Chinese Youth Training

So I found a few articles on training youth weightlifters in China. Here are the translations (thanks to gf again for help, would've taken way way longer without you).

Initial Training of Adolescent Male Weightlifters
http://www.gdjyw.com/techang/tiyu/8031.html

Weightlifting is an individual event, with limited attempts, high weights, and comprehensive requirements of technique. This requires athletes to be strong all around. Therefore, appropriately training adolscent men is very important.

1 Selection of talent

"A successful talent selection means you're halfway there". Weightlifting requires athletes to have thick bones, strong muscles, and a solid build. Therefore you need to choose high quality athletes.
1.1 Body shape

Requirements: short height, solid build, wide shoulders, thick chest, thick and prominant glutes, low bodyfat, balanced body shape, strong ankles, long thumbs, big balls, thick mostache and high energy level.

1.2 Physical fitness

Strength is the core of weightlfting. When selecting athletes, you must test leg, lower back and arm strength. Speed and explosive power is tested through 60m run and standing long jump.

2 Constructing the correct sense of technique

Weightlifting looks simple but is actually quite complicated, so beginners must understand components of weightlifting technique and basic concepts to construct the correct technique. Therefore, coaches need to organise athletes to watch older athletes' demonstration and training whilst explaining the technique to them so that athletes have a correct picture of competition movements in their head. They should work hard to understand and learn the complexities of technique.

3 Planning training according to physical characteristics

Amateur sports school students are often of different ages, and therefore training needs to be designed according to each student's characteristics. For beginners and young athletes, there should be more strength and technique training with low load for strength training. For older athletes, there should be more strength training such as leg, lower back and arms, with a certain intensity and strength.

4 Specialist training

Specialist training refers to 3 things; specialist technique training, strength training and fitness training.

4.1 Specialist technique training

Snatch and clean and jerk have complex movement structures and high difficulty. It will be hard for beginners to understand the complete movement at the start. To help beginners to quickly and accurately grasp the technique, correct and scientific teaching methods are especially important. One needs to follow the structure and characteristics of a movement in weightlifting and teach in a progressive manner, such as decomposing the movements.

Snatch is easier than clean and jerk, and so should be taught first.
Snatch:
1: shrug + high elbow pull, then teach this with 'rebend'
2: power snatch from above knee
3: after mastering this, teach full snatch
Clean and jerk:
1: power clean from above knee
2: full clean from above knee, then finally full clean
3: once mastered full clean, start to teach jerk
4: teach jerk dips, then learn power jerk
5: teach split jerk, and finally once all mastered perform full movement

4.2 Special strength training

Beginner strength training shouldn't be too high intensity or volume, mostly emphasising correct technique, speed and explosive power. However, strength is the core of weightlifting, so must progress from light to heavy, avoiding doing maximal weights too often to avoid deteoriating technique and potential injuries.

The main contents of strength training:
1: Pull exercises:
Narrow/wide high pull (4-5 times a week), block high pull (1-2 times a week), power pull (2-4 times a week)
2: Squats:
Front, back squat, half squat, pause half squat etc
Front and back squat twice a week, others once a week
3: Support strength:
Push press, snatch/jerk support, rack jerk, kettlebell press etc
Intensity and volume must be guaranteed
4: Muscle exercises:
Should be done for protection and to increase muscle size and strength
Chinups, dips, curls, tri extensions, bench press/row, handstand pressups, back extensions etc
Require quantity and quality, do them properly

4.3 Special fitness training

This is to train reaction times, speed, endurance and cardiovascular ability.

Main contents are: 50m sprints, 100m sprints, 400m timed run, 800m timed run, standing long jump, standing triple jump and step jumps

5 Training rhythm

According to the characteristics of weightlifting and physical conditions of young people, we should keep having 2 big weeks and 1 small week as the fundamental training rhythm. After 3 years of systematic training as such, our team has made significant progress, with many winning national youth titles.

