Topic: The System, The Bulgarians, Some Raw Powerlifting

[Gary Gibson]

Sorry if this comes across as a "Here's My Training Plan, How Does It Look Post?", but I am new to programming for weightlifting.

I jumped in with both feet and quickly worked up to training every day because I figured I could use the practice. Of course things fell apart quickly after I started using weights instead of a broomstick. Now I've swung away from daily training and am implementing The System as described by David Woodhouse.  I like the simplicity and it seems my mid-30's body really likes only having to squat twice per week.

I've trained and competed as a raw powerlifter for the past couple of years with some very modest success. But I tended toward very high frequency and volume and that was starting to catch up with me. When I jumped into weightlifting last month, I naturally tried daily training. I figured I could use the practice, but once the weights got heavier than a broomstick, I started falling apart after about ten days.

Good thing I found David Woodhouse's writings. Now I know that it's possible to make progress on a more forgiving schedule. I've trained under a handful of coaches in different locations and everyone agrees my technique is usually spot on. I just need to get faster and more aggressive, particularly in the third pull. My high bar back squat is a bit too far ahead of my front squat which is way ahead of my classical lifts; I think my efficiency needs to increase more than my strength for the time being.

Best back squat was recently 164 kg, but 150 was what I could hit most days. Right now it's down around 130 which is why I'm taking a rest week. Front squat was 120 (though I think I've done 125 FS a few months ago when my low bar was at its strongest at over 400 lbs with a belt) even when my BS was weaker. Took my snatch up from 55 to 71 this first month and my clean from 70 to 87. Obviously lots of room left for improvement in efficiency without having to worry about upping squat strength.

So starting next week I'll be doing this:

M) Snatch, Back or Front Squat
W) Press or Push Press, Weighted Chin Up
F) Clean/Jerk, Back or Front Squat

I still want to compete in raw powerlifting too, so the weeks before a PL meet I'd replace back and front squat with low bar squat and sumo deadlift, and replace press/push press and chin with bench and horizontal rows. I'd still keep snatching and cleaning because I don't want the skill to degrade, but I'd have to experiment with intensity so I could peak properly for the PL meet. In fact, I'll be doing this starting next week for a USAPL meet in Maryland in November.

Thanks for reading. This site is great and I've already learned plenty by reading the past few years of posts.

FYI: I'm a lanky, long-armed 180 lbs.

[Matt Erdman]

You might as well stick with benching on Wed year round. I doubt overhead pressing will be of any more value to your weightlifting, but the time off from benching will definitely make you suffer in PL.

If you want to stick with the Woodhouse system as written, that's cool. But since you are still somewhat of a beginner some light CJ on the heavy snatch day and light snatches on heavy CJ day would be beneficial.

[Gary Gibson]

You might as well stick with benching on Wed year round. I doubt overhead pressing will be of any more value to your weightlifting, but the time off from benching will definitely make you suffer in PL.

Truth be told, I hate benching, mostly because I suck at it. The same levers that make my deadlift easier make the bench and unrewarding chore for me. I think the standing press is cooler, but I also understand that increasing bench strength helps drive gains in the standing press. Bench will probably remain as assistance in some fashion all year. And really, I don't mind sucking at the bench even in PL meets. I just really enjoy squatting and deadlifting under meet conditions.

If you want to stick with the Woodhouse system as written, that's cool. But since you are still somewhat of a beginner some light CJ on the heavy snatch day and light snatches on heavy CJ day would be beneficial.

Thanks for the advice. I try to do just that, but my conditioning is still a problem. It is very hard even to do light cleans after I give it my all on the snatch for a bunch of attempts. As Dave warns, the quality of the squats then suffers a bit, too. Not such a problem for light snatches before heavy cleans. In fact, I like to do very light snatches and overhead squats as a warm up for just about every session.  In fact I was just now doing broomstick snatches+OHS as skill maintenance/mobility work.

That reminds me...Dave recommends doing broomstick work daily. This amounts to daily training, only the loads are feather light most days with one day devoted to going all out on each of the classical lifts. I just keep noticing that with weightlifting--even with The System--it comes back to "doing it every day".