Skinny weed seeks o-lifting advice

[mattyjudo]

Hi guys
As the title suggests I'm not a big or well-built guy, 5'10" and about 70kg. I'd consider myself semi-fit as I've trained judo, BJJ and - if I'm feeling brave - a bit of MMA pretty regularly for years and have practiced (please don't laugh) yoga on a daily basis for a while now too. However I've literally never done any weightlifting in my life before, but have heard quite a bit about olympic lifting and would like to give it a try. There's a few guys I know who can show me the correct techniques but I wanted to ask you lot what sort of weight/reps I should be looking at doing, and how many times per day or week you'd recommend? If anyone could give me the same info with regard to the single arm dumbell variation too that would be great as this is the one I could do with the kit I have at home once I get started.
Thanks very much

[simonmobiledisco]

Hi guys
As the title suggests I'm not a big or well-built guy, 5'10" and about 70kg. I'd consider myself semi-fit as I've trained judo, BJJ and - if I'm feeling brave - a bit of MMA pretty regularly for years and have practiced (please don't laugh) yoga on a daily basis for a while now too. However I've literally never done any weightlifting in my life before, but have heard quite a bit about olympic lifting and would like to give it a try. There's a few guys I know who can show me the correct techniques but I wanted to ask you lot what sort of weight/reps I should be looking at doing, and how many times per day or week you'd recommend? If anyone could give me the same info with regard to the single arm dumbell variation too that would be great as this is the one I could do with the kit I have at home once I get started.
Thanks very much

I recommend reading www.ironaddicts.com Read all the stickies in all the forums. Start with the beginner forum.

Using one of the beginner routines there.

I had incredible increases in strength using "starting strength"and the IA SPBR (Simple Power Based Routine). Don't customise them and read up about nutrition and this is 60-80% of the results and the thing people spend <20% of the time doing it right.

[MMA Nutrition UK]

I wrote an article on this a while back:

http://mmastrengthconditioning.blogs....html?spref=bl

[mattyjudo]

Thanks guys I'll give those a read. Appreciate the input

[Mon]

I have been bodybuilding naturally for ten years and have gained a lot of size and strength in that time. However for functionability, explosive power, athleticism and flexibility, you cannot go wrong with the Oly lifts.

I personally prefer to do the following as opposed to deep clean and jerk and full snatch:
- Hang Clean
- Push Press
- Hang Snatch
- Power Clean
- Overhead Squat.

A lot can be said for all manner of rep ranges and quantity of sets. I would say regards to weights, get your form right first. Get your flexibility right. then build up. It takes a while to get the perfect snatch (I know it sounds rude. *shakes head and chuckles*), and it takes even longer in my opinion to get a good full clean. I prefer power cleans and hang cleans.


This is different but worth mentioning while we're on the subject. A good crossfit style conditioning routine utilizing the benefits of explosive olympic lifting. Its not for strength, but will improve endurance, explosiveness and athleticism, as well as muscle tone and fitness.

Take a relatively light bar for you (As an example my max power clean is 105kg and max push press is 120kg - I use 50kg for this). Then perform 1 rep of power clean and press. Return to the floor and rest 30 seconds. Then do 2 reps. Rest 30s and then 3 reps etc. Continue going until you reach failure at a max reppage. Then rest 30s and drop down a rep (say max at 9, return to 8) and omit the press so its power clean only and floor. Rest 30s, then down one more etc all the way back to 1. So laid out it looks like this for me with 50kg:

Power Clean and Press x 1
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 2
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 3
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 4
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 5
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 6
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 7
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 8
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean and Press x 9
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 8
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 7
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 6
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 5
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 4
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 3
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 2
Rest 30 seconds
Power Clean x 1

Trust me, as you reach your max you will want to stop and half way back down you will be close to tears! It is that hard because it is your personal maximum.
Its a fantastic 25 min workout which will benefit you in many ways especially for fighting and martial arts conditioning, and give you some good traps and delts too! Its also a good tool for strongman competitors for conditioning.