I would quickly like to state once again, my favorite way to approach Olympic lifting in training. For some strange reason, we tend to put the Olympic lifts in the same box that we put every other lift. For metabolic training purposes, this can be ok, for example, a “British Circuit” where an athlete does 10 cleans, 10 front squats, 10 snatches and then 10 back squats with short rest in between each exercise.
When using the Olympic lifts for power development, however, the set-rep scheme becomes a whole new ballgame. Lifting is really used for either one of two things: Recruiting as many motor neurons as possible in a movement similar to what is experienced in sport OR building the size and cross sectional area of the muscles themselves that contribute to the primary sport movement. When Olympic lifting is used for power development, it is typically used for the former… maximal motor recruitment. Not entirely related, but when I employ squats, step-ups, deadlifts, and other static type lifts, I will almost always use them for “athletic hypertrophy” purposes. This means that I’ll typically go for rep ranges of 5-12 and sometimes use tempos on the eccentric phase; the concentric phase is almost always performed explosively, which is the “athletic” part of the hypertrophy. Let’s get back to the Olympic lifts though.
A typical prescription for an educated coach and the Olympic lifts is usually in the vicinity of 6×3 or 8×2 (Prescriptions for most uneducated coaches would be something like 3×10 or 5×5). This is great, but why perform even 2 or 3 reps at once? When you are performing an extremely explosive movement, such as a vertical jump, it is only one rep, all out! This is why I love singles when it comes to Olympic lifting. Some of my favorite prescriptions are 20×1 with 30″ rest at around 70% of the 1RM; 15×1 with 45″ rest at 80% of the 1RM; or 12×1 with 1′ rest and around 85% of 1RM. All out speed on each rep is a must here. Just because you know you have 20 reps doesn’t mean slack on the speed, go hard!
The 20×1 scheme is awesome too, because it can be used to great precision in a periodized coaching system. You can start the year out with 20×1 at 30″ rest, and then work down to 18×1, 16×1, 15×1 with 45″ rest, and so on and so forth. It is very easy to keep track of what you are doing and what the rest intervals and percentages of the one rep max are supposed to be looking like.
I have said this in previous articles, but try this method of lifting, and watch your old PR’s melt away and take yourself to a new level of athleticism. This is, of course, if you use Olympic lifts, which is another area yet to be debated. I (obviously) am in favor of them, but many coaches are not for various (and sometimes good) reasons. If you do use (or are wanting to learn) the Olympic lifts, 20×1 is solid gold, use it!
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