Planning training during competition months

Having studied the nuances of training a weightlifter in the off-season, let’s now consider planning training in the competitive months...

In the competitive month, athletes of the 1st category and kms perform an average of 328 lifts of the barbell with high intensity in snatch and jerk exercises - this is 50 lifts (13%) less than in the preparatory month preceding the competition month. Changes in weight zones look like this: with a barbell weight of 70-79%, an average of 187 lifts are performed (instead of 227), 80-89% - 91 (instead of 106), and 90% or more - 50 (instead of 45).

It would seem that the overall amount of work and the number of high-intensity lifts of the barbell are reduced. What can improve achievements in the snatch and clean and jerk at competitions? If you delve into the content of training in the competition month, you will see the following.

For qualified weightlifters, in addition to using personal fitness recipes, the number of high-intensity lifts in the last week of the competition month (in the snatch and clean and jerk exercises) is approximately 10% of their monthly volume. On average, this amounts to 22 lifts with a weight of 70-79%, 10 with a weight of 80-89%, and 2 with a weight of 90% or more. The last week of the competition month also involves performing an average of 4 squats with a barbell weight of 100% or more (of the clean and jerk limit), which is approximately 6% of the month's high intensity barbell squat load.

This means that the main high-intensity load in the competition month is performed in the first three weeks. For example, for athletes of the first category and kms in snatch and push exercises, on average per week it is: with a weight of 70-79% - 55, 80-89% - 27, 90% and more - 16 lifts. In the preparatory month, the average number of barbell lifts per weekly cycle is 59, 27 and 11, respectively, by weight zone.

If we take into account that the lifting weight of the barbell itself in each weight zone in the competition month is slightly higher than when planning in the previous preparatory period, and the athlete during training tries to lift not only 100%, but also more weight, then it is obvious that that the maximum intensity of the training load occurs in the first three weeks of the competition month.