Beginner Olympic Weightlifting Routine: A Realistic Approach

When most people first start learning about how Olympic Weightlifters train, they hear horror stories of twice a day training, 6 days a week where you do heavy squats at EVERY session. And while elite level Olympic Weightlifters often really do train like that, they didn’t always.

No beginner could ever hope to make any progress on a routine that brutal. In fact, I’m not all that sure that most elites could make progress on a routine that brutal unless they were on steroids or were blessed with the greatest possible genes—most of us weren’t.

And while to some of us, reading these routines can be inspirational, to a great many others they serve to scare them away. This is BAD. Olympic Lifting as a sport has far too few practitioners as it is, and we really ought not be shrinking the talent pool even farther through false advertising.

So, I’m going to lay out a realistic initial beginners routine. It does presume a little. Namely, that one can perform a Front Squat and an overhead squat with good/decent form. If you can’t do that, then that should be your focus. Do squats 3 days a week, alternating front and overhead, and then finish with chin ups and overhead press, abs and back extentions. The overhead squat is particularly important for it is an exercise in “body control” and “balance”.

Once a lifter can squat properly, there is no reason to hold them back from learning the lifts and doing them “often”. Often of course is a relative term. Each Olympic Lift should be performed at least twice per week, but preferably 3 or 4 times per week. I’ll lay out 2 different possible routines.

EDIT:  For those who have read this post before, you’ll notice that I’ve made a few changes to the routine.  They aren’t dramatic.  The truth is there are lots of ways you can train a beginner, and I wanted to put up a little variety.  But, the basics are always the same:  Lots of TOTAL reps on the lifts (more sets with less reps per set), lots of squatting of both the front and overhead variety, and an avoidance of burn out.

REST:  only take 1 or 2 minutes rest between sets.

Monday or Tuesday:  Heavy Day

Snatch: 8×2 (10 sets of 2 reps) working up to your “work” weight (ie. It should feel hard, but NOT be a max) in 4 or 5 sets and sticking with the same weight for the rest of your sets.

Clean and Jerk: 8×1 done the same way as the Snatch

Front Squat: 5×5  (3 or 4 of them heavy)

Chin ups: 3x 8-12 (use an assist machine if necessary or stretch bands)

Abs: 3 sets

Wednesday or Thursday:  Light Day

Snatch: 4×3

Clean and Jerk: 4×2

Overhead Squats:  4×8

Pull ups: 5×5 up to a heavy set of 5

Abs: 3 sets

Saturday:  Medium Day

Snatch: 8×2

Clean and Jerk:  8×1

Front Squat:  1×5  (work up to one heavy set of 5)

Chin Ups:  3×8-12

Abs:  3 sets

A beginner could thrive for a number of months on a routine like this. The emphasis being: work primarily on FORM with the Olympic Lifts, and then push up the numbers on your monday squats. The chins are also important, mainly for shoulder health, but they’ll make you stronger. They work all of the primary antagonists to the upper body muscles at work in the Jerk. If your antagonists aren’t strong, then the “protagonists” won’t be either.