Oly Style Wise or Foolish?

After 6 progression weeks on Bill Starr 5x5 I’ve made some gains but am now beginning to stall. (Gained: 25lbs on bench, 50lbs on deadlift, 40lbs on squat and 15lbs on OH press)

Oly lifting has intrigued me and I want to try it.

Would switching to an oly style routine at this point be better than deloading and carrying on with Bill Starr’s?

Is the stalling evidence that 6 weeks was long enough for adaption?

Better for what?

ASk yourself if oly lifting would further your training goals. If you’re goal is improvement on the big 3, I’m not sure oly lifting is the better choice. No doubt there is some carry over. There’s a lot of different directions you can go from here.

Some guys stall after just 2-3 weeks on a certain routine getting steady progress for 6 is very decent

Strength progression.

Overall, not specific to the big 3.

Lol. Look how high some of them jump after completing a lift.

oly lifters ARE strong and fast… and they have a great balance, concentration, cns development etc… the oly lifting technique demands an immense amount of repetitions until you get anywhere close to performing a good lift, you need a good trainer for the sport as it’s a lot harder to track the bar path or your body position then benching or dead lifting.

I second sabaz’ post. The most difficult issue I have with the snatch is pulling the bar up too far in front of my body. This is “fine” for light weights but when working with a higher percentage of a max you will soon learn that continued efforts with a poor bar path will result in failure, maybe pain too.

[quote]Kliplemet wrote:
olympic lifting doesnt really make you strong, it’s the assistance exercises such as squats and pulls that make olympic lifters strong
[/quote]

I agree wholeheartedly. It’s all just an illusion and trickery truth be told. Hell, the weights are made of rubber for crying out loud, everyone knows metal is heavier than rubber!

[quote]Galvatron wrote:
Kliplemet wrote:
olympic lifting doesnt really make you strong, it’s the assistance exercises such as squats and pulls that make olympic lifters strong

I agree wholeheartedly. It’s all just an illusion and trickery truth be told. Hell, the weights are made of rubber for crying out loud, everyone knows metal is heavier than rubber![/quote]

Gonna have to second Galvatron here. The truth is that most Olympic lifters aren’t even strong, they are just “fast” and have “technique”. Once you strip away their technique and speed, most of those guys couldn’t break 3 plates from the ground in a deadlift!

I read an article that said the bench press and low-bar squat to 2 inches above parallel were the only proven effective strength building exercises.

This runs true to my own experiences in the gym, and I suggest you stick to those with occasional bicep curls and lat pulldowns thrown in to keep your progress moving along nicely.

[quote]actionjeff wrote:

Gonna have to second Galvatron here. The truth is that most Olympic lifters aren’t even strong, they are just “fast” and have “technique”. Once you strip away their technique and speed, most of those guys couldn’t break 3 plates from the ground in a deadlift!
[/quote]

I hope to hell you are joking! Yes there is alot of technique involved but the first part of the oly lifts IS a deadlift. Deadlifting at the speed wich they do at the begining of a snach or clean and jerk actually requires MORE strengh and power.
Considering the heavyweights Lift over 260kg (580lb) above they’re heads I think they would have no problem deadlifting 3 plates.

I dont want to hijack this thread and turn it into a debate between power lifting and oly lifting they are both great sports and both require an imense amount of strength in the specific lifts of each sport. I just hate ignorence.

To the OP
It would’nt hurt to do olympic style training, you would definately make progress in your overall strength goals becuase of the change in stimulous.

edit: After reading your profiles I’m releaved to know your joking. I can never get sarcasm over the internet lmao I feel like a dumbass

haha, yeah, my bad if that wasn’t more obvious

I think I know what you mean though Klip. Once you have gotten proficient at the technical aspect, say you snatch 100kg… snatching 90+kg all day won’t improve your snatch that much, although it will certainly help.

The biggest gains at that point will come from the combination of the maximal O-lifts and heavy squats and pulls or other assistance work. Is that right?

If you want to be stronger just stick to 5x5. If you are interested in the SPORT of weightlifting and you really want to get into it, look up local clubs around you and try it out.

However it could take several years till your technique is at a level where you can get the full benefit from that type of lifting. The only reason a good Olympic lifter should miss a lift is because of strength reasons, yet for mediocre and beginner this will never be the case.

Your technique will slow your progress a lot. Their is a reason top olympic lifters start when they are like 8. Takes quite some time to get the flexibility and technique down in order to make real progress.