Although I have explained this before in various places, I keep getting the same basic question, (what is your program?) and I am going to tackle the question again, hopefully in a more effective way than I have done in the past.
Step One: The backbone of our program is 3 main workouts, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon. These our our 3 heaviest workouts on the snatch and clean and jerk. Friday is always the competitive lifts, while the other two might be some variation, like lifts off a box or from the hang. But whatever variations are done these are definitely the three heaviest workouts, the sessions where we definitely expect lifts over 90 percent to be lifted, the emphasis is usually to get to the heaviest single possible on the lifts we are doing, then do some back-off sets. Exact sets and reps on the two lifts can change depending on the lifter, or the particular needs of a lifter, but we are always going heavy on the competitive lifts or close variations.
Step Two: We do a morning workout Monday through Friday. These workouts are normally not as heavy, and normally concentrate more on doubles rather singles. We often do the power versions of the lifts on these workouts, and often go to max. But, max on a power version is usually only 80 to 90 percent of a full lift. And when we do the full lifts or any other variation we will not normally go heavier than what the athlete can do for a power version. We also end these workouts with an overhead strength exercise. Push presses are the most widely used, but based on the individual lifter it could be presses, push presses, power jerks, or jerks. These workouts add a lot of the overall training volume, and the exercises are more variable than in the afternoon, to address the individual needs of particular athletes.
Step Three: Now we are talking about squats. Although they are last here, they certainly are not last in importance. Squatting is usually programmed with one thing in mind, what is going to keep the squat moving upwards with the least interference with the rest of training as possible. Often a program like the Texas Method can make this happen, but, we do add one more session to accomplish this. A Saturday session where squatting is prioritized and done first, followed only by overhead strength work like pressing or push pressing, or jerk practice. We do the volume workout on Monday, the “light” workout on Wednesday, and the intensity day on Saturday where we are always trying to make some sort of a PR. The first two squat sessions can be done in either the morning or the afternoon sessions, whichever fits that particular lifter the best.
If we get to the point that TM squatting is not increasing the squat, we go to something different, often something that might at least temporarily interfere with the competitive lifts. But the squat has to move up, so then if that needs to happen, so be it. There are a lot of options. The Smolov program is one. It is a 4 day a week program of back squats, and it is high enough in volume that it needs to be done during the Mon, Wed, Fri morning training sessions during the week, then Saturday. Another option is frequent max effort front squats. Find what works to get your squat up. There is no one best way here, just find what works and remember, the squat HAS to move up or you need to find another way.
There it is in a nutshell.
July 21st, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Simple, but pretty damn brilliant.
July 21st, 2013 at 6:44 pm
I will start off saying I am not a coach, I am solely speaking from my personal experience: (specifically during deployment when I had too much downtime).
One thing that that I experimented with was doing heavy sets from the hang (by heavy I mean 2repX4/5 sets, or 3×4/5). I didn’t have boxes. Those partials were always heavier than my best power variations. Matter of fact, I could go heavier on the partial lifts, than floor lifts.
Therefore, I think, you could have some of your athletes play with doing their partials (hang/boxes) heavier than their power version. I am sure you will good results,
July 21st, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Sergio, we do have some guys who can go slightly heavier from a box or hang. When we do them on Mon or Wed afternoon, we go right up to the heaviest they can get. When we do them in the morning we do them to max if we are using the power version, or, right up to the power max for reps if we are doing the full squat version.
July 21st, 2013 at 8:38 pm
I really saw improvements with these partials, either full squat or power version. Are u noticing differences in the results from the group of athletes?
July 22nd, 2013 at 9:58 am
well, not really because I have always programmed them like that, so it is not really any difference.
July 22nd, 2013 at 3:31 am
So you’re doing an overhead strength lift every morning from Monday to Saturday? Did I understand it correctly? But I guess that the weights will be light, won’t they?
July 22nd, 2013 at 9:59 am
No, I was unclear about that. We only do them on Tuesday and Thursday mornings… and then on the Saturday workout.
