starter program for catalyst athletics online workouts by greg everett pdf

8/11/2019 Starter Program for Catalyst Athletics Online Workouts by Greg Everett PDF

1/8

catalystathletics.com http://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=131

Starter Program for Catalyst AthleticsOnline Workouts by Greg Everett

Starter Program fo r Catalyst Athletics Online WorkoutsGreg Everett | Training Programs | May 21 2012

The f ollowing is a 4-week t raining program that can be usedto get started with the t raining program posted on thiswebsite. This is a good cycle to st art with if you have notpreviously been doing the Olympic lifts frequently in yourtraining. Ab work should be done every training day, alongwith any supplemental work, e.g. back extensions, upperbody beach work, etc that you want t o do. If you plan to do

the conditioning port ion of the program, add briefconditioning workouts 2 t imes per week after the workoutsbelow. Keep them to about 5 minutes or less and generallystay away from leg-intensive exercises.

Please post questions and comments below to help otherreaders.

Week 1

Choose weights by f eel. Use a single weight f or all prescribedsets. Weights should be challenging this week, but comfo rtably below max ef fo rts.

Monday

Clean & Jerk 5 x 2+1Clean Pull 3 x 3

Back Squat 3 x 5

Wednesday

Snatch 5 x 2Snatch Pull 3 x 3Front Squat 3 x 3

Thursday

Power Snatch 5 x 2Power Clean & Power Jerk 5 x 2(1+1)Overhead Squat 3 x 3

Saturday

Snatch heavy single

Clean & Jerk heavy singleFront Squat heavy single

Week 2

Use same or similar weights as week 1 with this increased volume.

Monday

Clean & Jerk 5 x 3+1Clean Pull 4 x 3Back Squat 5 x 5

Wednesday

Snatch 5 x 3Snatch Pull 4 x 3

Front Squat 5 x 3

Thursday

Power Snatch 5 x 3Power Clean & Power Jerk 5 x 3(1+1)Overhead Squat 5 x 3

Saturday

Sign up for our free newslett er toget t raining tips and stay up t odate on Catalyst Athletics ANDget a f ree issue of t hePerformance Menu journal.

We are always interested insubmissions and newcontributo rs for our websiteand the Performance Menujournal.

Submission Guidelines
http://www.catalystathletics.com/pm/http://www.catalystathletics.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=41&products_id=155http://www.catalystathletics.com/pm/submissions.phphttp://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/images/starterProgram.jpghttp://www.catalystathletics.com/articles/article.php?articleID=131


2/8

Snatch 6 x 1Clean & Jerk 6 x 1Front Squat 3 x 1

Week 3

Up the weights from last week as youre able to.

Monday

Clean & Jerk 5 x 1Clean Pull 3 x 3

Back Squat 5 x 3

Tuesday

Power Snatch 5 x 3Hang Clean 5 x 2

Wednesday


Thursday

Hang Snatch 5 x 3Power Clean & Power Jerk 5 x 1+1Overhead Squat 5 x 1

Saturday

Snatch heavy singleClean & Jerk heavy singleFront Squat heavy single

Week 4

Up the weights from last week as youre able to.

Monday

Clean & Jerk 5 x 1Clean Pull 3 x 2Back Squat 5 x 2

Tuesday

Power Snatch 5 x 2Power Clean 5 x 2

Wednesday


Thursday

Hang Snatch 5 x 2Power Clean & Power Jerk 4 x 1+1Overhead Squat 3 x 1

Saturday

Snatch heavy singleClean & Jerk heavy singleFront Squat heavy singleGreg Everett is the owner of Catalyst Athletics, publisher of The Performance Menuand authorof Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches. Find him on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/GregEverettCAand sign up fo r his free newslett er here.

Sign up for our free newslett er to get training tips and stay up to dat e on CatalystAthletics, and get a FREE issue of t he Performance Menu journal.

76 Comments

Robert 1| 2012-05-21Coach, thanks for post ing this. Could you clarify what exactly should be done f or the "+"prescriptions (2+1, 2(1+1), 1+1, etc.)? Thank you.
http://www.catalystathletics.com/newsletter.phphttp://www.facebook.com/GregEverettCAhttp://www.cathletics.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=155http://www.cathletics.com/pm/index.php


3/8

Greg Everet t 2| 2012-05-21Those numbers represent, in order, the exercises in the set . For example, clean and jerk2+1 means 2 cleans followed by 1 jerk each set. 2(1+1) for CJ would mean each set isclean, jerk, clean, jerk - 1 of each but 2 times through.

Jared ray 3| 2012-05-21Looks great, coach!! Just t o make sure, when you say "5x3", do you mean 5 sets of 3reps? That 's always confused me

Greg Everet t 4| 2012-05-21

Jared - Yes, 5 x 3 is 5 sets of 3 reps.

