May 2012 Challenge:

1.Get back to training, and hit a 185KG squat
2. Do a warrior pose #3
3. Push Press 125KG

Part 5: Specific Exercises and Usage in a Chinese Model

Specific Exercises and Usage in a Chinese Model

1. Snatch & supplementary work
2. Clean and Jerk & supplementary work
3. Pulls and its usage
4. Squats and its usage

It may be the bodybuilding culture, but in many Western countries, the first question they ask when an athlete’s weak in a particular segment of the lift is “What muscle is weak?” If you keep going like that, you’re never going to pinpoint the question because you’ll be using assistance lifts that don’t mimic the lifting, but rather the muscle. Weightlifting is a skill, so the moment you realize a weak spot, do something that addresses that spot. You can use partials, pauses, technique work with light weights, but do them slow. It’s NOT, I repeat, NOT about just executing an exercise. It’s all about executing the technique with perfection. If you’re doing hypertrophy work, it’s perfectly fine to cheat in form, so you can bang a few extra reps to fatigue and tear the fibres. In weightlifting, is not fine.

You need to increase your “usable” strength. It’s pointless if you increase your squats and pulls, but it cannot translate to the classic lifts. Always ensure that, when your strength rises, your technique is capable of taking advantage of this increase. That’s why someone has to tell Louie Simmons that the box squat doesn’t directly translate to increased snatch and CNJ’s. It’s not of usable strength to a weightlifter though it means you can improve your parallel squat.

Snatch & Supplementary

The snatch is obviously the main exercise. In the snatch, everything must be perfect and precise from the start. In our training, the feeling was emphasized. Coaches can’t “place” the feeling into you, but via their description and manipulating of the body’s angles, (EG: pushing you slightly backwards to load the hips, pulling the chest up to have a straighter torso angle) you ought to be able to get good positions.

In the snatch, the emphasis is on the first pull. Not the second pull. Without a good first pull, you can forget about a good second pull. You don’t have the position.

 

Strong as hell but just not in the right position.

A good angle where much of the load is supported by the quad, hip and lower back in the first pull and the athlete stays pretty flat footed right until the bar passes his knee. About 3 inches before the “pocket”, the bar starts to accelerate and load is shifted back to the middle. This is done by pushing the hip forward and the shoulders are pulled backwards. Throughout the whole movement, rhomboids must be kept extremely tight but shoulders stay loose. This process is generally thought to be natural. It isn’t exactly something we teach. In Chinese, it’s called “Ze ran”. I’m just detailing it for you technique Nazis.

When the bar is at the pocket, remember your loose shoulder, tight rhomboids? This is when you “open” your shoulders and chest upwards so you’d be able to produce the pop, keep it close and accelerate under the bar. From there, catch as high as you can and stick to it. Don’t drop. It’s not a maximum weight and you should be able to stop the bar from pushing you under. If you can’t, push your head out and push your shoulders back some more. That ought to help you get it in place.

Here are some errors and how they fix them.

Swinging of bar forward

Potential cause and correction:

- Extended wrist instead of flexed or neutral wrist.

Correction: Cock wrist inwards to body. Tight grip, but relax forearms and arms.

- Loose and rounded shoulders and rhomboid instead of locked in rhomboid and loose shoulders.

Correction: Imagine a pencil on the midback and attempt to pinch that pencil. Forces shoulders downwards and into the socket. Wriggle shoulders to ensure it remains loose but rhomboids are locked.

- Hyper extension. Weak legs and hips. Uses back to swing bar for more height.. Could be a technique, not necessarily an error.

- Bar too far from body in first pull. Back weak, and unable to support upright structure, hips drive up but chest stays low, swinging of back at last minute causing bumping of bar. Bumping of bar instead of “scooping” or “popping”. Could be because of weak quads OR bad technique, thus load is shifted into hips and hamstrings while chest stays low.

- Correction: Most squats and pulls from block. Focus on pausing right before the “pocket” and then consciously drive the bar up.

There are a few other causes of this but these are the most common ones. Mostly, pulls and front squats should fix them.

Lack of stability in overhead squat position

Potential cause and correction:

- Lack of shoulder, ankle and hip flexibility. Bar cannot be placed where it needs to.

Correction: Besides the obvious PNF, static, dynamic and weighted stretch, do snatch balances and overhead squats. Overhead squats for newbies, snatch balances for those who are more comfortable.

Overhead squats do not actually mimic the dynamic nature of a snatch but is good as a confidence builder.

Snatch balances are far better. It’s my coach’s estimation that your snatch balances ought to be equal to your jerk. I’ve never hit a 140KG snatch balance with a 140KG jerk, but he does have a video of a 180KG snatch balance while his jerk’s still 170KG.
Remember to push your head as far forward as possible and drive the bar up and back. This helps keep the bar locked in the centre and eases the squatting up.