Name	Bodyweight	Age	Snatch	CJ	Total	Position
何文	56 kg	15	90 kg	120 kg	210 kg	1 Provincial Competition
何树正	69 kg	16	138 kg	158 kg	295 kg	1 National Youth Competition
卢绍峰	62 kg	17	120 kg	140 kg	260 kg	1 Provincial Competition
纪怡	63 kg	13	90 kg	110 kg	200 kg	1 Provincial Competition

6 Important extras

Youth weightlifting training must take account of several points:
1, Don't rush, build foundations slowly
2, Have a correct sense of technique
3, Teach patiently, answering every query
4, Most of the time should be dedicated to technique; taking up to 2/3 of the lesson
5, Training should be varied and made fun
6, Don't rush to add weight, to prevent deteoriating technique and injuries
7, Set up the morale of CHINA #1

We need to emphasise on the initial training of adolescents, scientifically plan out training intensities and lesson plans, hold on to the three "benefits"; benefiting training, benefiting competition, benefiting improvement. This is the foundation of our career success.

_____________________________________________________________________

Training of Young Weightlifters
http://www.gdjyw.com/techang/tiyu/8030.html

Introduction:

Modern weightlifting level of competition becomes higher and higher, athletes of all levels achieve excellent results, except those without good mentality or without well developed comprehensive snatch and clean and jerk technique. Improving youth weightlifters snatch and clean and jerk results is a very important matter for coaches in all levels of amateur sports schools. This article discusses how to improve the problems youth athletes often face.

1, Training goals and methods:

The athletes we train are normally 13 to 17 years old, in foundation stages of training, they come from schools and provincial amateur sports schools. Some have passed through grass-roots selection schools, others have not. Our guiding ideology: For youth weightlifters, training should focus on developing standard snatch and clean and jerk technique, development of core, leg and arm strength, steady progression, constant training assessment.

See table 1 for a training week from the Foundation training period.

2, Training results:

Over the years, we have been laying the foundation for the sports centre. Amateur sports training phase is to lay the foundations of solid technique and overall body strength, and improve the snatch and clean and jerk results under guidance, with the athletes passing through the training system over many years, improving overall strength, developing standard technique in the snatch and clean and jerk. Without intensifying special strength training, special results can still improve (see table 2). Students displaying good potential can progress to the provincial level sports university.

3, Analysis: 

A, Selection

Talent selection is very important for cultivating a high level young weightlifting athlete. Our entrants either have had 1 year of foundation traning, or have had no training at all. To examine students with previous experience, we look at their competition and training performance, including body shape, flexibility, general fitness, technique and their vibe. To examine students with no prior experience, we follow the guidance and rely on body shape, physical fitness and movement observations.

Weightlifting test methodology:
(1) Overhead squat with a stick (shoulder width grip)
(2) Standing long jump
(3) Heavy squat
(4) Above knee power snatch
(5) Max weight clean and jerk

Specific requirements:
(1) Feet shoulder width, chest up, tight back, elbows straight and knees forward. At bottom, looking forwards.
(2) General strength test, see table 3.
(3) Stand naturally, barbell on back of neck, then chest up, back tight, squat down. Knees as far forward as possible, do for maximal weight. See table 4.
(4) Stand naturally, barbell hanging above knee, then power snatch a few times.
(5) Do several reps of clean and jerk with the barbell.

Evaluation criteria:
(1) Upper limbs: elbow and shoulder joints fully extended, torso upright. Lower limbs: glutes closer to floor is better, ankle angle should be judged.
(5) When barbell is on chest, both hands should hold barbell steadily on collarbones, looking natural. Observe forearm length, if too long do not recruit. After jerk, both arms and shoulders should be naturally and fully extended.

B, General Physical Training

An athlete from the material supplied to the team usually goes through 1-4 years of training, these years play an important role in their future development. The training of young weightlifters revolves around "laying the foundation for comprehensive training"; this is the main goal. Grasping technique and speed are two important factors, and at different ages different techniques will be targeted to allow for steady progress and lay a solid foundation for future specialised training.

Utmost effort should be put in to standardise the student's technique. If one error gets ingrained, it will have serious influences on technique, even ruining a potentially talented athlete. In each section of technical training,  training should focus around small and medium weights with strict control of repetitions done at heavier weights. Athletes with different physical conditions should have different training methods and auxillary exercises arranged.  Different athletes will require different intensities in their training to obtain optimal results. This is because young athletes' technique is not stable. To correct some non-standard techniques, the movements can be broken down in training.

