You Can't Rush the Harvest

Sorry to bust your bubble, but you can't add 40 kilos to your squat overnight.  It takes time and a lot of small incremental gains to reach a twice bodyweight squat.

When training, several people have approached me and asked the same question, "How did you get strong?"  Now, I would argue that I'm not anything special, although I have squatted double bodyweight for multiple sets of five AFTER an hour of snatches and cleans, but this is child's play compared to the numbers of some other big-time weightlifters.  Nonetheless, my response is always the same, "Patience and stubbornness."

If I were to address the biggest problem that I see holding back these people's strength numbers, it would be their unnecessarily complicated "Secret Squirrel Super Hybrid" training program, as John Welbourn calls it.  These programs often fail to produce results, because they are unable to balance training frequency, intensity and volume.  Quite simply, if someone does not have at least a year of consistent training with linear progression, they are leaving a lot of strength on the table, particularly in the squat.  This is a huge no-no for weightlifting, as all the other lifts – the classic lifts as well as their respective power variations – are derived, at least to some degree, from the squat.  For this reason, I call the squat an individual's "denominator strength," and I have never come across anyone who is too strong.

A basic linear progression in the squat would look very similar to Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength template, i.e. working up to three sets of five across on three non-consecutive days each week, with two kilo adds between training sessions.  If a person is squatting as part of a larger Olympic weightlifting program, the squatting would occur after any prescribed snatch or clean work.  In my opinion, a beginner should snatch, clean and squat every workout, even if the reps are performed with only an empty barbell or pvc pipe.  Consistency is integral for developing fast and efficient pull lines, end of discussion.

Eventually, every individual will need to reduce their inter-workout jumps to only one kilo, but this is not a big deal.  Successfully adding one kilo every workout for a standard six-week training block (18 training sessions total) would still produce an 18-kilo gain, that's roughly 36 pounds for my American powerlifting friends.

Linear progression is not ideal for the snatch and clean and jerk due to the technical components of these particular lifts, but I would still argue that taking it slow is the most efficient way to skin the cat over the long run.  Donny Shankle recommends never repeating a PR in training, but instead always going for one kilo more.  I've adhered to this philosophy for quite some time now, and I think it's excellent advice.  PRs build confidence, and confidence builds PR. thus this approach is a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Three sets of five across, three days per week, for at least one year, preferably two.  When a person starts missing reps, they should not get frustrated and scrap the program.  Everyone is human, and everyone runs out of recovery capacity at some point.  Glenn Pendlay recommends dropping 7-8 percent, sometimes more, off the heaviest sets, and then working back up towards that previous PR.  Hopefully, in six weeks or so, that individual is challenging his previous best. Just keep rinsing and repeating this process. It isn't terribly interesting. It isn't terribly sexy. But it does make you strong, and that is the goal of many.

Stay patience, stay the course, and fight like a wounded grizzly bear for those one- and two-kilo adds.