Clean and Jerks error and it’s corrections

Weak drive when doing jerks

Potential cause and correction:

- Weak upper back and trunk. Unable to keep trunk arched thus causing a curve.

Correction: Keep the elbows up high in the sky consciously before jerking. Exercise to correct this, jerk drives. Get anything above 110% of your 1RM max jerk, and dip and drive while constantly maintaining a straight trunk. Load the hips and quads fully and explode upwards. Repeat this for 10-12 reps at the lighter weights to your 3RM
This used to be my MOST hated exercise because it was partial in movement, but painfully heavy. It hurt to do anything. It’s usually to match your max 1RM back squats.

- Insufficient upper body strength and lack of leg drive

Solution: Push presses! Push presses force you to throw the head back, drive hard and push the bar straight. There is barely any room for error. For those who are thinking “Why not just rack jerks? It’s similar to a jerk and you can use more weight”
It’s simple. Has that worked for you? Would you rather ram into the same wall and eventually break it after much ramming, or would you rather ram the wall with an additional tool?

Crashing of bar in a clean

Potential cause and correction:

-  You’re a retarded (I admit) lifter that tried to increase weights lifter too quickly. It’s when you rush the learning process and try to increase too quickly, that’s when you over-pull the bar and it comes crashing right into you.

- You can’t keep your trunk tight enough. You’ve estimated the right height of which the bar hits its maximum height but your back curved and it comes crashing right in. Then you strain trying to get your chest up.

Correction: Spend time with the empty bar or empty stick, and the entire clean process is executed perfectly and slowly, meaning perfect receiving height, sitting right down before standing up with a perfectly straight back. Repeat this for at least 50 repetitions before your clean and jerk day and another 100 reps after for skill practice.

Also, stretch your ankles. Flexible ankles cure cancer so I’m sure it’ll help your clean technique.

Pulls & Variations

The pull that many are accustomed to is one. Pull and shrug.

In the Chinese dictionary, there are tonnes of them. The Chinese break the pull into segments. Floor to below knee, to knee, to above knee, right before pocket, to pocket, from mid shin to above knee, etc. We just do something that fixes the weak segment, with less concern on “What muscle is weak”. It could be your brain muscles that are weak, causing you to constantly misfire.

The percentages in pulls, from the Chinese POV, is just to lift to a 1 or 2RM and then drop the weights slightly and complete a few sets for triples. Triples seem to be the average for most Chinese lifters. For those who are into percentages, I think between 110-140% of your snatch and clean are good numbers. Generally we’ll go up to 150% for a set or two of singles and then doubles and sets of triples at 110-140%. No really sure though. I don’t use percentages. Usually, a good rule of the thumb is to let the repetitions determine the weight. That really simplifies the whole programming.

In the Chinese system, the snatches and CNJ’s are usually broken into separate days. They usually start shifting into snatch and CNJ about 8 weeks before a competition. In a snatch workout, it could be;

Morning – Power snatch (6×3), snatch balance (5×3), push press behind neck (6×3), some bodybuilding
Evening – Snatch 1RM then (5×2-3) snatch pull or snatch deadlifts (6×3), block snatch high pull with rebend (8×3), snatch practice along with some random shoulder presses or dips or pull-ups (30 minutes)

Now this is merely a guide for those who are used to sets and reps. Actual volume can and is usually much greater than this, and athletes usually use how they feel and time blocks. For example, 1 ¼ hours is spent snatching, 40 minutes snatch pulling, 30 minutes block snatching and 30 minutes of practice. During this period, they try to take as many sets, reps and weight as possible.

Squats

3 main exercises are used. Back squats, front squats and snatch balances. The snatch balance is more to achieve maximal depth, trunk strength and stability when snatching. Squatting is usually done 3 times in a week for the well balanced lifter, 5 times a week if the lifter always gets pinned and up to one every session if the lifters are really weak. The Chinese do squats in numerous ways.

I’ll try explaining a few

Squat Loading The Chinese Way

One is to go to a 1RM, and repeat for sets of triples. The triples are usually fluid and rarely ever exceedingly difficult. Weights selected are types that you would miss if you didn’t pay full focus, but if focus is solid it should be fine. The emphasis is on technique and speed in standing up.

Another is to go to a 1-2RM, repeat, for 3 sets with a spotter. Drop weights to a 5RM for 2 sets, and ramp the weights back up again to another 1-2RM and see if it’s better than the original 1-2RM. Then do a few sets of 3-5 reps. I see this quite a bit too.

What they like to do is rack squats from the weakest point. I think the powerlifting group like to call it “Pin squats” We use jerk racks, and weight plates/platforms. The plates/platform increases the height so we have to squat lower. There we just drive the weights up and usually with no concern on eccentric lowering. Reps between 1-5.

Many methods are employed, but the gist is to work really hard at the squats. That’s the only way you’ll improve really.

 

Related posts:

1. Part 4: The Periodization Model