July 22nd, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Coach, do you alternate front and back squat by the week, or do you alternate them daily? Meaning, is week one solely back squats and week two only front squats (then week three returns to back squats), or is Monday dedicated to back squats and the next squat session in the week for front squats?
July 22nd, 2013 at 6:19 pm
If we are doing TM, back squats on Mon and Sat are back squats, FS are done on Wed. that is our most common program.
July 23rd, 2013 at 5:34 am
Thanks for answering, Coach!
July 23rd, 2013 at 2:36 am
[…] https://glennpendlay.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/how-we-train/ […]
July 23rd, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Needs more heavy Deadlifts at least 4 times a week. Heavy Squats every day to failure.
July 24th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
[…] Pretty good insight as to how Team Muscledriver trains the Olympic lifts […]
July 25th, 2013 at 11:36 am
[…] How We Train. (glennpendlay.wordpress.com) […]
July 30th, 2013 at 9:00 pm
[…] Pendlay, coach to many elite level olympic lifters, wrote an article called “How We Train”, where he sas, “Find what works to get your squat up. There is no one best way here, just find […]
August 1st, 2013 at 11:25 am
Glenn- Thank you for sharing this again. Didn’t see anything for Tues and Thurs afternoon. what do they look like? Thanks.
August 4th, 2013 at 4:24 am
[…] Pendlay, head coach and vice president of Muscledriver USA on how he trains his athletes. MDUSA won the best team award at the Nationals last weekend and had four lifters on the podium so […]
August 4th, 2013 at 6:02 pm
[…] How Glenn Pendlay Programs for Weightlifters Why CrossFit is Awesome 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games: Seven Great Moments to Remember Hips Don’t Lie: They’re Stronger Than You Are Arbitrary Thoughts on Posture, Trust, Control, and Trainery vs Slavery […]
August 16th, 2013 at 8:54 pm
Coach Pendlay, will you write an article detailing when you would choose to incorporate Smolov instead of TM and how you do it? Thanks!
September 19th, 2013 at 4:57 am
I am truly glad to read this blog posts which 😉
September 23rd, 2013 at 5:12 am
How many rep per set, Coach?
October 8th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
[…] How We Train. […]
October 10th, 2013 at 8:30 am
thanks for this, so little about your training routines out there. one thing you did not touch on is whether you deload/taper down. do you just train constantly balls to the wall, do you have a deload every 4 weeks, train for an 8-12 week mesocycle and then take time off for supercompensation?
December 4th, 2013 at 9:28 pm
Glenn,
I may be over looking this but are Tuesdays and thursdays basically 1 session a day, whether it be morning or afternoon. Thank you for the article.
January 6th, 2014 at 7:15 am
[…] Glenn Pendlay and Greg Everett’s stuff, they both seem to like using push presses as opposed to OHP for […]
January 15th, 2014 at 1:41 am
Hi coach Pendlay, I am wondering about protein intake.should oly lifters use the 1 gram per pound of body weight ?? I weight apprx. 205 lbs. how can possibly eat all that in a day?? do you recommend protein powder?? I do take BCAA’s and thats all…Please respond if you can. Thanx
May 1st, 2014 at 2:00 am
[…] training plan – per GP https://glennpendlay.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/how-we-train/ […]
November 26th, 2014 at 9:45 pm
Excellent article. I really like to read about the ways other people train. Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Canelo
http://www.supplements-online.com
May 8th, 2020 at 5:20 am
[…] 不過畢竟Pendlay Glenn是舉重教練,因此他只將德州訓練納入整體訓練的一部分,大多用在蹲舉動作,並且很少臥推,此外當德州訓練法不大管用時,他則會採用一周4天的斯莫洛夫深蹲訓練(Smolov program)來持續產生進步。 […]
August 15th, 2020 at 7:03 am
[…] Pendlay, coach to many elite level olympic lifters, wrote an article called “How We Train”, where he sas, “Find what works to get your squat up. There is no one best way here, just find […]