olympic lifts and linear progression

[Blah3]

Hey Rip

Im interested in doing linear progression including the olympic lifts and have been reading that people are doing well on it. Is there any possibility you could help me out in how i should go about adding these lifts?

[Mark Rippetoe]

What have you read that people were doing who were doing well? Do that. You have been posting here quite some time; how much progress have you made on your linear progression already?

[JLascek]

Are you the guy from my website asking about this?

[Blah3]

JLascek and Brian from 70sbig.com seem to be doing pretty well in doing this. I do realise that have been training for quite some time now and if the novice linear progression should be done first before any olympic lifts added so be it i will continue doing so. The reason i ask is that i train at a weightlifting gym and did do quite a few weightlifting programs given to me by my coach and loved doing the lifts. However I did lose alot of weight in doing this and i feel they had no real strength base through the major barbell exercises even giving reps of 4 which i read you hate. He also completely cut out any deadlifting, bench and presses. I really want to continue getting strong and gain more muscular weight but also do the olympic lifts that i enjoy.

I have recently started back on the novice linear progression due to alot of personal problems that have been going on but have managed to get back up to:

130kg squat
150kg deadlift
100kg bench
90kg powerclean
80kg press

JLascek yes that was me.

[Mark Rippetoe]

I do not "hate" sets of 4 reps. I have found that 5 works better. And I'd like for someone who considers themselves an Olympic weightlifting coach to explain to me in a convincing way why a sport that is won by lifting the most weight should not involve the basic strength exercises for those athletes that are not already very strong. I'd especially like to know how the snatch, the clean, and the jerk develop this strength, since American weightlifting programs like yours have placed us out of the top 20 teams in the world for more years than I care to remember.

[Blah3]

Exactly! I have fought and fought with him on how important the lifts are but he wont add them to the program. This is the only gym in my area that lets these lifts happen. Only other are globo type gyms that wont let me powerclean so i have to stay there.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Is there CrossFit facility nearby?

[Blah3]

there is but quite a bit away... not close enough to train at regulary.

i told my coach that i was going to do the barbell lifts or im gone and hes happy for me to do that but i would love to do the olympic lifts that i had come to love aswell as get strong on main lifts. could crossfit help with this? is there a basic program i could start with and tweak as i become more knowledgable?

[zephed56]

Can't you just tell him "yeah..ok" and start doing your heavy squats/bench/presses/DL's anyways to bring your strength up? Try that, it's a hard play to beat.

[Mark Rippetoe]

could crossfit help with this? is there a basic program i could start with and tweak as i become more knowledgable?

I'm not recommending that you do CF, but their facilities will have bumpers and bars so that you can train somewhere else. The problem with them is that most are priced outside the limits of a typical lifter's budget because they all want to sell you a class, not access to a gym.