12-Week Olympic Weightlifting Program for Men (5 Day)

Olympic weightlifting is a recognized sport that uses two exercises that call for the lifter to raise a weighted barbell overhead from the platform. Both the snatch and the clean and jerk are explosive exercises because they call for a perfect balance of strength, speed, coordination, and flexibility.

Other sports performance can be improved with these exercises and their modifications. Due to their biomechanical properties of great strength and power output, it is advised that sports requiring high speed force, such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, athletics, and martial arts, adapt features of Olympic weightlifting.

Olympic weightlifting should actually be termed powerlifting since it is a power and speed-based sport as opposed to powerlifting, which is truly a purely strength sport. It is sometimes argued that Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting have been given the wrong names. It's only a semantics issue, even though this may be the case.

1. Physical Fitness:

Snatching or clean and jerking is a fun, challenging whole-body exercise that utilizes every muscle in an athlete's body. In a short period of time, you burn a lot of calories while exercising. Olympic exercises are a terrific approach to maximize the benefits of strength training, develop muscle, and reduce body fat.

2. Become more powerful, stronger, and faster runner

Some of the largest power outputs are produced during Snatching or clean and jerking in the entire sport. People can run faster and jump higher thanks to power, the byproduct of strength and speed. The best method to increase strength and speed in your workouts is to include Olympic movements.

3. Enhanced efficiency

Olympic weightlifting workouts are adaptable; depending on how you incorporate them into your routines, they can result in a number of beneficial changes in your body. Olympic exercises can be used to build power, speed, and endurance during high-intensity exercise, as well as to recover more quickly and finish more workouts. Your ability to exert more effort during each workout and achieve your goals more quickly will increase.

4. Injury prevention

Olympic lifts are total-body exercises that strengthen and enhance the flexibility of the joints in the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. The secret to getting the body ready for the high demands of sports and other daily activities is to learn how to control the tension on all these joints while moving.

5. Increase bone density

Strengthening bones is essential for preventing osteoporosis and safeguarding against bone fractures, especially for women. The optimal stress that Olympic exercises place on the arms, legs, and spine is just what the body needs to be stimulated into creating new bone and increasing its density.

6. Enhance your coordination

Full-body motions used in Olympic workouts call for exact timing, rhythm, and coordination. Enhancing body awareness and coordination is beneficial for both daily living and athletic performance.

7. Boost physical prowess

Olympic lifts demand the athlete to exert force on the ground by a quick and synchronized "triple extension" of the ankle, knee, and hip, simulating the fundamental movements of most sports, sprinting and jumping. Exercises including weightlifting have the second-largest direct impact on enhancing athletic performance in sports where strength, power, and speed are crucial.

8. Develop your confidence

Physical improvement affects all aspect of your life. Your confidence in and out of the gym will increase as you pick up new skills and realize what your body is capable of. You will see more benefits if you workout consistently and use strength training as a tool.

9. Increase motion range

While some individuals believe that stiffness and bulkiness come with Olympic lifting, this is untrue. Some of the most adaptable and quick athletes competing in the Olympics are weightlifters.

10. Improve dynamic balance

People rarely need strength while standing still in life or in sports, so it's critical to challenge the body in the gym to reflect this. Olympic weightlifting routine give the body the strength and stability it needs to move quickly throughout the body's major joints, enabling stability in both daily activities and athletic competition. Exercises like weightlifting are genuinely functional.

The Snatch, a full-body exercise with the goal of lifting a weight from a seated position to an overhead position in a single motion, can be described as an explosive athletic activity. The Snatch, which uses an Olympic Barbell, is a part of the Olympic program.

There are a lot of variations of Olympic Snatch that mostly are used during training: power snatch, hang snatch, block snatch, deficit snatch and snatch complexes, such as snatch with overhead squat or power snatch with snatch balance.

The clean is the first part of the clean and jerk, an Olympic weightlifting drill. The athlete raises the barbell to his or her shoulders from the platform. Weightlifters can use it as a training exercise to develop their technique, strength, speed, and all the other attributes required for the lift in order to prepare for competition. It can be utilized by other athletes to improve their power, speed, accuracy, and mobility.

There are a lot of variations of Olympic clean that mostly are used during training: muscle clean, power clean, hang clean, block clean, deficit clean and clean complexes, such as clean with front squat or power clean with hang squat clean.

The jerk is the second rep of the clean and jerk, which is an Olympic weightlifting move. The athlete cleans the barbell from the floor to the shoulders before he or she raises it overhead. Weightlifters can use it as a training exercise to develop their technique, strength, speed, and all the other attributes required for the lift in order to prepare for competition. It can be utilized by other athletes to improve their power, speed, accuracy, mobility, and overhead strength.

