with 3 sec pause, then -5&-10% for 3 (Drop 1 sec each week)
Zercher Deadlifts with weight elevated 4 inches off ground 3RM, then -5&-10% for 3
GHDs 3 x 10 reps (continue to increase difficulty either with weight or tempo)

Day 4

Zercher Squats 3 RM, then -5&-10% for 3
BB Lunges 8 reps x 3 sets

Day 5

AM
Back Squats 75%/1rep paused 3 seconds x 3 sets

PM
Back Squat pause 5 seconds in bottom 1RM, then -15% for 3×3 all paused (Drop a second each week) ss Box Jumps/ 3reps each set

***Use a box that is about 80% of your max height, but focus on getting maximal height on jumps, so over jump!

Squats weight starts on Pins from bottom position 3RM, then -10% for 3
Zercher RDLs 3x5reps

When Rebecca was given the green light to start performing the snatch and clean & jerk again, I was very pleased with the results. The way that she is handling the weight is exactly what I expected. I wanted her to have an abundance of strength to accelerate the adaptation phase of training. After only three weeks of being released, she was clean & jerking 75k and snatching 50k. She is handling those weights as if she could hit 90k snatch and 115k clean & jerk now. Of course we will take it slow working back up to those weights, and hopefully peak her for the American Open with a better than ever result.

An abundance of strength is always a good thing as long as the strength is functional. By functional, I mean as long as the strength comes with the movement, mobility, and athleticism that is required in the sport of weightlifting. Powerlifters are strong, but their movement is way off the mark. That is why it is unwise to use their exercises to improve weightlifting. Low bar back squats, box squats, and wide stance squats are good for general fitness. However, because these movements limit the range of motion, they are terrible for weightlifters that are required to have perfect mobility.

As long as you are squatting deep, pulling with a straight back, and pressing with a vertical spine, get crazy strong! Jared Fleming made a profound statement while talking with me last week. He said that having an abundance of strength gives the athlete the extra leg strength to perform during the weeks that the endocrine system isn’t performing at 100 percent. If you barely have enough leg strength to stand a weight up after catching it, then on a bad week, training will suffer.

Here’s the deal. If you are super strong in general but weak at snatch and clean & jerk, then focus on technique, timing and positions of the snatch and clean & jerk. If you can snatch and clean & jerk close to your squat, then get strong. After an athlete has been at the sport hard for three or four years, normally they have achieved a certain level of efficiency. At that point, it is time to get yoked!

It’s not just front squat to clean ratio that a coach or athlete needs to look at, either. If someone is terrible at the jerk, there’s a problem with one of three things:

1. Technique
2. Weak legs in the drive portion, or
3. Weak overhead.

Of course it could be a combination of these, but you get the picture. I can say from experience that when I could bench over 400 pounds, I could jerk over 400 pounds any day. Now, there is a point of no return on general strength. When I could bench 500+ pounds raw, I couldn’t jerk at all.

LSU Shreveport and coach Kyle Pierce have proven over and over that general strength is super important. They have turned out some of the best lifters over the last decade; just look at Jared Fleming and Kendrick Farris. Those guys bench press, push press, standing press, and do a lot of other general exercises, and those guys put up big numbers. Kendrick’s jerk is definitely not textbook. You know what it is? Strong!!!! Rookie lifters need to spend some time under the bar getting their general strength high enough to support the weights that they will be required to lift. Then when they become top national contenders, they still need to save blocks of their training for general strength.

Anyone that follow one of my programs knows that the first eight weeks of a 12 to 16 week program will consist of a large amount of general strength exercises. I feel that I have become a well-rounded coach where it pertains to strength versus technique. Building a world champion is like sculptor chipping away at his masterpiece with a little strength here, a little technique there, and some timing work until it is perfect.