Training block overview - Competitor (Strength) - WK25-30/2025

The priority on this stream is to improve your weightlifting and help you get strong. If strength is your biggest limiting factor in competitions and you’re confident in your conditioning, this plan is a good choice for you.

This 6-week cycle is designed to develop absolute strength, improve your lifting technique, and reinforce control in key positions under load. You'll build intensity week by week through structured progressions in the classic lifts, focused pause work, and accessory exercises to support the main lifts.

This plan also includes conditioning work (2 times a week) to help you maintain your fitness. There are no dedicated skill sessions for the Strength stream in this training block.

- 5 training sessions (90 minutes to 2 hours), an optional additional base training/Z2 OR active recovery day and a full rest day (on Sundays)

- Weightlifting and strength work spread across five (5) training sessions.

- Two (2) conditioning sessions (sport-specific interval session and a competition workout)

Each week is organised based on the movements, repetitions and intensity to allow for sufficient recovery so that you can work with intent in each session.

The main focus here is positional strength as a foundation for new 1RMs in the following training block. We’ll keep the full snatch and clean & jerk at controlled %s to focus on form.

Here are the progressions (from Wk1-Wk6) for the lifts:

- Full snatch builds from doubles at 65–85% to heavy singles at 90–95%, with emphasis on timing, drive, and lockout under fatigue

- Pause + snatch complexes (pause at receiving position) run weekly to reinforce bottom position and receiving mechanics

- Snatch pull w/ pause below knee progresses from moderate volume at 85–95% → peak strength pulls at 105–115%

- EMOM deload week (Week 6) for both full lifts and pulls to aid recovery and reinforce consistent bar speed

- Block clean & jerk (from knees) in Wk1–Wk3 progress from moderate % to 85%, emphasizing second pull speed and turnover

- Transition to full clean & jerk from floor in Wk4–Wk6, building to heavy singles (up to 90%)

- Floating clean pulls / clean pulls develop bar control and posterior chain strength, progressing to 110–115%

- Jerk balance + jerk support work (dips and rack holds) run weekly for timing, footwork, and overhead position

The key progressions in this block follow a format of building to a heavy (but not maximal) set, followed by moderately hard, fairly low-volume (RPE 6-8) back-off sets. The goal is to build strength without constantly feeling tired from pushing too close to failure or excessive volume.

You should feel (somewhat) fresh each time you hit the big lifts. You should not be grinding through the sets on these lifts. The accessory work can/will be closer to failure to elicit more hypertrophy stimulus.

Here are the progressions (from Wk1-Wk6) for main lifts in different movement patterns:

- Back squat waves from top set at H3@RPE7 to H1@RPE8–9, paired with back-off sets building from 5s → 2s

- Front squat follows a similar wave using a heavy paused front squat, followed by front squat for back-off sets, progressing weekly in RPE and %

- Overhead squat tempo work (21X1) runs every week with moderate volume, aiding positional strength and midline stability

- Push press progresses weekly from H5 → H2 @ RPE 8–9, paired with back-off sets

- Strict press, dips, strict pull-ups, and weighted chin-ups rotate weekly for balanced pushing/pulling volume

- Accessory work (DB bench/DB incline bench, rows, curls, etc.) varies week-to-week for hypertrophy and structural balance

- Romanian deadlifts, farmer’s carries, ring holds, and back extensions are layered in throughout the week

- Isolation and shoulder-stability work (external rotations, Lu raises, etc.) included to bulletproof joints and support training volume

Deload in Week 6 scales back volume and intensity across lifts and accessories to consolidate adaptations

The conditioning work in the Strength stream should not interfere with the lifting sessions. There’s a competition workout and either short or long intervals each week.

- The weekly competition workouts are an opportunity to practice pushing yourself, developing your movement capacity under fatigue and refining your pacing under intensity.

- The shorter (< 4:00), mixed modal intervals are designed so that you should be able to keep working at high intensity throughout.

- The longer intervals have bigger chunks of movements where you’ll have to manage both high heart rate and local muscle fatigue.

- Aerobic base session (optional, Wednesdays) of longer duration, lower to moderate intensity that improves mitochondrial density and capillarisation, which indirectly supports lactate clearance.

It’s important to note that each of these sessions should be done at prescribed intensities to stimulate the intended adaptations properly.

Learning and practising “Intensity control” (matching intensity/pace to session intent) is a key skill that will elevate the level of your training beyond merely “doing workouts.” It will allow you to make the most out of each session and ensure sufficient recovery from your training to continue to put in high-quality work.

The quality of your training is the quality of your repetitions. Aim to make every training session the best it can be. Focus on what’s within your control:

- Giving your best effort (this is not merely pushing as hard as you can each time but reflecting on the intent of the training session, then applying yourself to it).

- Doing the work (and not skipping skill pieces or other parts of training)

- Holding yourself to movement standards (establishing solid foundations for all upcoming training)

- Warming up / cooling down

- Sleeping well

- Fuelling sufficiently

The most important principles for strength training are specificity (you must do what you want to get better at), and progressive overload (training has to be hard enough (in frequency, volume, intensity) to create a need for adaptation. This also means training has to get harder over time.

The main driver for (strength) adaptations in this training block are consistency, progressive overload and controlled intensity (to keep fatigue in check).

Your main job is to put in quality work from one session to the next ( = avoid pushing so hard in a single session that you won’t be able to complete another one). That being said, we want the sets to be challenging enough (follow the RIR guidance) to be considered working sets.

Aim to build on each week (or every other week, depending on the progression), increasing the reps or weights. Focus on accumulating high-quality (do the lifts with good form and fast speed) repetitions to lay a solid technical foundation for future training and competitions.

As your goal is to get stronger and put on some muscle mass, it’s a good idea to be in a slight caloric surplus in this training block. You’ll want to show up well-fuelled for the lifting sessions as even modest glycogen (stored sugar) depletion can lead to reduced session quality (which we don’t want).

A good sign that you could eat more to fuel your training is that you feel hungry. If you’re not sure, a few rough reference points for daily intake (if you’re into macros) could be:

Protein - 2.2g per kg (1 gram per lb) BW (bodyweight)

Fat - 25-30% of daily calories or 1g per kg (1g per lb) BW

Carbs - Remaining calories or 4+g per kg (1.8+g per lb) BW

Calories - 22 x BW in kg (or 10 x BW in lbs) x (1.5 to 1.8 as “activity multiplier”) + 100 to 200 cals (for surplus)

Remember that if you don’t eat enough, you won’t recover and get the results you want. If you need guidance, reach out to us.

The most important thing for your recovery will be to get enough (7.5-9 hours) sleep regularly. Your training (and results) will be better if you get more sleep. Aim to be in bed by 11 pm at the latest, and sleep in a cool, dark, and quiet room. If you can, get out for a short (10-minute) walk soon after sunrise (before 10 am is fine) and again around sunset. This will help set your circadian rhythm, making it easier to go to bed early.

All other recovery modalities will take a backseat to this. Implementing a 10- to 30-minute daily mobility routine, split between morning, training, and evening, will also likely pay off, both in the short and long term.