Programming for Weightlifting (Part 3 - Other Excercises)

Now, it is true that the Snatch/Clean + Jerk are the only lifts one NEEDS to perform in weightlifting. As they are the only lifts required in competition. And in fact many countries have routines focused almost exclusively on those two movements and squatting. Bulgaria under Ivan Abadjiev being the obvious example, whos system was essentially Snatch, Clean + Jerk and Front Squat to a daily max every day of the week. Under this system, the Bulgarian team was incredibly succesful. Producing a large number of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for the country.

However, this is a very hard, miserable way to train. And is quite pointless for somebody to attempt if they are doing anything with more personal importance than weightlifting (having a job, a family etc being good examples). Using this system you will not enjoy your training, you will not feel motivated to go to the gym each day, you will in fact make substantial decreases in the amount of weight you can lift (prior to increasing again).

Assistance exercises are useful for two main reasons. They strengthen you in ways that have a good carryover to the main movements, but they also add variety to hopefully keep the lifter interested in continuing to train. It should be noted however that people who use large numbers of assistance exercises do not do it instead of the main lifts, they do them in addition to. So the amount of work done is actually not all that dissimilar to the Bulgarian system, but it is spread over a larger number of exercises.

Squats are actually an assistance exercise, but because of their importance in any weightlifters routine, I will classify them as a basic, essential movement also. So, the three main exercises are:

Snatch

Clean + Jerk

Squat

Snatch Assistance

The difference between Snatch and Clean assistances exercises is not really that great, other than the distance the bar travels and the hand positioning, the movements are quite similar.

Snatch Pull

The Purpose of Pulling is to train the movement of the bar from the ground to the hips, sometimes less high than that, sometimes  higher. Pulls are generally done slower than the complete snatch, but not always

Snatch Pull with Heavy weights

This is to strengthen your ability to pull weight from the ground whilst keeping good positions and form so that when it comes time to perform the full snatch, you are not hindered by weakness off the floor.

Snatch Pull with Medium weights

This is to train the correct movement paths and allow the lifter to feel the correct positioning and balance during the pull.

Snatch Pull with No/Light weights

Generally only used for warming up or for training beginners who need to be taught the correct movements.

Snatch Pull (segments)

Done to train a specific portion of the pull from the ground to the hips. If the lifter is weak or poorly positioned when pulling the bar up to knee level, then that specific section of the pull can be isolated. Similarly if a lifter is weak/mispositioned from the knees to the hips then a pull from the knees upwards (generally done by placing the bar on blocks so that the pull begins from knee height) can be used to strengthen that segment. Pausing at certain point in the pull can also help the lifter feel where the bar should be or feel if they are being pulled out of balance. It can also slow the lift down and let a coach see exactly how a lifter pulls and correct it more easily.

Snatch Pull (with extension)

Simply a pull where the lifter continues the lift by extending after the bar reaches the hips, this allows the pull to more closesly mimic the full lift and also lets the lifter use more weight than they can actually fully snatch because they do not need to pull themselves down under it. Can also be used to judge if proper/full extension is actually being used or not.

Snatch Pull (With Extension and Pull Under) (Panda Pulls)

The same as the previous pull, only the lifter begins to pull themself downwards once they have extended. This again more closely mimics the full Snatch, and also allows the lifter to become more efficient by pulling under sharply and quickly as soon as they have extended, minimising overpulling and bar drop (Pulling the bar higher than is necessary).

Muscle Snatch

From the floor to the hips identical to a Snatch, but after extension the lifter continues to pull the bar upwards with the arms, making making no effort to pull themselves under the bar, just pulling the bar up then pushing it to extension. Useful as a warm up and to encourage a close bar path and to push the bar upwards once you are in a position under it so that you lockout elbows correctly. Generally only done with light weights as part of a warm up.

Power/High Snatch

The pull from floor to  hips is identical. The extension is identical, except more force is generated to throw the bar higher into the air, not requiring the lifter to drop down into a deep squat position to get underneath the bar. Good at training a better/stronger extension, speed under the bar and speed of elbow turn-over when receiving the bar. Used by Bulgarians as a way to program 'light' days into a routine without actually making the lifting done require any less effort.

Snatch from the Hang

The bar is pulled to the hips, then lowered to a position above the floor, then pulled again to the hips and the snatch is executed as normal. Can be done from various positions in the pull, the most commong being just below the knees or mid thigh. Done from the mid thigh (High Hang) encourages a much faster speed under the bar, as you have less momentum to pull the bar high than when pulling from the floor. Also trains strength in the pulling positions as you are essentially doing a pull - reverse pull - snatch.