Speed is the heart of weightlifting. Now athletes and coaches are aware of this important, and how it is the factor influencing success or failure. Therefore, youth training should have speed training as a major aspect, done before special training. In technique training, barbell speed should be emphasised; the bar should be lifted fast and with power. Especially during pulls and jerks, this should be prompted, alongside auxillary movements. For example, in pull training, emphasis is put on pulling up. In wide pulls, most should be done around 70-90% of the heaviest snatch, to develop good speed and feeling.

Table 1: Weeks training program

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
Morning exercise	1.Run 300M	1.Jog 3000M	1.Varied pace 3000M
	2.30M×7 sets	2.Step jumps	2.Standing long jump
	3.Multi-level frog jump	3.200 push ups	3.No barbell technique practise
Afternoon Training	1.Snatch：1 hour (fast, fail <10%)	1.C&J：1 hour (fast, fail <10%)	1.Knee squat snatch：12 sets (fast)
	2.Power clean push press: 12 sets	2.Wide fast pull：12 sets	2.Snatch balance：12 sets
	3.Back squat: 12 sets	3.Narrow hard pull：12 sets	3.Front squat:12 sets
	4.Small muscles	4.Bench press：8 sets	4.Small muscles
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Morning exercise		1.Jog 3000M	1.Jog 3000M
		2.60M exercise	2.Step jumps：8 sets
		3.Standing jumps	3.200 push ups
Afternoon Training	Run 4000M	1.Snatch：1 hour (fast, fail <10%)	1.PC + Push Press：12 sets (fast)
	Ball sports	2.C&J：1 hour (fast, fail <10%)	2.PC + power jerk
		3.Abs	3.Back squat：12 sets
			4.Small muscles

Table 2: Special exercise performance chart

Name	DoB	Enter Team Date	Initial Results	Contrast Time	Results
桂庆华	1983	1993	57.5+72.5	1996.8	110+142.5+
周讲荣	1983	1993.3	57.5+72.5	1996.5	82.5+97.5
周燕	1983	1994.3	45+55	1998	87.5+107.5+
何莲花	1983	1995.3	52.5+67.5	1999	85.0+107.5+
何树理	1983	1994.9	37.5+47.5	1999	122.5+150+
唐兰花	1985	1997.9	37.5+52.5	2001	92.5+122.5+
蒋文建	1987	1999.5	0+0	2002	105+135

Table 3: Standing long jump

Bodyweight	Bad	Mediocre	OK	Decent	Good
42 kg	<119 cm	170 cm	190 cm	210 cm	230 cm
48 kg	<189 cm	190 cm	210 cm	230 cm	250 cm
52 kg	<199 cm	200 cm	220 cm	240 cm	260 cm
56 kg	<209 cm	210 cm	230 cm	250 cm	270 cm
62 kg	<224 cm	225 cm	245 cm	265 cm	280 cm

Table 4: Squat standards

Bodyweight	Bad	Mediocre	OK	Decent	Good
42 kg	70 kg	70 kg	80 kg	90 kg	100 kg
48 kg	80 kg	80 kg	90 kg	100 kg	120 kg
52 kg	90 kg	100 kg	110 kg	120 kg	130 kg
56 kg	100 kg	110 kg	120 kg	130 kg	140 kg

Note: for 12 year olds, standards reduce 20%. For 13 year olds, reduce 10%.

_____________________________________________________________________

Planning training for youth weightlifters
http://www.xuehuile.com/thesis/fabda50f8ec94a1e8f9ff396ab439ccf.html
http://www.docin.com/p-781354080.html

[Abstract] It takes around 5-6 years for a weightlifter to mature. Of these, the first 3-4 years of basic training are the most important. This article points out that an effective training plan is the basis of training and explore the method of "Cyclic loading".

In modern times, Chinese weightlifters start training around 13-14 years old, maturing at 20 (or 22 depending on individual differences). It takes around 5-6 years for a weightlifter to mature, but of these, the first 3-4 years of basic training are the most important. Therefore, it is necessary to tailor training plans according to young weightlifters' characteristics.

