Installment 3c

Shaun, This material is a little bit harder to convey because it largely consists of guidelines I have established for myself through study and trial and error. If, after reading this, things still seem a bitv ague seeing it applied in the 8 week program I will be sending to you will hopefully clear things up a bit. By the way, could you send me your mailing address?

The number of workouts per week and the number of lifts in each session have been established in our last communication via the Laputin material. It is also important that the high intensity lifts (snatches,cleans,and jerks with over 70% and squats with 100% and more)be concentrated in 1 or 2 sessions (depending on the total weeklyvolume). This is necessary because you want your nervous system to rest on the other days.

I will now discuss the exercises I selected from Medvedev'slong list. They basically fall into 2 categories: 1)The "other sn andother cl" exercises and 2) combination exercises. The ones from the 1st category were chosen because they have been shown to be the most effective for developing explosive strength. "

Other snatch exercises
1)power sn (floor)
2)power sn off blocks
3)squat sn off blocks
4)pow sn from hang
5)squat sn from hang

Other clean exercises
1)pow cl (floor)
2)pow cl off blocks
3) squat cl off blocks
4) pow cl from hang
5) squat cl from hang

Note: other jerks are limited to just push jerks because there are so few of them.

HOW you perform each exercise AND the weights that you use are critical.

Power sn and pow cl from the floor involve 70% weights for 4-6 sets of 2 reps and 80% weights for 3-5 singles. In low volume weeks you will probably stick with just the 70% weights.

In a high volume week you will need to do some of both but do ONE set of 2 reps with 70% , go to the 80% lifts and then drop back down to do the remaining sets at70%. Otherwise, you wear yourself out before you even get to the 80% weights.

In snatches and cleans off the blocks the weight must be set at a very precise starting level. You need to overcome the bar's inertia byusing the leg extensors not the flexors. So begin just below the border level of the amortization phase of each lift (just below the knee in the sn as amortization phase begins just above the knee and a bit lower in the clean since the amort. phase starts just below the knee). In the lift from the floor the initial pull takes about .50s ;off the blocks it reduces to .15 in the sn and .12s in the cl. Intensity levels for the pow sn and the pow cl off blocks are the same as noted above forthe same ex. done from the floor. SQUAT sn and squat cl off blocks are done 80% for 3-5 sets of 2 reps and 90% 1-2 sets of singles. Snatches (pow and squat) and cleans (power and squat) from the hang are done by lowering the bar from a standing start into the power position (i.e. lower to mid-thigh in sn and to lower 1/3 of thigh in cland keep the MPJ and the shoulders in the same vertical plane as the bar). The lowering produces a pre-stretch in the muscle so make th eswitch from the lowering to raising as fast as possible. Here, in BOTH power and squat styles for the sn use 50-65% of max for 3-5 sets of 3-5reps . In the cl(pow and sq) use 50-60% of max for 3-5 sets of 3-5reps.

The pow sn and pow cl from the hang are done in the prep cycle, the squat sn and sq cl from hang in the comp cycle. I usually perform pow cl and pow sn from the floor in one prep cycle and then the next prep cycle switch to psn and pow cl off blocks. In the comp stage I do BOTH pow cl and pow sn off floor and squat sn and sq cl off blocks. The combination ex. are as follows:
1)sn(pow or sq)+overhead sq (OS) (4-5 total reps per set)
2)sn(pow or sq)+behind neck press with sn grip (BNP) (4-5 total repsper set)
3)sn(pow or sq)+BNP+OS (6-8 total reps per set)
4)cl(pow or sq)+fr squat (3-4 total reps per set)
5)fr squat+jerk(reg or pushjerk) (3-4 total reps per set)
6)cl(pow or sq)+fr sq+jerk(reg or pushjerk) (5 reps per set)

The combination ex. should ALWAYS be done with low intensity weights. They can either form an easy session in its entirety or be used to supplement a high volume, high intensity session (100 pluslifts).

Recall that other squats (i.e. overhead squats for low classlifter, qualified add lunges) are done with 35-55% of max c+j (this is equivalent to 45-70% of max sn). Presses consist of behind neck pr withsn grip (70% of total volume,intensity 35-55% of max c+j) and benchpress with cl grip (30% of total volume, intensity 50-70% of max c+j). About 30% of total squats should be front sq usually in the 80-89% and 90-99% of max c+j range and for low (2-3) reps.

Next,I suppose, comes which exercises to combine together in a workout within the frame of the weekly cycle. As a rule, perform high intensity classic sn in the workout preceding the high int. c+j one. Do the high int.c+j and high int. squat in the same workout. Do NOT perform these 2 exercises back to back (insert a pressing ex. inbetween to permit recovery). I combine "other cleans with high int.classic sn and "other" sn with high int. c+j and squats. These are the workouts where the high int. work is concentrated. Other sessions comprise mostly low intensity work. As i said earlier, combination ex.can form an entire session. The hardest individual day to plan is the high volume (100+ lifts),high int. day. I approach it in the following manner:begin with the "other" sn done with moderate (70%) weights, proceed to the high int. cl or c+j ,then catch your breath with somepresses. Move to high int. squats but do only a few warmups in preparation for the heavier ones.At this point fill out the remainder of the session with combination ex. or other low int. work and finish with a second series of (lighter) squats.

Planning the proper execution of sub-max to max classical lifts(90% and more) in the comp cycle and the 100% plus squats in both theprep and comp cycles is extremely important.The classic lift plans are described in Roman on p.125 and more fully on pp.140-141.(Do not follow this exact plan but rather recognize the general pattern). With regard to squatting I can best explain with an example because this is where most people really screw up.

Ex: In your case,for a 102.5kg max c+j the squat range of 105-120%is 107.5-122.5kg. These weights are distributed as follows: in the 2high volume prep weeks use 107.5kg;in the 2 low volume prep weeks use112.5kg;. In comp week 1 use 117.5 kg ;comp week 2 use 122.5kg; compweek 3 use 107.5kg and in comp week 4 use 102.5kg. (Note: normally your comp month weights wiil be higher than i have indicated because yourbase lifts will increase every 4 weeks but the original program I am preparing for you is 8 weeks at the same level of intensity. But the procedure is the same; calculate the 105-120% range and distribute as shown in the example. Well, I may have left out 1 or 2 very minor items but I hope you get the overall picture.As I said re-reading this after you get the 8 week program will help clear it up some I hope.

We have really covered alot of ground. It has been an interesting experience for me as this is the 1st time I have had to somewhat carefully relate all of this via the written word to someone I don't know. If you come to appreciate the system as I have I hope you will spread the word among your lifting bretheren.

Sincerely,
Jim