There can be a lot of types of Olympic jerk that mostly are used during training: push jerk, push press, paused jerk, jerk behind the neck and jerk complexes, such as front squat + jerk, push press + jerk.

When performing a barbell squat, the athlete lowers their hips from a standing posture before standing back up. In a squat, the hip and knee joints flex while the ankle joint; in contrast, when standing up, the hip and knee joints extend.

There are a lot of variations and styles of barbell squats in Olympic weightlifting training programs, such as back squats, front squats, paused squats, split squats. It also can be a variation of squats with a different feet stance: narrow, wide and middle.

In the pulls, weightlifters lower themselves to the floor and lift a heavy barbell off the ground by hinging hips backward. All throughout the movement, back must be flat. The upper and lower back, glutes, and hamstrings can all be strengthened and given more definition with deadlift exercises. There are a lot of pull variations in Olympic weightlifting training programs, such as snatch grip pull, clean grip pull, middle grip pull. It also can be a variation of pull with a different initial position: hang pull, block pull, deficit pull, paused pull, eccentric pull, high pull, and pull complexes: snatch pull + snatch, clean pull + clean.

1. Basic Fitness

Long-term development and injury prevention depend on establishing a base level of fitness. The olympic weightlifting program can be made more varied and the athletes' health can be enhanced by beginning and ending each workout with a few simple plyometric, strength, and corrective aid exercises.

2. Mobility And Flexibility

The aim is to find solutions to any mobility and flexibility issues. In some positions, many athletes may lack basic control and flexibility, but the majority can actually enhance mobility by just following a structured training regimen.

3. Technique

The desire to lift weights well over their technical capacity is common among athletes. Technique development is usually top priority since skill development is essential.

4. Hypertrophy Of The Muscle

More muscle tissue must be developed during the course of a weightlifter's sporting career in order to accumulate the reserve required to grow more powerful and strong. Many athletes won't be able to increase their strength and performance over the long run without effective muscle hypertrophy training.

5. Neural Adaptation

Weightlifting is a very neurologically demanding sport in which the athlete must become accustomed to high levels of motor control while moving quickly under large loads. Throughout a weightlifting career, the lifter must improve their neural connections and impulses due to the need for speed, power, and extremely accurate movement.

6. Build A Broad Skill Set

Giving the athlete adequate exercises will help them develop their movement patterns, coordination, and comprehension of the lifts without overwhelming them with too many possibilities. Increasing the number of training days will help with this.

7. Improve Performance

Cardiovascular and muscular endurance are referred to as performance. The capacity to workout with a heavier load and more frequently without sacrificing performance or being overly worn out. You can raise their baseline fitness so they can take part in and advance in more severe training cycles by increasing training volume, cutting down on rest intervals, and introducing supportive activities.

This is a question that is commonly posed. In actuality, if you frequently find yourself needing to clarify a workout, you probably need a starting weightlifting program and are a beginner weightlifter. No matter how long you've been there, it doesn't matter. You are a beginner if you haven't gained a lot of muscle mass, aren't very strong, and can't technically perform a Snatch, Clean & Jerk , pull, or squat. Remember that this is a fair and honest evaluation meant to assist you in selecting the best workout, not an insult.

You can choose your lift level by using the explanation listed below.

There are few types of beginners.

Newbie have poor workout technique and have no concept of what the majority of exercises entail. Even in the most basic drills, they lack steadiness. The novice has typically never increased their strength or muscle mass and has no idea how to properly train and diet. 

Beginning weightlifter works on technique and practices for at least a few months. He already has a good understanding of his personal weight limit. However, this does not imply that he will be aware of his limit. In any exercise, novices shouldn't push themselves above their limits. You can stay in this condition forever. No matter how long you've been training, if your efforts aren't yielding results, it doesn't matter.

Experienced Beginner Weightlifter is pretty secure in his technique since he has taken the time to practice and master the correct technique for the fundamental snatch and clean & jerk exercises. But at this stage they definitely don't need 5 day olympic weightlifting program, 3 days per week will be totally enough.

In the snatch and clean and jerk, an intermediate weightlifter has reached 85–90% of his maximum strength and technique. He will perform well in local weightlifting tournaments if he trains for results. A intermediate weightlifting program can consist of 4-5 sessions times per week with enough volume. With their programming, they need structure in the form of periodization, unloading, or fatigue management. An intermediate weightlifter is aware of his primary areas of weakness and is comfortable creating his own routines and modifying them. He seeks assistance from more experienced athletes and coaches when he needs advice or help in program design. Despite the challenges in his way, he manages to achieve.

