Daily Weightlifting

[Gary Gibson]

The Youtube clip with Mr. Broz got me thinking...

I don't trust the veracity of my records or my memory, BUT I do believe that I worked up to pretty good snatch and clean numbers (bodyweight snatch at 150 lbs w/ a 225-245 1RM SQ!) a few years ago when I used the Bulgarian Method. That is to say, I just practiced, practiced, practiced.

One of Pavel Tsatsouline's great contributions to the training world is how he distills some of the Eastern Bloc science on training into easily digestible bits. He explains that his "Grease The Groove" is just neurosynaptic facilitation and it's basically what the Bulgarians do. They treat the lifts as sports skills (which they are) that rely heavily on strength. They build strength with squats and front squats, but the train literally three times a day, seven days a week.

Here's the rub: they don't train to failure or exhaustion (before anyone cries "only the genetically elite on steroids can train that hard!"). They don't train hard (except in the looser sense of the word implying determination), but they do train a lot. They practice a lot.

If you want to get good at something, you have to put in the time. You have to lay down the neural pathways so the actions you want to perform literally become your nature. They happen without conscious thought once you get them going. This applies to reading, to typing, to playing an instrument, literally to everything you do. (Look up the 10,000-hour rule.)

Back in the day, for months I just practiced the classical lifts. No coach (Mr. Broz points out that he spends way more time "building the mind of a champion" than coaching fine points of technique.), but lots of hours, lots of practice. It paid off for me and I can't help but wonder how much better I'd be at those lifts now that I'm twice as strong. So I aim to find out.

Some of you already know that I'll be residing in Orlando for a few months. I've already joined Brian Schwab's gym in Oviedo where there are bench and squat racks for me to train my powerlifts three days a week (five in the three weeks following the volume portion of the cycle). I was eventually going to order a weightlifting bar and a couple of bumper plates anyway. I think I'll order them right now so I can train practice the classic lifts every day, a few times per day (I work from home). I can always carry them back in the car with me when it's time to return to Baltimore.

I'm pretty excited about this. Like I said, I'm a lot stronger now than when I got that 150-lb full snatch. I'm just out of practice. My one concern is that this practice could interfere with my high volume squatting and benching (moving up to a new weight class), but I really don't think it will. The quick lifts don't impose the same stress as the grinds (it's not like I'll be deadlifting!) and I don't plan to burn myself out with max efforts.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[ZKP]

That's pretty much what I was talking about in your thread about cleans earlier. Working up to a heavy(though not max) double or triple, often ,seems to do the trick well. I've never tried this with squatting, or any of the "grinder" types of lifts, but then again,I dont have racks in my living room. Steve Justa talks about training every day, and there are only a handful of men stronger than him on earth. His basic scheme is one set a day, every day, 70% for three reps. Add a rep every day. In two weeks add ten or 20 lbs and start over. At the end of a month re test 1RM. His large magnitude of sub max work seems to work for him. Good luck.

[Gary Gibson]

Pavel is in agreement with Justa that submaximal, frequent training will do the trick with the grinds, too. No reason it shouldn't. In fact, I've used this to great effect with a version of 5x5x5. I plan to use "Daily Fives" after the volume portion of this program that has me doing 10-20x 5 reps of bench and 10x 5 reps of squats every other day. Just one set of SQ, BP, DL, five days per week for three weeks. I added 20 lbs to my squat this way after my first Smolov a couple years ago.

[Kincain]

this is a very interesting topic, I was also pondering about how an increase in days (more than 3 times in the week) would translate in to a program. The only examples I can think of right now is as you already said pavel's 5x5x5, westside, the starr model (in ppst 191) or an olympic weightlifting program. The biggest problem with more training that I can think of is recovery. How would you do this Gary, like you stated in a way to 'grease the groove', not going maximal but sub-maximal? I'm interested to see how this works out for you, keep us posted

[Smiler Grogan]

I've been toying with this idea lately too, and I finally have the opportunity to actually do it. I'm doing 5-3-1 for squat, bench, press, and deads. I've never made an honest commitment to practicing cleans and snatches, but I've always wanted to.
I've never attempted a max with either cleans or snatches .I think I'll just start with a conservative 1RM estimate and practice daily similar to what was mentioned with 70% or so, gradually adding reps and weight. I'm in no rush to jack my numbers up and I don't want to mess with recovery. It should be fun. Patience is one of the nice benefits of getting older.

[khal]

It makes me wonder whether the practice practice practice mantra applied to technique sports apply here. The more you practice the less heavier your weights have to be to allow you to practice for a long period...but will that train technique under heavier weights, i.e., can you train technique to be used with 1RM with weights that you could possible do for 5 but only do for 3?

I'm still very much a novice so very interested in the answer to that question.