PROGRAMS

Dan John Rule of Ten

From about ten years ago…

Ten quality reps a workout is about all I can do.

So, 3 by 3 is great for me, as is 2 sets of 5, or 6 singles.

I only count the real sets though. I remember one guy who said at the Upper Limit Gym that he was doing 5 x 5s, with 4 sets at 135 and one at 225. Well…, I don’t know about that, I look at that as a 1 x 5.

High volume, lots of reps, lots of sets has its place. I had one of my throwers, Mike Slazac, do 8 by 8 in the squat one day a week, military press another, and a back movement another to put on some weight after football season. He grew like a weed on this…for a few weeks. But, not one single set of 8 was with any serious weight!

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My Favorite Training Program of All-time

Week One

Alternate Day One and Day Two three days a week. Week One will have two “Day Ones” and Week Two will have two “Day Twos.” The entire program repeats every third week.

Day One

Warm Up

Overhead Squats A few Sets of Three; Mix in some “Extension Snatches” (From the extended “on the toes” position, pull yourself into the Overhead Squat position

“The Drill” One Power Snatch followed by one Overhead Squat…then, lower the bar to below the knees for one Hang Squat Snatch…then, lower the bar to where it just skims for the floor for one Full Squat Snatch

At least eight sets of the Drill

Front Squat with Chains Five sets of doubles
The two reps focus on speed, but strive for all five sets with the same weight.

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Doing the Movements

An answer to a forum post about the O lifts

Just by doing the lifts…even just the squat variations…you are miles ahead of most people who just talk about them.

As a beginner, do the two O lifts very light multiple times a day. I would recommend a little more than a broomstick, but honestly not much more. Do 3 or 4 sessions a day of maybe 8 sets of two in the snatch or just 4 sets of 2, and 8 sets of singles (or 4 X 1) as many sessions as you can a day. This will get the nervous system and the flexibilty issues taken care of in a hurry.

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The Transformation Program

This is my basic training plan. It is nice “in-season” or when time is an issue.

The Transformation Program

This is a workout that has worked very well for a number of discus throwers/hammer throwers/shot putters that I have trained for the past few years. Its simplicity can really overwhelm an athlete. However, after a few weeks, the athletes always find themselves ‘harder,’ more explosive and ready to compete. We call it the ‘Transformation Program’ because we use it right after either football season or a long period of basic training.

Day One: (Perhaps Monday)

Power Clean & Press: One power clean and eight presses.
3 sets of 8 with one minute rest between sets. If there is a single key to the program, it is the one minute rest period. By strictly monitoring the rest period, and obviously keeping track of the weight, one can track progress.

Power Curls: 3 sets of 8 with one minute rest between sets. Using a curl grip, slide the weight to just above the knees and ‘curl-clean’ the bar. Let it come down under control. Again, get all eight reps in, don’t change the weights, and monitor the rest period.

Some kind of ab work. We used side bends, but any kind of crunch is fine, too. Today, I might recommend One Arm Lifts.

Day Two: (a day or so later, perhaps Wednesday)

Power Clean and Front Squats. One power clean and eight front squats.
Once again, 3 sets of 8 with one minute rest. Stay ‘tall’ in the front squats and keep your elbows high. We usually use this as more of a warm up for the next exercise.

Overhead Squats: 3 sets of 8 with one minute rest. Using the wide snatch grip, lock the elbows with the weight overhead and squat down. Athletes who do this exercise well not only develop flexibility, balance and leg strength, but an incredibly strong lower back. Also, this exercise builds what we used to call ‘Dad strength.’ Growing up, a lot of us used to lift weights all the time but still could not torque a wrench or open a jar like dad, who never did any lifting. Overhead squats make you very strong.

Again, finish with some kind of ab work.

Day Three ( perhaps Friday or Saturday)

Whip Snatches: 3 sets of 8 with one minute rest. With a wide snatch grip, stand up and hold the bar at crotch level. Dip and snatch the bar over head. Continue for 8 reps. You will be surprised how quickly this exercise can get into your blood. If you want big traps and explosion, this is the king.

Clean grip snatches: 3 sets of 8 with one minute rest. With a clean grip, stand up and dip the bar to your knees. Then, explode up driving the bar, in one basic movement, over head. It is like a clean and press, well, without the clean.

Ab work if you wish.

Another day or two a week, we used uphill sprints to train the legs and body This program is a great transition program. You only do each exercise once a week. You work your whole body each workout, but focus on upper body day one, lower body day two, and explosive pulling on day three. Moreover, the workouts are finished very quickly, but still tax the system.

Try to add weight when you can, but use the third set as your basis for adding weight, not the first. You will discover that the culmination of sets one and two really effect the third set.
I hope you consider this program.

Be careful of getting too crazy in the weight room. If all you did was Clean and Press, like the lifters in the Sixties, you could get pretty awesome. 
Clyde Emrich pressed everyday!

The Body as One Piece program

This is a real world program. It took years to develop, so it went through a lot of revisions. I will try to make the stuff that doesn’t make sense, make sense.

