Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting Program a.k.a. "The Supertotal!"

This post corresponds to a two part video series that I am currently working on to post on my YouTube channel (Part 1)(Part 2). It's meant to provide an easy visual reference of the program, so that you can see it all laid out, how everything is ordered, where the rest days go, etc. At the end of the post I will also talk about the program's progression system as well as detail a few other considerations and some rationalizations for why things are the way they are. I will cover all of these things in part 2 of the video series as well.

Let's take a look at the program...

• Session 1 - Sunday
• Back squat (high bar)
• ramp up to 5rm
• Clean & Jerk
• ramp up to heavy single
• drop 30-50lbs and perform 3-5 doubles

• Session 2 - Monday
• Snatch
• ramp up to heavy single
• drop 30-50lbs and perform 5-7 triples
• Bench press
• ramp up to 5rm
• drop 20-30lbs and perform 2-3 sets of 5 reps
• Rear delt/upper back work
• 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps

• Session 3 - Wednesday
• Back squat (high bar)
• use 85% of best set of 5 from Session 1
• perform 5 sets of 5 reps
• Deadlift
• use 80% of current max
• perform 6-10 sets of 3 reps

• Session 4 - Friday
• Power snatch
• ramp up to heavy triple
• drop 20-40lbs and perform 3-5 triples
• Power clean
• ramp up to heavy triple
• drop 20-40lbs and perform 3-5 triples
• Bench press
• use 90% of best set of 5 from Session 2
• perform 5 sets of 5 reps
• Rear delt/upper back work
• 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps

Progression: 

One thing to note on this program is that your legs are going to be doing a lot of work, probably more work than they're used to. They will feel tired at first, but eventually they will adapt to the workload. Part of the beauty of the program is that all of the progressions (except for the deadlift) are auto-regulated. The heavy squat and bench work is done at the beginning of the week, in the first 2 sessions, and is regulated by only working up to the bets set of 5 that the body is capable of on that day. Later in the week, the sub-maximal work is done by taking a percentage of what was done on the heavy days. 

The same goes for the Oympic lifts. You only go as high as you are capable of that day, and your rep work is based on your daily max.

This type of progression accounts for daily fluctuations in strength and technical proficiency, and so you should concern yourself less with the actual weight on the bar each session, and more with getting in quality work and eliciting a training effect. The important thing is that there is a general upward trend over time, but not necessarily from session to session.

This auto-regulation allows this program to be used for a long period of time, rather than the typical 8-12 week cycles seen in many programs.

As for the deadlift, I recommend moving up slowly. Start at 80% and add 10lbs every other week or so. The main point here is that all reps should be smooth, with the focus being on good bar speed and perfect form. If either of these is lost, you attempted too much weight. There should never be any real strain while deadlifting on this program as doing so would make it impossible to recover for the net session. 

Exercise order:

The heaviest work is performed at the beginning of the week in sessions 1 and 2. Sessions 3 and 4 are either more volume based/use lower intensities, or use exercises that necessitate a lower load by their very nature.

In session 1, squats are done before clean & jerks because we care more about making progress in the squat and we want to maximize this work by doing it while we're at our freshest.

In session 2, it is necessary to snatch first because the snatch is the most technical lift we'll be doing and we cannot be fatigued while we do it.

I tried to place exercises that would create overlap as far from each other as possible, but there's only so much that can be done when one needs to squat, deadlift, bench, snatch, and clean multiple times in a week. Some soreness will have to be worked through.

Rest periods:

Take as much time as is necessary between sets, anywhere from 3-5 minutes is acceptable. The main goal is to build strength and that requires putting in the work in a quality fashion, not doing sets rapid fire to crank the heart rate up. The strength days may require more rest than the volume days; the C&J may require more rest than the snatch. Some of it is trial and error and some of it personal preference, but never lose sight of the main goal. These workouts are not exactly quick, and will probably take anywhere from about 90 minutes to 2 hours to complete depending on a myriad of factors. But such is the reality of chasing dual goals.

Rest days:

The rest days are placed where they are for a reason. When the legs adapt, one can easily snatch the day after squatting and cleaning, however, it is prudent to take a day off after these two back to back heavy sessions.

After taking a day off, one should feel somewhat refreshed for Session 3, but the combination of squatting and deadlifting in this session requires a rest day after it.

On the surface Session 4 seems like a tough session due to 3 different exercises all being performed at a moderate volume, however none of the exercises are that tough to recover from. The power snatch/power clean are generally considered to be "easier" on the body both mentally and physically than are the full versions of the lifts, so they won't create too much of a recovery deficit. Nor will the bench press as it is far and away the least stressful of the 3 powerlifts. Thus, a rest day after this session ensures that we start the next week off fresh and ready to wreck shit.

Drawbacks:

Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting are both their own sports where men and women who focus solely on each endeavor lift insane amounts of weight in their respective lifts. To attempt to train both at the same time is essentially attempting to ride 2 horses with your 1 ass and will lead to sub-optimal results in both. There are simply too many demands from each one to be able to couple the two without leaving out some key aspects for progress in each.

Olympic Weightlifting is especially benefitted by high frequency. Since the lifts are so technique dependent, the more often you can perform them, ultimately the better off you will likely be. In this instance, we only really have enough time/energy to perform the full lifts once each week and the power versions once each week. This is not going to lead to optimal progress.

The powerlifts on the other hand are probably best done at a moderate frequency, but coupled with several accessory exercises for the individual muscle groups involved. While also performing the O-lifts, however, we don't have the time for this accessory work and as a result our progress on the squat/bench/deadlift will eventually suffer. 

Final considerations:

I'm not bashing the program. I wrote it and I think it's a good program or I wouldn't have published it. It may not make you an elite powerlifter or a nationally ranked weightlifter, but it will make you all around strong and powerful, and for the majority of the population that's a win/win. And as far as maximizing your supertotal goes, this is a damn good, long-term template that can be followed for years.

Try it out and let me know what you think!