A new routine - Comments / suggestions please

[ADER]

I am just coming to the end of a mesocycle based on a Bulgarian Olympic routine. Was hoping to go in a competition at the end of November but can’t make it so instead of a 4 week taper I want to do a strength build up toward Christmas.

I am considering changing to a routine that is a more of a mix of Oly lifting and powerlifting than my previous routine.

The Bulgarian Oly routine I followed was good and I have made some good improvement so to some extent I want to stick to the MTR principle. But each session is quite time consuming because the Oly lift sets just seem to take ages – What with taking a rest between sets and psyching yourself up for each lift – Doing snatches and C&J’s up to big percentages back to back takes ages and is also very tiring.

So on the Oly side I am thinking of splitting the snatches and C&J’s up so instead of doing each 4 times a week, I only do each 2 times a week – But stick with the MTR idea/approach.

On the powerlifting side I am thinking along the lines of the Westside approach i.e. an ME day and DE day with days 1 & 3 = squat/deadlift & days 2 & 4 = bench/upper.

To get in the Oly lifts I was thinking of doing the C&J’s on a different day from the squat/deadlift day so as not too much leg strength work all on one day – But if I go for that approach I do heavy legs 4 times a week – OK am doing that at the moment, but part of the reason for the plan was to maximise rest days between legs and upper workouts – So on balance I think I should do C&J’s on squat/deadlift day.

So since my training days need to be Monday, Tuesday Thursday and Saturday, I am thinking of something like:

Monday – C&J and DE squat/deadlift
- Power cleans & power jerks – 80% for reps or 2s or 3s
- DE squats – with/without bands
- Box or pin squats
- ¼ jerks if time or substitute for box squats
- DE deadlifts – with/without bands
- DE deadlift assistance??? – Front squat or oly squat or good mornings or D/L off blocks???
- Clean & snatch pulls if time 3 or 4 sets of 3 at max + 10Kg (0r substitute for one of above)

Tuesday – Snatch & DE Bench
- Snatch – 80% for reps
- Bench – with/without bands
- Triceps – CG bench or triceps extension
- Lats – Yates or pendlay rows (no pull up bar or pull down facility)
- Rear delt rows or hammer curls or both – depending on time

Thursday – C&J and ME squat/deadlift
- C&J using Bulgarian MTR matrix
- ME Squat – with/without bands
- Heavy box or pin squats?
- ME deadlifts
- ME deadlift assistance - as Monday

Saturday – Snatch & ME bench
- Snatch using Bulgarian MTR matrix
- ME bench –without bands
- ME bench –with bands or off boards
- Triceps – CG bench / triceps extensions
- Lats – Yates or pendlay rows
- Shoulder Press

On DE days I am thinking:
- Week 1 12 x 3 at 40%
- Week 2 8 x 3 at 50%
- Week 3 6 x 2 at 60%
- repeat

On the MTR (maximum training resistance on the day) matrix I am thinking of a 6 week cycle so I get in 2 cycles of the DE’s above - so going A-B-B-C-C-A where:

"A" Week: Predicted MTR -20kilos for 2 reps, Pred. MTR -10 kilos for a single, MTR for 3-4 singles.

"B" Week: Perform A week progression, followed by MTR -10 kilos for a double, MTR -5 kilos for a single, and then MTR +5 kilos for 2-4 singles.

"C" Week: Entire B week progression performed, followed by a double with MTR -20 kilos, another double with MTR -10 kilos, and finally 3-4 more singles with MTR plus 5 or 7.5 kilos.

I know this is a bit mad but I reckon these sessions will be quicker than what I’m doing at the moment so less time consuming.

For ME days I have it in mind I shouldl be working up to 90% plus for a single and perhaps even to failure - Is this the right approach or too hard on the CNS?

Any comments suggestions???

[Curt]

looks excellent mate

do DE effort stuff first though.....always first ok

[ADER]

Quote

do DE effort stuff first though.....always first ok

What do you mean by do DE first?

[Curt]

dynamic effort- asin the speed work....

always first in the routine never after anything else...

p.s you wrote DE in ur workout....unless you wrote it not knowing what it means?

[ADER]

Quote

dynamic effort- asin the speed work....

always first in the routine never after anything else...

p.s you wrote DE in ur workout....unless you wrote it not knowing what it means?

Ok - That was the intention - But will need to do them after the Oly lifts I think, or the Oly lifts'll go wrong - Difficult choice but I reckon I'll have to do it in that order - I'll think of the Oly lifts as a warm up before the main DE event!

[Richard]

I would definately do the oly lifts first mate

[Gareth83]

I'd personally stick to a tried and tested plan rather than try creating your own. Especially one that seems so complicated.

Just do a westside routine or stick to olympics again

There's tonnes of proven programmes out there

[Richard]

Do you need to do all that DE stuff if your also doing the olympic lifts?

[John H]

Monday – C&J and DE squat/deadlift
- Power cleans & power jerks – 80% for reps
- DE squats – with/without bands
- Front squats/Olympic squat 3 – 5reps upto 5 sets
- DE deadlifts – with or without bands
- Clean & snatch pulls if time 3 or 4 sets of 3 at max + 10Kg

Tuesday – Snatch & DE Bench
- Snatch – 80% for reps
- Bench – with/without bands
- Light chest – upto you
- Lats – Pendlay rows
- Hammer curls

Thursday – C&J and ME squat/deadlift
- C&J using Bulgarian MTR matrix
- ME Squat (Powerlifting style) work upto doubles
- ME deadlifts work upto triples
- Good mornings

Saturday – Snatch & ME bench
- Snatch using Bulgarian MTR matrix
- ME bench –without bands/with bands/using boards (swap now and then) work upto two maximum singles
- Triceps – Close grip bench
- Lats – Yates rows
- Spilt Jerks

DE days: 8 -12 sets performing doubles in quick succession


I thought this would be a bit better just a suggestion, I may be way off thou

Trying to mix Olympic and powerlifting is a hard ask

[ADER]

Quote

Do you need to do all that DE stuff if your also doing the olympic lifts?

Good question - In my mind I had the idea of doing DE work that complimented the 3 powerlifts.

What I suspect will happen is that initially I'll do light Oly lifts concentrating on technique and do DE work - then later I'll migrate to bigger Oly lifts and cut back on the DE work. A bit of tril and error.

Since the main thrust is to build strength up until Christmas rather than go for some big Oly lifts, I suspect Oly's will stay light and technique orientated until then - But I may instead substiutute in Oly assistance from time to time in place of the classic DE assistance exercise - e.g snatches/cleans from hang. Perhaps cycle back and forth every 3 weeks between P/L assistance and Oly assitance - Every 3 weeks to fit in with the 3 week DE cycle and the 6 week Oly cycle.

If nothing else it will be an interesting experiment.

In the New Year I'll aim to do an Oly competitions say March/April and so will revert back to something more Oly orientated - probably the Bulgarian concept again - So maybe two 5 or 6 week cycles and a taper, depending on timing of competition.

After that I'll be going much more P/L orientated for the P/L showdown with my babybro late next year - Unless I do particularly well in the Oly's and get to go to some of the international Master's events - I suspect a 250 total would get me there - But that is probably a bit optimistic for 2008 TBH - But maybe 2009 is possible.