Hello new Weightlifters and Coaches!
Getting off your couch and to Youth Nationals may be simpler than you think. We, at Hassle Free Barbell Club, have had the pleasure of having thousands of kids come through our program and we believe that we have figured out a foolproof way to get kids off the couch and into Youth Nationals shape in twelve weeks!
We are combining general fitness and a simple weightlifting process to achieve the desired total for Youth Nationals and to improve overall fitness. We utilize a daily dynamic warm up and 3 to 5 weekly workouts with recovery days in between. Recovery can be playing other sports, walking, biking, yoga, basically any movement related activity. This first block lasts 5 weeks and consists of the basic Olympic lift progressions. They make up the majority of the fundamentals when first learning the lifts. You will work on the simplest way to learn the Olympic lifts with basic progressions split up so that there is no combination of movements to reduce confusion. The simplest schedule would be Olympic lifts on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and recovery on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. Sunday is reserved for family as well as mental and physical rest. If you feel motivated, you can review with just the bar.
Day 1
Workout 1: Clean Progression
Day 2
Active Recovery
Day 3
Workout 2: Snatch Progression
Day 4
Active Recovery
Day 5
Workout 3: Jerk Progression
Day 6
Active Recovery
Day 7
Rest
The next block consists of three weeks of four workouts per week with two added strength days. You will complete two rotations at the end of the three weeks. These five rotating workouts can be done one after another with a day in between or every two days if you want to get an extra day in. The format is incredibly easy to follow, there are three weightlifting workouts labeled 1,2,3 and two strength workouts labeled A and B that can be done in between your numbered workouts . Those five workouts can alternate in whatever fashion deemed appropriate, Ideally workout 1, then A strength, a recovery day then workout 2 followed by the B strength workout, another recovery day combined with a rest day and lastly workout 3 to start the next week. To get 4 workouts in a week you would do 1/A/2/B in week one then 3/A/1/B followed in week two by 2/A/3/B in week 3. This would complete your 2 full cycles of review. In this block you’ll combine Clean and Press, Push Press and Jerk along with Snatch and Overhead Squats. You’ll also use the behind the neck position for the overhead press, push press and jerks in conjunction with the position in front.
Day 1
Workout 1: Clean Progression
Day 2
Strength: A Workout
Day 3
Active Recovery
Day 4
Workout 2: Snatch Progression
Day 5
Strength: B Workout
Day 6
Active Recovery
Day 7
Rest
Day 8
Workout 3: Jerk Progression
Day 9
Strength: A Workout
Day 10
Active Recovery
Day 11
Workout 1: Clean Progression
Day 12
Strength: B Workout
Day 13
Active Recovery
Day 14…
Rest
The last workout block consists of another 3 weeks with a competition preparation week on week 4. You will get 5 workouts in a week with a recovery day on Thursday and rest on Sunday. You would get through all the workouts 1-3 along with A/B as the strength workouts in between: 1/A/2/B/3. This follows the pattern of block 2 except you are doing all the workouts in one week.
Day 1
Workout 1: Clean Progression
Day 2
Strength: A Workout
Day 3
Workout 2: Snatch Progression
Day 4
Active Recovery
Day 5
Strength: B Workout
Day 6
Workout 3: Jerk Progression
Day 7
Rest
The competition preparation week is back down to 3 workouts with a competition on the weekend. You will eliminate the combination component in this block as you slowly take the volume down for competition. Since you are very new to this we don’t use percentages to limit intensity but we can limit repetitions. This basically ensures that you are recovered for the competition weeks and avoiding neuromuscular fatigue leading up to the competition. The volume goes down and the technical proficiency should improve throughout the workout.
This is the only change you would do: workout 1 followed by rest, workout 2 followed by rest and then a light combo of workout 1 and 2 (labeled 4) . Competition day follows which marks the first time they will Snatch and Clean & Jerk on the same day!
Day 1
Workout 1
Day 2
Rest
Day 3
Workout 2
Day 4
Rest
Day 5
Light combo of Workout 1 & 2
Day 6 or 7
Competition Day
Please reach out if you need program specifics!!