Skills & Strength: Our Secret to Long Term Weightlifting Progress
I’ve written multiple articles about the 5-Day Olympic Weightlifting Training Split I use in my 5-Day OlyStrong Team, but one of the more unique aspects of the split are the two “Skills & Strength” focused-days each week. In my opinion this is one of the most effective components of the program, and I attribute it to why our athletes continue to set PR’s every cycle! If you’re not familiar, here’s an outline of the split, but you can read about it more in-depth here.
The Split
Monday
Monday is our highest volume olympic lifting day. You’ll usually do 5-15 reps from 70-85%, either using one of my On-The-Minute Progressions, or traditional doubles or triples. You’ll then finish the session with some heavy snatch pulls and accessory bodybuilding for the core, back and hamstrings.
Tuesday
Tuesday is one of our two Skills & Strength days. You’ll do one drill or variation of any olympic lift for 3-5 sets of light technique work, then move into the bulk of the workout focused on back squats and push presses, as well as some accessory bodybuilding work for the core, quads, and shoulders.
Wednesday
Wednesday is a bit of a recovery day, we’re usually going to do some light to moderate power snatch and power cleans, or some variation of this in a complex for 3-5 sets of 1-2 reps, between 75-85%. You’l then do more accessory bodybuilding work for the core, back, and hamstrings.
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday
Friday is our heaviest olympic lifting day, otherwise known as big friday! We’ll work up to a heavy single, double, or triple, or variation of the snatch and clean and jerk, and finnish with some heavy clean pulls. This workout has no accessory work.
Saturday
Saturday is our second Skills & Strength focused day. Just like our first one, you’ll do one drill or variation of an olympic lift followed by front squats and strict presses, and finish up with accessory bodybuilding work for the core, quads, and shoulders!
Problems With The Old Approach
Now that you understand the training split, let’s dive a little deeper into how the split has evolved over time. When this training split was originally designed by my coach Glenn Pendlay, there were no olympic lifts, and the workout had back squats, push presses, and finally snatch or clean pulls on the two strength-focused days. The first day would be more volume-focused, typically following a 5x5 rep scheme. The second day would use the same exercises, but instead be more intensity-focused, working up to a 5RM for each exercise.
The problem with this approach that I found over years of applying it to different populations is that it meant we were only doing olympic lifts three days per week, so lifters who require more frequency, or those who can’t tolerate high intensity and need higher volume won’t make as much progress.
Another issue I found was that by the time a lifter made it through the back squats and push presses, they were completely spent and either skipped the pulls or gave piss poor effort on them, and didn’t really get much out of it because of that. Along with that, it was tough to get lifters to be excited about coming to the gym to just do squats and presses when olympic lifting is what drew them into training.
Finally, I wasn’t a big fan of the 5x5/5RM approach as it seemed to stop working for most people after about 12 weeks, and didn’t push the front squat or strict press enough, which are huge weaknesses for many lifters.
The Solution
With the main problems being:
Lack of frequency of olympic lifts
Inability to push the pulls for them to be effective
Inflexible approach to rep scheme for squats and presses
Lack of front squats or strict presses
The solution was actually surprisingly simple. First, remove the pulls from the strength days and place them at the end of the workout on the high volume olympic lifting day and the heavy olympic lifting day. This allowed people to be less “strength-fatigued” when performing them and really strengthened our lifters pull. Problem #2 solved.
Without the pulls, there was room for another lift on the two strength days, however these couldn’t be too fatiguing as we need to be able to push the intensity of the squats and presses, and there were already two pretty demanding olympic lifting days. This is when I decided to fill this spot with a skills focused lift, using a variation or drill that is inherently lighter, but can still improve your olympic lifts. This also functions as a way to create novelty in training, which can be a great tool to drive progress AND prevent lifters from getting bored in their training. Some examples of variations I use are Tall Jerks, Tempo Cleans, and No-Hook No-Feet No-Contact Snatches. Problem # 1 Solved.
The next step was to swap some of the exercises around to prioritize front squats and strict presses. To do this, I changed the heavy strength day to focus on these two exercises, but needed to include some sort of heavy squat and press for both days, which led me to develop what became the 12-Week Squat Program. Each strength day would include both a heavy top set of 3, 2, or 1, followed by drop sets of 10, 6, and 4. This new Top-Set Drop-Set method helped lifters progress for longer periods of time, build more muscle, and staved off the monotony of the same rep scheme every week. It also created more clear phases of training allowing lifters to more consistently predict and make PR’s in all of their lifts. Problem #3 and #4 Solved.
If you’re looking for a weightlifting program designed to help you set PR’s, get strong, and improve your technique, then feel free to try this training split, or check out a free week of my 5-Day OlyStrong weightlifting program! You’ll get access to proven programming, daily video review, and a community of supportive lifters, all for less than $1/day! Click the link below to get started!