1 Making an effective training plan

There are common themes which exist in many different training plans. If the coach can draw out these common themes from different training plans, then it is easy for him to adapt the training plan to the athlete's physical characteristics. Also, the coach can understand each athlete's training history and how they differ from other athletes. If an effective training plan is in place, when a coach is training young athletes (10-15 years old), he will not feel lost or implement a one size fits all policy.

For many years of personal experience, we have reached the following conclusion: In the initial stage of specialist training, most training will be based around auxillary and partial competition lifts, and less around the full competition lifts. This is because students will not have yet mastered technique, and students don't fully understand the importance of movements other than the competition lifts in training. As training intensifies, standards improve and associated muscle groups are deeply stimulated one should add different types of movement to the training program, such as those to strengthen the core. In the process of training design, I have learnt that in order to improve snatch and clean and jerk scores, it is essential to improve technique and the strength of muscle groups. This is why I have planned more auxillary movements and included semi-technical movements within technical training.

For example: to improve the clean and jerk, upper body exercises include push press, strict press, wide/narrow bench press, BTN press, heavy paused movements etc. Lower body exercises include rack jerk, power jerk, heavy preparatory squat, paused jerk dips etc。 To improve the snatch, selectively plan snatch support, wide pull, wide hard lift (hard pull?), block pull, above knee pull, high snatch, SL snatch etc.

No matter how hard each athlete trains, they should have individualised training plans. Through much research, we can summarise the common aspects to training, shown in table 1.

Table 1: Weightlifting specialist exercise categories

Support	Snatch	Clean and Jerk	Squat	Pull
Press	Muscles	Core	Upper limbs

From the contents of table 1 it is not difficult to design a training plan during an athlete's transitionary training phase. For example, when an athlete's special circumstances haven't been observed, the training plan should be all encompassing, such as the weekly plan in table 2. This kind of average training plan benefit all athletes in some way, as it emphasises common elements all weightlifters need. One only needs to adjust the number of sets and intensity to create a sense of rhythm within the weekly plan. After adopting this training plan for a period of time, one will have found the characteristic of the athlete. This is when a new training plan should be designed according to the athlete's own strengths and weaknesses, combining his characteristics with common weightlifting skill development. The training plan in table 2 is a process from generic to specific, specialising along the way.

Table 2: Weekly Specialist training plan

Mon	Tue	Wed
Snatch	Jerk	Press (meant to be snatch?)
Pull	Squat	Pull
Support	Support	Support
Core	Upper limb	Core
Thu	Fri	Sat
Jerk	Snatch	Jerk
Squat	Pull	Squat
Fitness	Support	Support
	Upper limb

Points to note when using the weekly plan:
(1) Snatch and clean and jerk done 3 times per week; one every other day
(2) Heavy pulls and squats 3 times per week; once every other day
(3) There is a risk of elbow injury when training snatch support, so every training should include some support exercises (excluding lower back/abs)
(4) Core exercises every other day. Lower back exercises come after squats, ab exercises after pulls (ie train antagonistic muscle groups). This is to enable the muscle worked previously to rest a bit, and aleviate load from the waist.
(5) The rhythm of the week is usually: Mon/Wed/Fri heavy, Tue med, Thurs small, Sat med-high

There are 5 circumstances for new entrants to the weightlifting team:
(1) New students
(2) Students with many technical flaws
(3) Students with correct technique for a few movements
(4) Students with good technique
(5) Students 23 years or older

Students who have been training for a long time have usually experienced the 5 stages, but in reality we still need to adapt to each athletes differences. We also must see that there are no concrete boundaries between each category, and we must think of several categories at once to design a better training plan.

