I’m not sure how serious you want to be as a coach or Weightlifter but I know for myself I do. To be honest, I wish I can be a Weightlifting scientist like the Soviet coaches of the USSR because they produced the strongest Weightlifters of all time. Lifters like Taranenko, Pisarenko, Vardanyan, Khrapty, and so many more are just a handful of lifters that the Soviet system was able to produce yet were some of the strongest of all time. And the Soviets made it seem as if they could do it everytime any generation. Fast forward today, the USSR is no longer but Russia remains and it’s former Soviet satellite countries are still producing some of the strongest Weightlifters. It’s no surprise because those countries have the coaches and systems still in place as they did during the times of the USSR.
So I ask myself, how can we get better at Weightlifting and challenge for new records?
Are we going to get better with better technique? Maybe.
What if your technique is already good? Is more technique training going to make a difference? Probably not.
The Soviet Union were successful not because their lifters had the best technique but because they were the strongest. Weightlifting is a strength sport. Don’t be fooled when someone else says that it’s all about technique. Technique is part of it but technique won’t make you stronger per say.
If Weightlifting is all about technique then why are there weight classes?
Why do Weightlifters take steroids if it’s all about technique?
Is steroids going to make your technique better therefore allowing you to lift more?
The Soviets left clues to their success. They documented everything during training in order to achieve the highest results possible. They studied over 700 highly qualified Weightlifters and measured everything. I mean they measured how many lifts to execute to reach a certain result. They measured the ideal volume for training, ideal volume for competition training cycle, ideal percentage loads for training, they measured body fat percentages, vertical jump tests and much more.
I have been reading the Soviet Training manual titled “Managing the Training of Weightlifters.” by N.P. Laputin. This is a Soviet training manual in scientific language that was translated in the 80’s by Bud Charniga of Sportivny Press and now available for all to read and use. The manual gives you the following:
- How to organize training for maximum results
- Ideal training percentages
- Ideal volume per training cycle
- How to calculate a potential new result in the snatch or clean n jerk
The most important benefit from this manual is learning how to optimize your results by optimizing training. Take the guesswork out of training and become a better coach by learning how to be a scientist. I continue to come back to this manual and take from it knowledge so that I can be the best lifter I can be and to be the best coach I can be. Available at Dynamic Fitness or Westside Barbell.
Respectfully,
Josue Cano
Snatch, Clean and Jerk 