A very small percentage of athletes progress to the advanced and elite level. Elite athletes have encountered highly challenging obstacles during their athletic and training careers and have learned to overcome them via trial and error. They have a strong understanding of their physical capabilities and mental stability and advanced weightlifting program as well. These weightlifters are close to their genetic make-up or at or near the elite level in Olympic weightlifting. Most of the time, these weightlifters are among the best in their nation, and many of them have competed abroad.

Each exercise in a training program has a matching load. Sports science as a whole investigates how patterns of fitness change based on the sport, the athlete's gender, and their level (juniors, senior, masters). A training program is created by the coach or athlete based on the objectives, timeframe, and individual and team qualities. The workout frequency, exercises order, volume and intensity of training work are significant load metrics.

Frequency is the number of workouts per week. While top athletes often do 8-10 workouts a week (often several sessions a day), most beginners don't need such extreme loads. The program with 3-5 workouts per week, allows to develop technique, gain strength and muscle mass, as well as adequately recover. On active recovery days or rest days, you can split up enough sleep, stretching, and nutrition, which are important.

An indicator of the quality is the level of intensity. The average weight used in the attempt, in training, relative intensity, as well as the distribution of lifts by intensity zones, are all indicators of intensity in weightlifting.

By dividing the total volume by the number of repetitions, the average weight is calculated.

For instance, the average weight will be 83 kg if the total volume is 580 kg and there are 7 repetitions.

83 kg x 7 repetitions = 580 kg

By dividing the average weight by the exercise's best performance, then multiplying the result by 100%, one can calculate relative intensity.

Example: The best performance in the exercise was 120 kg, and the relative intensity was 69%. The average weight in the exercise was 83 kg.

83 kg / 120 kg x 100% = 69%

In modern weightlifting, intensity zones are a crucial signal that allow for an objective, visible evaluation of the level of effort expended. The six intensity zones that are most frequently employed are 50–60%, 61–70%, 71–80%, 81–90%, 91–100%, and over 100%. All lifts in exercise groups are distributed by zones when calculating the load for a workout, a week, or a month, making it easy to assess and analyze the athlete's work objectively.

The volume is the quantity of work an athlete completes in a specific time frame (one set, training session, week, month, etc.). Volume can be calculated in weightlifting using the number of training days, sessions, kilos, and hours. The number of repetitions and kilograms, however, are the most accurate and widely used format for calculating volume today.

It is required to total up all repetitions with working weights in order to calculate volume indicators, such as the number of lifts in the exercise. Most athletes base their working repetitions at 50%, while some elite athletes base their load at 70%;

The total volume (number of kilos), the working weight needs to be multiplied by the quantity of repetitions and sets.

Example: If an athlete performed an exercise in which they lifted 40 kg 3/4, 55 kg 2/3, and 65 kg 2/2, the quantity of labor in kilograms, or the weight lifted, will be computed as follows: 40x4x3 + 55x2x3 + 65x2x2 = 1070 kg.

The number of repetitions in a distinct exercise are divided by the total number of repetitions and multiplied by 100% to determine the exercise's percentage of the total amount of labor.

For instance, if an exercise required 80 repetitions and the overall number of repetitions was 290, the exercise's share would be 27.6%.

First off all, athletes engage in explosive, speed, and competitive exercises during training to use their muscles as effectively as possible.

You can then plan in session auxiliary and strength drills. As peak power production is crucial, this will aid in ensuring optimal form, technique, and neurological function.

In some stages of competition preparation, more experienced weightlifters may, however, practice squats and other heavy exercises before the Olympic exercises, which aid the nerves in improving the stimulation of individual motor units.

Result in weightlifting takes time, dedication, consistency and tons of effort. However, if you don't know how to plan an effective workout, you can make mistakes that will cause injury, or slow down your overall progress. Let's take a look at some of the most common weightlifting mistakes made by beginners and even experienced weightlifters alike.

Everyone who dreams of lifting big pounds tries to do it faster. For each, these “big kilograms” are different, but you need to remember and understand that every human has its genetics, as well as a host of other related factors that will help or prevent us from lifting that same heavy barbell. You must keep in mind that there cannot be “large kilograms” at once, by definition - power and technique require patience to form. 

My coach used the term "beginner" for athletes who have been involved in weightlifting up to two years, just enough to master the technique of movement and prepare the body for real weightlifting, which will bring pleasure and results, and not injury or disappointment. 