Table 3: Specialised training contents categorisation table

Snatch	Straight Leg/High/Above Knee/Block/Deficit/Mixed Snatch
Jerk	Power/Rack (normal)/Mixed (power and split)/Rack Squat Jerk
Pull	Normal / Block / Paused / Hard Pulls, Spin and don't touch ground pulls
Squat	Front / Back / Front half / Back half / Preparatory / Pause Squat
Press	Push / Seated / Strict / BTN / BTN Push / Dumbbell / Wide BTN Push Press, Parallel bar support
Support	Lower Back: Back extension, Good morning, SL Hard Pull
	Abs: Situps, Hanging leg raises

Combining tables 1 and 2, we can adapt the training plan to the athletes specific situation. For example, an athlete trains for a period of time using table 2, and his results are: Snatch 105kg, Clean and Jerk 185kg, Front Squat 165kg, Power Clean 110kg, Hard Pull 170kg. This athlete has an unstable snatch; when snatching triples at 80kg, he will often fail some forward or backwards, rarely making all 3. The reason for this inconsistency is the bar path curves outwards. In the jerk, his torso does not remain upright and his split position is unstable, leading to many fails. For this type of athlete, the training plan in table 4 could be used.

Table 4: Week training plan

Mon		Tue		Wed
Block Snatch		Jerk		Snatch
	(big)		(mid)		(mid)
Block Wide Fast Pull		Front Squat		Block Narrow Fast Pull
	(big)		(big)		(big)
Block Wide Hard Pull		Prep Squat		Block Narrow Hard Pull
	(big)		(big)		(big)
Snatch Support		Seated Press or Other		Preparatory BTN Arms extension
	(big)	Other Press		BTN Push Press
Press		Back Extension		Other Press
Abs
Thu		Fri		Sat
Clean and Jerk		Block Snatch		Rack Jerk
	(big)		(mid-big)		(big)
Jerk Support		Snatch Support		Jerk Support
	(big)		(med-big)		(med-big)
Back Squat		Wide Fast Pull
	(big)		(med-big)
Prep Squat		Narrow Fast Pull
	(mid)		(med-big)
Abs

Table 4 contents explanation:
(1) As snatch and clean and jerk technique is in the process of stabilising, they should be trained 3 times a week
(2) As the snatch pull (after hip) technique is not standard, snatch supports should be programmed to aid in snatch stability. As the jerk is not stable, jerk support work should be programmed alongside normal jerk training.
(3) Because the snatch pull goes outwards, 2/3 of pulling sessions should be done from blocks.
(4) For this athlete, leg strength is temporarily a surplus. For this reason, squats should only be programmed twice a week for this athlete, more energy should be dedicated to other things. The more pulls done, the better the athlete will get, so pulls should be programmed 3 times a week
(5) Core twice a week, pressing movements three times a week
(6) Weekly rhythm; Mon/Wed/Fri big, Tues med, Thurs small, Sat med-big.

From a similar strand of thought, we can make training plans to adapt to other athletes, like how musicians can compose many different beautiful pieces of music with only 7 notes.

2. Explorations of the method of cyclic loading

International weightlifting competitions have got a lot more competitive, and as a result many athletes will request to attempt the same weight (presumably high-level weights that Chinese athletes used to dominate in). This is unavaoidable in competitions currently, and therefore stamina in competition movements is crucial.

Keeping athletes psyched up for a competition for a long time is a very important objective in current training. We need to have more trainings that increase the excitement level in the brain, and cyclic loading is a good way of doing so. The method is as follows. Focus on snatch and clean and jerk in a training. When the weights approach the maximum in a training session, the athletes should not do their effective sets on a set weight, but use cyclic loading. In a snatch training, for example, after the athlete has lifted 100kg, we require him to reduce weight to 70%, then increase again to 90% (from 70kg to 90kg), for 2 cycles, 5 sets each cycle (each set: 70/3, 80/3, 90/2). The athlete is able to use this training to prepare him self during competition, and doing cyclic loading frequently will train the athlete to be focused and excited, so that he will not burn out between two attempts. Of course to keep a good competition state there are more problems to be solved, for example pre competition training load, weight changes, nutritional factors, the athlete's competition experience, his morals, and his techniques.

Overall, keeping athletes in the best competition state for a long period of time is a crucial task for cultivating high level weightlifting athletes, needing further exploration. Whether cyclic loading would work remains to be seen in practice.

As weightlifting standards improve, scientific training methods are increasingly important for young athletes. To keep China's weightlifting a stronghold of Chinese sport, coaches need scientific, systematic and organised training knowledge, adapt to athlete's abilities, and an ambition to overtake other countries in their training methods.