Number One

An Olympic Lifting program is deceivingly tough. It is hard work to spend 1-3+ hours in the gym purely focused on technique and strength work, and it can be even harder to come into the gym every day and work on something that can be mundane, repetitive, and progression-based. When doing a progression-based program, you may do the same thing every single Monday for 4, 6, or even 8 weeks. And every Tuesday, you come in and lace up your shoes and do the same thing as the previous Tuesday, and this goes on every single day for weeks, if not months. The ONLY thing that changes each week is the intensity (percent work), perhaps the volume. You build each week, back-off a bit for a week, then get back to building. Exercises sometimes will change up around week 4, but more likely around week 6-8, or even later (i.e. you start doing hang work instead of block work). 

For someone who is used to a lot of variety in their training, for example, CrossFit®, the transition to an Olympic Lifting-focused program can be challenging because you are not presented with new things each training day. Where CrossFit® has a large array of exercises, skills, and disciplines to cover, Olympic Lifting has snatch, clean & jerk, squats, pulls, and assistance exercises to the main lifts. You have to be okay with the more limited variety of training options, as there is one primary goal: to get as strong and to move as well as possible for the two Olympic Lifts, the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk.

Number Two

You do not go heavy all the time. There may be times in training cycles when you don’t go over 75% for weeks in the main lifts (for this article’s purpose, the main lifts are the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk) due to the focus being on squatting or volume. You have to be okay with staying lighter to focus on your technique. You have to remain diligent during times when weights are lighter so as to focus on other purposes of the cycle during that time. It can be hard to fight the urge to go heavy every day, especially when the weights feel so light, but it is important to trust the program and stay intentional with the movements and weights you are doing. There is a time and place for heavy weights, and it isn’t maxing every day.

Number Three

You have to be motivated and willing to take five steps back in order to take ten steps forward. Sometimes it is so important and necessary to slow down and focus on the little things so that you can progress. This is particularly important if you are trying to become more efficient in your movement, fix technical flaws, become more consistent, build positional strength, or overcome a plateau. A common thought is, “Why do I have to go lighter to focus on technique?”. It is important to work on technique and develop new habits at lighter weights so that you can build positional strength in order to sustain that technique at higher percentages. 

It is common for weights to feel HEAVIER as your technique is getting better, and this is often confusing because you would think as you work on your technique, weights should feel LIGHTER. But something to remember when this happens is you are so used to doing it the wrong way, and that is where you feel best. When you make changes and learn new positions, you have to get used to that, and you have to build positional strength in positions you have never been in before. New can feel foreign, but that feeling doesn’t last. Keep working at it!

Number Four

Taking care of your body outside of training on the barbell is very important. This includes doing accessory work to help with stabilization, joint health, strengthening the supporting, smaller muscles, and working on imbalances and weaknesses — all of which help you get stronger while avoiding injury. It is also important to do stretching, mobility work, and body maintenance such as massage, chiropractor, physical therapy, hot and cold plunges, hot or cold therapy, sauna, foam rolling, etc. (just to name a few). Other things that help you to recover for your training sessions are proper nutrition, fuel timing around training, and sleep!

Number Five

Olympic Weightlifting takes a lot of physical and mental strength, but it also takes patience. It is easy to get frustrated or to think you aren’t making progress day-to-day. But it is important to be patient and know that lifting is a high skill and takes time to develop, especially when you are trying to eliminate bad habits and develop new ones. Focus on the little things each day, be patient, and soon you will see that all those little things are becoming a lot, which is why I always say LITTLE by LITTLE BECOMES A LOT. Each day, we go into the gym with the focus on laying another brick on our foundation. Brick-by-brick, you will see your foundation getting stronger and more stable. You may not see the changes today that you made from yesterday, but soon you will get to a place where you can compare a video from today to a video from a month or even three months ago, and see that you have become a completely different lifter. 

At the same time you are working on your patience, and putting in the work with the barbell, make sure you are taking care of yourself mentally. Watch how you talk to yourself because the negative voice may come in, causing you to doubt yourself, let fear make you afraid of a lift, or have worry and anxiety about your training or a specific lift. It takes a lot of hard work to practice confidence and positive self-talk, but if you can work on your mental strength as much as your physical strength, you will see a difference in your training. Believe in yourself, take the time needed to move better, get stronger, become more confident and consistent, and become an overall better lifter. BE PATIENT, and you will see all your HARD WORK PAY OFF.

BONUS

Trust the program, trust your coach, and trust the process. Don’t add stuff, change percentages, or think you need to do MORE. More is not always better. And remember, if it isn’t written in the program at that time, it was not the intent of your coach to have it in that phase of the program. Ask questions, communicate, and remember — it can be the best program in the entire world, but if you don’t believe in it, it won’t work for you.

I asked some of my HWPO LIFT HARD WORKERS what advice they had for new people starting an Olympic Lifting program, and here is what they said:

“Weightlifting takes a lot of time, patience, drills and technique. [And] “I would recommend working on all of your mobility. These technical lifts take a toll on your body, and if you’re not flexible enough, other parts of your body will suffer the burden.” — Miguel Malave

“It takes time to build strength. Don’t give up in the first couple of weeks/months if you don’t see progress. Trust the process, trust the programming, trust your coaches.” — Hannah Calhoon

“Patience is the biggest piece of advice I would give. Trust the process and know that it’s going to be slow and tedious at times. Enjoy the grind and focus on building the technique before striving to lift as heavy as possible.” — Shelbi Vargauwen

“It’s a gritty sport and takes a very long time, but brick by brick, the small wins are worth every second spent on it.”— David Silva

“I had no coaching prior to this program. I kinda self-taught myself into some BAD habits. Sometimes it takes 4 months for such a minor mistake to be corrected. Go LIGHTER if you need and take your ego out of it.” — Billy Rose

“I’d say listen to your body, and there’s no shame in lower volume. My knee was acting up pretty bad for a while, and I hate to make a huge generalization, but I think what helped it the most was lowering the volume. Don’t be afraid that you’re missing out on gains. I was able to make squat, C&J, and squat PRs at lower volumes. 
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Because weightlifting is complex, it would benefit so much to focus on one thing. Stop looking for every cue in the book and focus on what you feel is the biggest issue first. Focus on that until you can’t forget it every time you approach the bar. Then focus on the next thing until you won’t forget that too. — Damien Hernandez

“Respect the percentages. The heavy days will happen when it's time.” — Fanny Salvail-Bérard