Snatch from the Blocks

Similar to a Snatch from the Hang in that you start from a position other than the floor, but with blocks you do not have the weight of the bar pulling against you whilst in the lowest position. This allows you to get into very optimal positioning and complete the lift with minimal fatiguing of the legs and back.

Drop Snatch

With the bar sitting on the back of your neck as in a squat, with a snatch grip, you drop under the bar as quickly as you can. This is intended to simply teach speed under the bar and improve speed in locking out the elbows. Ideally you want to be able to do this with as little 'drive' upwards of the bar and as little drop downwards of the bar as possible. Not necessarily the best exercise to improve the snatch, but it has its uses. Quite commonly used with beginners to teach getting under the bar quickly.

Snatch Balance

Very similar to the Drop Snatch, but you usually dip and drive to get the bar travelling upwards, then catch it with elbows locked out, then ride it down into the bottom of the squat position and rise again. As you can guess from the name, it teaches you to balance with a load overhead after catching it sharply.

Clean Assistance

For the most part, clean assistance (of the pulling variety at least) are identical to the Snatch equivelants, just with different hand positions and this, different positions upon the leg.

Clean Pull 

Again, the reason for pulling is to train the movement of lifting the bar from the ground to the highest point upon the lifters mid thigh/hips. Just as with the snatch, different loadings upon the bar are used for different purposes of doing the pulls. Heavy weight to strengthen the pull, medium weight to enforce positions, and lighter weight to learn and warm up with.

Clean Pull (segments)

Exactly as with the snatch pulls, the pull can be broken down into smaller stages to strengthen weaker/mispositioned areas. Traditionally the areas used are floor to below knee, above knee, low thigh, high thigh.

Clean Pull (with extension)

The same as before. The full pull from the floor to the mid thigh/hips followed by extension of the hips and beginning to move the bar upwards.

Clean High Pull

Not quite as useful as a Snatch High Pull, as the amount of height required to get under a Clean is a lot less than is required for a Snatch. But pulling hard will train your ability to pull yourself under the bar. But again, you may be better off using Panda Pulls for this purpose.

Clean Pull (With Extension and Pull Under) (Panda Pulls)

Generally much more useful than a tradition Clean High Pull as the movement trains the lifter to start pulling under the bar as soon as the bar has reached a sufficient height, which given the weight and the height the bar is already at when it leaves the mid thigh/hip, it doesn't require a lot more height for you to fit under it... as long as you're fast enough getting there.

Muscle Clean

Very rarely practiced outside of warmups/extremely light weights/getting a weight to the shoulders for shoulder work without caring to Clean. The movement will build strength in your shoulders, arms, upper back but it will have very little carryover to the regular Clean and if done frequently will lead to poor technique used in the normal lift.

Power/High Clean

Just like the Power Snatch, the Power Clean is an exercise to develop greater force output from extension, sending the bar higher than normally required, catching it on the shoulders at above a 90 Degree shin - thigh angle. Maybe not the best way to improve the Clean, but it does allow a bit of rest from Cleaning all the time and saves your legs from doing quite as much work. It actually carries over quite well to the Snatch, because of the height you are required to pull the bar.

Clean from the Hang

Again, exactly like the Snatch variant, the Hang Clean is a Clean performed from a position above ground level. A complex consisting of something such as Pull, Pull, Hang Clean is a very good way to strengthen your lower back and can add considerable mass to a lifter too, if that is your goal.

Clean from the Blocks

Given the difference in height the bar usually travel up the leg in the clean, Block work is often quite easy to perform, especially if done from above the knee. The lifter only needs to actually do about an inch or so of pulling before he or she is extending. As such this is another  good exercise to use for 'rest' periods. The lack of momentum from the floor also increases the need for the lifter to be fast getting under the bar.

Jerk Assistance

In principal the Jerk is quite a simple movement, you just put a bar overhead from your shoulders. So there are a great many exercises that can be used to assist this. But as most people will tell you, there's a bit more to the jerk than just pressing the bar quickly.

Jerk from the Rack/Blocks

The most basic form of Jerk Assistance is likely just to isolate the Jerk and do it out of a rack or from blocks. Blocks are better than racks for this as you do not have to worry about lowering the weight back down to your shoulders between reps, you can simply drop it down onto the Jerk Blocks then re-rack it for the next rep. This allows you to train the jerk without becoming fatigued from the clean.

