In this blog, I will outline a framework for sequencing your lifting events to maximise transfer.
I’m writing this blog because recently in Australia, you can perform an increased number of events, and whoever generates the most points at the end of the year will be crowned ‘lifter of the year’.
These events are: One arm jerk (OAJ), Jerk, one arm long cycle (OALC), long cycle (LC), half snatch HS, Snatch, and double half snatch (DHS).
This is a double-edged sword, it’s fantastic for reducing monotony and increasing participation in the sport. However, if you try to train for too many events at once, it can stunt your progression.
There are a couple of ways to approach this: you can use 1) an indirect method or 2) a direct method.
INDIRECT
The indirect method works best if you do two things. Firstly, focus on the classic (LC & Biathlon) events as they typically have the most carryover to other events. Secondly, you have been training for a long time.
For example, if you focused on biathlon for the majority of the year and did a small amount of long cycle, you would only need to do a small amount of training to familiarise yourself with the event before each competition.
The shotgun approach is to do a warm-up and finisher with the event you wish to participate in.
Given that the events typically have a 1-2 month gap between, this should be enough to get you the optimal return on your training investment whilst not sacrificing your main goal.
| Biathlon | Long cycle |
| OaJ, Jerk, snatch, Half snatch | OALC, DHS, LC |
The direct method
Involves focusing on training for each event. This is most likely detrimental to performance, however, it is a great way to try different exercises and it reduces monotony.
Exercise order will be particularly important with this approach. We want Synergy and transfer between each lift, so here are a couple of sequences:
Jerk focus:
OALC, LC, OAJ, Jerk
LC focus
DHS, OALC, Jerk, LC
Snatch
LC, DHS, HS, Snatch
Whole year
OAJ, Jerk, OALC, LC, HS, S, DHS
When training with the above sequences, I recommended training the upcoming event, the one following and a little bit of the third in that sequence.
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