Unfortunately, it is in crossfit gyms that one can often see attempts to cheat time and move up the barbell contrary to the laws of physiology and training methodology, in the absence of a technical and power base.

Do you warm up before your workout? If not, you are making a big mistake. Many people don't realize that not warming up before weightlifting can lead to serious injury. It is well known that it is warm-up exercises that allow you to fully engage in work. They don't have to be intense or difficult, just enough to get your blood pumping and muscle memory kicking in. It would seem that a simple and understandable rule for absolutely everyone is to warm up before training. This is exactly what coaches teach beginners. 

At the same time, many athletes do not know that before picking up the barbell, it is necessary to conduct a general warm-up around 10-12 minutes. And this is of great importance for preparing the body for the upcoming main work, which is associated with heavy loads on the musculoskeletal system. It must be remembered that in the process of warming up in the joints, mobility increases, coordination of fibers is established, metabolism is accelerated. 

An increase in body temperature is of great importance. This promotes turning on all body blood system. In addition, an increase in temperature decreases the tightness of the muscles and increases their elasticity, which protects against injuries. Need to take into account that the readiness of the body does not occur immediately after the warming up, but only at the 5-8th minute after its completion. Only after that you should take the barbell and begin to prepare for the exercises according to the training program. And there are problems with this too. 

A lot of weightlifters do not know that even in a warm-up with a empty bar, it is necessary to break the exercise into small lead-in parts and work this way for several approaches, and only then proceed with the exercise as a whole. Further, the weight of the increase on the bar can vary between 5-20 kg, depending on the level of skill.

One of the biggest setbacks for weightlifters is the inability to set adequate goals. Just like achieving goals in any other area of ​​your life, setting weightlifting goals will give you a more efficient path. Don't be afraid to set multiple goals at once! However, goal setting alone is not enough. You need to track and trace your progress to see how far you have come. This will give you more motivation to follow the right path.

You can often hear from novice athletes: I saw on the video how that world champion performed the exercise in this way and it means so correctly. Well, firstly, a guy that has been training for 10 weeks cannot compare himself with a weightlifter who has been in business over 10 years: the technique of a beginner and the technique of a professional have different level. Secondly, the world's TOP athletes are often unique people who have their own unique body structure and movement techniques that an ordinary person does not have. Of course, it is possible and necessary to follow and learn from unique athletes, but you cannot blindly copy the technique. Imitation of anyone does not give development to an athlete: for the growth of sportsmanship, it is necessary to hear your body, understand the patterns and rules for performing movements - first simple, and then complex. And for this you need to study and work on yourself!

It is important to engage with the weightlifting community, both in person and online! While you can probably embark on this journey alone without seeking advice or a partner, you most certainly won't be able to reach your full potential along the way. Knowing that you have a community to turn to for advice is great in many ways. You can get new workout ideas and find someone to help hold you accountable, which is priceless. It's also much safer to have someone around when you're working, especially if you're new.

All exercises involve overcoming a certain amount of discomfort. That being said, it's important to listen to your body when it comes to pain during and after lifting weights. Don't ignore the signals from your body! If you find yourself in a lot more pain than you're used to, or it takes a long time to recover from a certain exercise, you should think about it. Are you doing the exercise correctly? Are you too busy? Maybe it's time to scale it down a bit. Many young weightlifters hope that if they will constantly push themselves to the edge of their capabilities, they will achieve high results. 

In practice, such athletes usually get overtraining syndrome, and then they can get injured, which, unfortunately, is sometimes incompatible with continued training. It must be remembered that it is impossible to be strong and always be in peak shape - this is a temporary condition. Professional athletes get in shape for about three, and sometimes more, months and prepare themselves for the peak of shape, but still, after the competition, they deliberately “lower” this shape in order to recover. The growth of the result does not occur in a vertical direction only, but in waves. For this, training programs are built, in which all these parameters are set.

Are you focused on one aspect of your workout, like strength? That's good, but you need to make sure you're making progress everywhere. Your goal is a balanced workout. Have you ever heard of the workout pattern? This is a pre-planned load that is well balanced. For example, it can be a weightlifting program pdf. This is a tool that is extremely useful for those who are not sure what to do next. With the plan in front of you, it's much easier, especially for beginners.

Whether you're reaching a plateau in your goals or just looking to improve your training process, eliminating these common weightlifting mistakes is a great idea. When you recognize the easiest mistakes, you'll be better equipped to take the right steps towards achieving your unique fitness goals, whatever they may be.