Help me program my power cleans into my 5/3/1 program.

[KAG]

I know, this has been discussed before, numerous times. What I am asking for is some help programming power cleans for me into my schedule.

Currently it looks like this:

Monday - Squat 5/3/1 & Press 5/3/1
Wednesday -Power Cleans(unknown programming) & Bench 5/3/1
Friday -Deadlift 5/3/1 and deadlift assitance

What I am looking for is a format in which to help my power cleans. Right before I stopped SS I had dealoded my PCs and DL to work on proper form and technique due to some back injury issues. So when I stopped SS I was only up to a 155lbs PC. I can manhandle quite a bit more than 155, but this is where my form breaks down at this point.

I'm using 5/3/1 so obviously I'm not looking for the fastest way to throw weight on the bar, I just want them to steadily improve.

Also, I have about 1 hour per day right now. Maybe 75 minutes. My bench is my easiest and quickest lift to get through, so I probably have 35-45 minutes I can dedicate to PCs without a problem, which is why they are on bench day. In the near future I may have to change things up to better fix my new schedule. If that happens PCs may get their own day, but until then they're sandwiched in with everything else.

So, should I pyramid sets of 5 or 3? Should I work up to a max and use the 5/3/1 program? Should I just work up using singles? Should I just add 5lbs per week and work my way up? If so, how many sets and reps?

My warmup will look like:
45 -5x2 (bar hang cleans)
65 x5 (full PCs)
95 x5
115 x3 or 5

And from there I need some help.

I had been doing them twice a week, adding 5lbs per day, but now it will only be once.

Any and all ideas will be considered, but I'd really like to hear from people who have programmed PCs in such a manner.

[Tom Narvaez]

I ran a very similar schedule for a group of football players and novice/intermediate lifters and I adjusted the cleans to 3/2/1. We still repped them out. Worked well enough to get two guys doing 250lbs+ for reps and six guys doing 225lbs+ power cleans for reps. There were approximately a dozen semi-consistent lifters.

edit: I used .85 of training max for triples week, .9 of training max for doubles week, and .95 for singles week.

[KAG]

I ran a very similar schedule for a group of football players and novice/intermediate lifters and I adjusted the cleans to 3/2/1. We still repped them out. Worked well enough to get two guys doing 250lbs+ for reps and six guys doing 225lbs+ power cleans for reps. There were approximately a dozen semi-consistent lifters.

edit: I used .85 of training max for triples week, .9 of training max for doubles week, and .95 for singles week.

So you found their 1 rep max, then used a high percentage 5/3/1 formula using 3/2/1 rep format, correct?

An issue I currently have is the amount I can get off the ground and racked onto my shoulders is different than the amount I can get using proper technique. So do I just lift until I find my max where my form appears to be solid and then figure out the math?

[Tom Narvaez]

i based it off of a max triple with decent/good form. i then used the triple as the training max because most people triple approximately 90% of their max.

that sounds like a solid approach to me.

[osv2]

Tom, do your guys do 3/3/3 one week, then 2/2/2, and then 3/2/1? Probably not, then what exactly?

[Tom Narvaez]

Actually, that's precisely what we did.

[osv2]

Actually, that's precisely what we did.

Isn't volume too small?

I actually thought about this for my own 5/3/1, and for now ended up with 3х5 @0.75, 2х5 @0.85, and 1х5 @0.95. And I still think that 1х5 is probably too little volume. No?

[Eric Larousse]

on the 333 222 321 do you use heavier percents and not go for amrap or what??

[KAG]

Tom, when using the 3/2/1 program, was the 333+ all done at 85%, then the 222+ all done at 90%, then the 321+ all done at 95%? If so, how much weight did you add at the end of the cycle? 5lbs?

Thanks for the help.

[osv2]

I thought a little bit more about it and it looks like the following gets rather close to the original 5/3/1 idea, but at 3/2/1:

Round1: 3@0.65x1 3@0.75x2 3@0.85x2 = 15 reps total (15 in 5/3/1)
Round2: 2@0.70x1 2@0.80x2 2@0.90x2 = 10 reps total ( 9 in 5/3/1)
Round3: 3@0.75x1 2@0.85х2 1@0.95x2 = 9 reps total ( 9 in 5/3/1)

To make it more uniform, may do 2 sets in the first column instead of 1: a little bit more light work to get technique right as a bonus.