Training methods and planning

On the Classification and Ranking of Weightlifting Exercises

A. S. Medvedev, Cand. Sc. (Pedagogy), Associate Professor, Honoured Master of Sport, State Central Institute of Physical Culture (GTsOLIFK)

English summary of Tyazhelaya Atletika. Ezhegodnik 1982 (Moscow: Fizkultura i Sport, 1982), pp. 19–23: the text is paraphrased, not translated; data tables are given in full with English labels.

Classification

Training twice or three times a day with many exercises calls for a classification suited to planning and computer analysis. The usual groups are competition lifts, special preparatory exercises (lead-up and developmental) and general preparatory exercises. The author regroups the first two into two loads that are logged in separate columns:

• Main load: the competition lifts and their phase-parts. These are closest in technique to the classic lifts, are done with heavy weights and high power, and form the core of training.
• Additional load: developmental exercises with a barbell, on machines or with kettlebells. They act locally, use lighter weights and produce low power.

Ranking: 16 groups

Main

• 1. Classic snatch.
• 2. Squat-style snatch: from the hang, from blocks, standing on a platform, combined, various regimes.
• 3. Power snatch: from the floor and the variants in group 2.
• 4. Snatch pulls: the variants in group 3.
• 5. Classic clean and jerk; squat-style clean from the floor.
• 6. Squat-style clean: the variants in group 2.
• 7. Jerks: from racks, behind the head, push jerk, half-jerk, combined.
• 8. Power clean: the variants in group 3.
• 9. Clean pulls: the variants in group 3.
• 10. Squats: back, front, overhead, combined.
• 11. Bent-knee good mornings, good morning plus jump, deadlifts.
• 12. Pressing: standing press, push presses, bench press.

Additional

• 13. Legs: split squats, jumps with a barbell, leg extensions.
• 14. Back: straight-leg good mornings, back extensions on the horse.
• 15. Arms and shoulders: upright rows, presses behind the head, seated and incline presses.
• 16. Snatch and jerk exercises with less than 60%.

Recording

• The first column holds the group number, not a running number. Sets are entered in six zones: < 60%, 60%+, 70%+, 80%+, 90%+ and 100%+. Bends, pressing and all additional exercises are entered without zones.
• A fraction gives weight over reps, with sets beside it: 90/3 with 4 beside it means 90 kg × 3 reps in 4 sets. Uneven reps are written 90/3, 2, 1, and a miss is crossed out. Combined sets are written 90/2 + 3 + 2. For jerks, cleans and jerks are listed separately: 110/1 + 2.

Table. Training log form (sample entry)

Entries are weight (kg)/reps × sets. No. 5 is a squat-style clean; no. 7 is a jerk with the bar starting on the shoulders. * Cells that do not add up to the printed row totals. No. 15: 90 kg gives 1230 kg against the printed 960, which a first weight of 60 would match. No. 5: 1249 kg against 1252. No. 7: 2026 against 2025. No. 9: 2555 against 2535, which 150 kg would match. Lift counts and column totals are consistent.

Volume and intensity

• Volume is weight × lifts, in kilograms and in number of lifts: 90/3 × 4 gives 1080 kg and 12 lifts. Combined sets count every lift: 90/2 + 3 + 2 gives 630 kg and 7 lifts.
• Jerks count the clean and the jerk: 110/1 + 2 gives 330 kg and 3 lifts. The clean and jerk takes about twice the snatch's work, with two high-power efforts and two recoveries from a low position. The author urges logging cleans and jerks separately everywhere.
• Intensity is judged by three parameters together: mean weight (volume ÷ lifts), the number of 90–100% lifts, and the distribution across zones.
• 90–100% lifts are counted in the classic lifts and in snatches and cleans from the hang, from blocks or from a platform, jerks from racks, push jerks and jerks from behind the head. A miss counts if the bar went overhead in the snatch, touched the chest in the clean, or was clearly driven above the head in the jerk.
• 100% is the heaviest training lift, or failing that the weight the lifter could lift in competition that month. The 90%+ weights are reset each month.

Diary rules

• Use one form per session and enter exercises in the order done.
• Jumps, general physical training, notes (working capacity, speed-strength, technique on a four-point scale), bodyweight and medical data each have their own place. For competitions, record all warm-up and competition attempts.
• A lifter who works in a narrow range with many weights writes the zone number and then all the sets.
• In the sample the additional load (77 lifts, 3380 kg) comprises exercises 15 and 14 plus the sub-60% warm-ups in exercises 3 and 5. A vertical stroke marks off warm-ups and 90–100% lifts.
• Keep the two loads separate in weekly, monthly and yearly totals as well.