Press (Btn, Diff Grip)

An old and simple movement, simply pressing the bar from your shoulders to an overhead position. This will not carryover directly to the jerk because the weight you can press will be substantially less than you can Jerk. But, it will build strength and some stability in the upper body muscles used in the actual Jerk. Can also be done with varying grip widths and from behind the neck. (Behind the neck work can be quite hard on rotator cuffs and shoulders if suitable flexibility is not present, especially lowering the weight back down again.)

Push Press (Btn, Diff Grip)

Very similar to the press, except you are now able to use some leg drive to initiate the bars upwards path. The hardest part of a strict Press is just as the bar is leaving your shoulders, as your shoulders muscles are at a severely disadvantaged angle to be moving weight. Utilising leg drive to overcome this section allows you to focus on the other parts of the lift, and use a heavier load now that you are not limited by that weak section. Again, can be done behind the neck and with different grips.

Btn Jerk

A standard Jerk, only performed with the bar starting behind the lifters neck. Allows the bar to travel in a purely vertical path rather than the backwards arc it must take when jerked from in front of the head. Ingrains the position that the bar wants to be in at the end of the jerk.

Power Jerk (Btn)

Power Jerks are jerks performed without splitting the legs forward and backwards. If found to be suitable, they can be performed in place of regular Split Jerks. They can also be used to assist regular Jerks however, as they require a little more upwards pushing than the Split, which allows you to drop lower underneath.

Squat Jerk

The extension of the Power Jerk is the Squat Jerk, which sees the lifter dropping into a full squat position with the bar overhead. Requires tremendous flexibility, speed and shoulder strength. Definitely not something the average lifter should worry about unless they are really having issues with the other types of Jerk. As an assistance exercise to regular jerks, they can teach the lifter to be much faster to drop under the bar, they don't need to be done heavy to achieve this either.

Pause Jerk

A Jerk in which the lifter pauses at the bottom of the dip to reduce the amount of stretch-reflex and muscle elasticity used when driving. This forces the lifter to recruit more pure muscle strength when driving upwards, which will help give a more powerful driving force when performing the full lift.

Jerk Dips

The 'Dip' part of the Dip and Drive in the Jerk. Normally performed with more weight than the lifter can actually Jerk, and generally performed out of a rack or from Jerk Blocks. With sufficient loading this can tremendously strengthen the whole body and help to keep the lifter rigid and strong when performing the jerk with their normal weights. It can also be used simply to find the optimum dipping depth for the lifter and to train a straight up and down movement.

Squat Assistance

Most weightlifters have no real need to assist their Squats or Front Squats, as they themselves are an assistance (albeit a very important one) to the two main lifts. In general the best way to increase your squat is to squat more. There are some helpful exercises however.

Quarter/Half Squat

Whilst generally frowned upon by 'real lifters' Partial Squats do have their place. They allow the lifter to overload the top  half of the squat which does help their squats somewhat, but the more immediate reason is generally increase dip and drive strength in the Jerk. So Partial Squats are not entirely dissimilar to Jerk Dips.

'Bottom Up' Squat

With the bar set on some low blocks or in a power cage at the lowest position of a lifters squat (or whichever position they need to train) the lifter sets up  underneath the bar in the same position they would be in at the bottom of their squat and simply stands up with the bar. Good for increasing strength out of the bottom of the squat and also reducing fatigue from regular squatting, as there is no real negative aspect of the movement (depending on how the bar is lowered again afterwards). A problem though, is that it is quite difficult to set yourself up in the same position that you would actually be in at the bottom of a squat.

Pause Squats

A similar purpose to the Bottom Up squat, Pause Squats train the lifters ability to come up again out of the bottom of a squat. By pausing, they reduce or remove the muscle elasticity present when quickly contracting and expanding a muscle, forcing the body to use only strength to get up with no ability to bounce their way up. They do not need to be done with a lot of weight, as the difficulty of rising after a long pause is quite extreme even with lighter than normal loads.

Good Mornings

Whilst not technically a Squat assistance, they do serve their purpose. Some people have a tendency to tip forwards at the hips/lower back when rising from a squat. Good Mornings help to strengthen the hip area, reducing the chance of the lower back being a weak point.

Abdominal Work

Just as Squats require a strong lower back, they also require a strong core and abdominal region to prevent the torso from buckling forwards under a load. Squats themselves work well at strengthening this area (especially Front Squats) but direct Ab Work such as weighted Sit Ups, Planks, Hanging Leg Raises etc will also strengthen this area.

Next we'll cover Sets/Rep Ranges, Loading and Volume in a bit more depth.