Week one
Monday
Power Snatch
6 sets of 3 (18 reps) trying to do two double pyramids
After each set of snatches, immediately do a quick set of light hang or “top” snatches with 30% of your best snatch. Dumbbells can be used here, too. (Think 8-10 reps)
Tuesday
Overload Squats, six heavy sets. Overload squats need spotters. The athlete takes a max or near max weight, fights to go down under control and then is assisted back up. Be sure the athlete comes up quickly! (And does most of the squatting) Reps are supposed to be high, but it really is hard to do more than three to five. Immediately after racking the bar, the athlete does ten vertical jumps, it is best if there is a target to touch (ceiling, rim, top of head, if really tired).
Wednesday
If able, do Power Curls 6 sets of 3, with two pyramids
If fatigued, straight leg deadlifts
Or rest (the first time through, many athletes can’t walk after overload squats)
Thursday
Rest
Friday
Bench Press
6 sets of 3, immediately followed by Push presses with 30% of best bench. Dumbbells don’t work well.

Week two
Monday
Power Snatch
7 Sets of 5 (35 reps, double last weeks volume of reps) followed by 30% quick lifts
Tuesday
Overhead Squats. Reps are five’s. The athlete can do a single “ladder” sets of five to best, or, the double pyramid style of going up once, backing off and going up again. If gym situation permits, mix with exaggerated skipping or bounding
Wednesday
Straight leg deadlifts
Thursday
Rest
Friday
Bench Press
7 Sets of 5, mixed with 30% push presses (again 8-10 on these 30% lifts)

Week three
Monday
Pyramid up to best double in power snatch. No “fuzzy logic” here. Get two reps or it doesn’t count!
Tuesday
Test on vertical jump (jump and reach) and standing long jump. This is more important than it looks. We found the athletes really began to improve here in two cycles.
Wednesday
Power Curls up to a heavy triple
Thursday
Rest
Friday
Oddest thing of the program: Max 8 reps in 8 seconds on Bench. Using a stopwatch, see how much the athlete can bench 8 times in 8 seconds. It takes, perhaps, three cycles to get this right, but it is illuminating when the athlete throws the shot or disc. Improvement here leads to improvement in the throws, and the football field and the …

Week four
Unload
Either rest from weights or do circuit-like training.

The Rosenberg Protocol

Formerly known as the “Lincoln Program”

Thanks to MLL for putting this together.

Day One
Warm Up
Overhead Squats A few Sets of Three
High Pull Cleans
High Pull Snatches

Three sets of Three with weights 5% under best of the lifts.(Do three sets of three clean high pulls followed by three sets of three snatch high pulls from the floor. The emphasis here is on perfect form. Use a weight 5% or UNDER your best clean or snatch. Concentrate on the shrug at the end of the pull.

Back Squat:
You won’t do more than 20 reps total including warm up. Do triples then doubles as the weights get heavier. Your objective is to do one, two or three sets of max doubles. Usually one or two–on those rare occasions when you feel really strong you can do three sets. Thes sets should be just under your limit. You shouldn’t have to REALLY worry about whether you make them.
Military Press …3 sets of three
Situps

Day Two
Warm Up
Overhead Squats A few Sets of Three
Clean Style Deadlifts with a weight that allows you to maintain strict form: 3 sets of 3.
Front Squats:
You won’t do more than 20 reps total including warm up. Do triples then doubles as the weights get heavier. Your objective is to do one, two or three sets of max doubles. Usually one or two–on those rare occasions when you feel really strong you can do three sets. These sets should be just under your limit. You shouldn’t have to REALLY worry about whether you make them.
Military Press …3 Sets of 3

Day Three
Warm Up
Overhead Squats A few Sets of Three
Snatch: With weights from 60-85% depending on how you feel. Twenty singles. Each one perfect. One minute rest in between.
Clean and Jerk: 10 singles 60-85% with one minute rest. All full lifts.
Back Squat:
You won’t do more than 20 reps total including warm up. Do triples then doubles as the weights get heavier. Your objective is to do one, two or three sets of max doubles. Usually one or two–on those rare occasions when you feel really strong you can do three sets. These sets should be just under your limit. You shouldn’t have to REALLY worry about whether you make them.

Do this for three weeks, then take a week off. Don’t do anything!

Then, when you come back, achieve new maxes in squat and proceed as before. You probably could also add some weight to your cleans and snatches and all other lifts still keeping the lifts within ranges specified.

Do this for three more weeks and take five days off and then snatch up to max, clean and jerk up to max.

In other words, you do max lifts only once every two months to check things out…As you relax your way into weightlifting greatness.

Vasily Zhuravlev’s Training Program

In Baton Rouge, Vasily told me that I need to work on my “finish” of my second pull. The next weekend, I failed to listen to him and fractured my wrist. Vasily finishes lifts better than anyone I know and I asked him how he trains.

Day One
Power Snatch plus Squat Snatch (Turn around to other bar on blocks) Plus Box Squat Snatch
2 + 2 + 2
Overhead Squats
Press
Early on in the cycle never go over 70%…don’t go over 70 very often, actually.

Day Two
Power Clean and Front Squat (Two Cleans and Three Front Squats)
Squat Clean from Blocks (turn around to other bar on platform) plus Platform Clean and Jerks
3 SC from Blocks Plus One Clean and Jerk
Clean Pulls from Blocks

Day Three
Snatch from Blocks and Overhead Squats
Five Sets of Three Plus Three
Hang Snatch Plus Squat Snatch
Three Plus Three
Snatch Pull from Blocks…Three Sets of Four

Day Four
Hang Clean Plus Power Clean Plus Front Squat Plus Push Jerk
Three Plus Three Plus Three Plus Three
Clean (Squat Clean)From Blocks (Turn around to other bar on floor)Plus Clean and Jerk from Platform
Three Plus Single