Danny 5| 2012-05-21thanks for posting. Yes 5x3 means 5 sets of 3 reps. You may also see it written 225x3x5. Itmeans the exact same thing but it includes the load. That confuses a lot people

Matt 6| 2012-05-21Thanks Greg! Do you consider Pull ups to be "beach work" or supplemental? For a superheavyweight, If I can knock out 5-7 strict pull ups, should that be a daily, 2x weekly, ornever supplemental act ivity? Maybe its worth generalizing that once a lift er can do "X" pullups, its not that helpful to keep doing them, or do pull ups not co rrelate well toweightlif ting...done w/ my ADD rambling semi quest ion.

Greg Everet t 7| 2012-05-21Matt - I like pull-ups - I'd say do them 2-3x/wk and just knock out maybe 30 tot al on one

day, 40 to tal on anot her day, staying away f rom failed reps. They're only beach work ifyou do them as close-grip chins to fo cus on your guns.

Confused 8| 2012-05-21I hope I don't sound like a total noob when I say this, but ummm, where is the conditioningpart of this program? Or is it something that we have to add in ourselves? Thanks fo rposting t his up Greg.

Rikke 9| 2012-05-21Brilliant! I've tried some of your other workouts, but as I'm (obviously) new to o-lifting, I'vehad "issues" with t he loads, as I 1) don't really know my 1RMs, and 2) my technique (on f ulllifts) still lacks so much that the prescribed loading on fragment exercises doesn't reallyfeel challenging enough. Will try to stick with this one and get my lift s bett er developed!Confused: I imagine you should manage the conditioning stuff , yourself ;)

Greg Everet t 10| 2012-05-21Confused - In the intro, I mean the conditioning portion of the site workouts, not thisprogram. For this program, you need t o cook up your own.

Trapp 11| 2012-05-22When you say use the same weight, do you mean fo r the day or f or the week? Thanks

Billy 12| 2012-05-23I want to do this routine plus Mainpage CrossFit to get in some conditioning. I am alsogoing to be doing some running for an upcoming half marathon and I have BJJ practice 4thimes a week. Should I run it as written or scale it back some? Thanks!

Greg Everet t 13| 2012-05-23Trapp - Use the same weight for all sets of a given exercise, e.g. 5 sets of 3 snatch all atthe same weight.

Greg Everet t 14| 2012-05-23Billy - You're not going to make much progress. Way too much shit going on. Why don'tyou st ick w BJJ and running for your conditioning, and this fo r your strength/power work?Why add CF on top of it?

Billy 15| 2012-05-23A lot o f really strong guys I know do CrossFit...one of them has a 350# squat and canddeadlift almost 400# . I like your program because it doesn't have any bench...I used tobench a lot (225), but it's not very functional right?

Greg Everet t 16| 2012-05-23Billy - Are they doing everything else you plan on doing in addition to CF? Is it the CF that

made them strong, or the lift ing weights t hat sometimes is done with CF that made themstrong? Are 350/400# big lifts fo r strength athletes?

Leon 17| 2012-05-24Greg, Thanks for this and all the great info you put out f or f ree.

Michael 18| 2012-05-24


4/8

I love this program and am just about to go out fo r day 3. But I wonder if you could sharesome thoughts on someone doing the power snatch when the full snatch is still not awell-engrained movement pattern. I'm pretty new to the Oly lifts and I still feel like about50% of the t ime even if I have the intent of doing a snatch, I end up catching it aboveparallel in a power position (it's not a flexibility issue, my OHS position is very comfortableat rock bott om). Would it be more helpful for someone like me to instead of trainingpower snatches, just do more snatching in order to get the proper moto r pattern down f orcatching it at the bot tom?

Steve Pan 19| 2012-05-24Michael -

You will be doing enough snatching and cleaning in the program that you will be okaydoing the power versions on the 3rd day. I believe the intent of that day is to have a slightback off during the week to recover a litt le for the Saturday workout .

As fo r receiving the bar, you shouldn't be hit t ing rock bot tom as you lock out the bar. Youwant to receive the bar at its highest point and use the rest o f t hat squat t o stabilize thebar over head. You will have to t ry to meet t he bar lower and lower as the weights go up.You will have to dial back the pull slightly on your warm ups so you won't be powersnatching the beginning but meeting the bar high and squatt ing under it should be okay.Just continue to work on pulling yourself under into that squat.

Michael 20| 2012-05-24Thanks Steve, that's helpful advice

Greg Everet t 21| 2012-05-24

MIchael - What Steve said. If you're really struggling, instead of power snatches, you cando high or mid-hang snatches at t he same weight you'd be doing power snatches with,focusing on pulling down under the bar. This will keep things light on those days as desiredand let you work on one o f your weaknesses. That said, even with po wer snatches, youshould be focusing on pulling down hard and punching under the bar the same way you doin the snatch.

Billy 22| 2012-05-26Your are probably right...I'm doing t oo much. I will dial the CF back to only f ive days a week.

Mags 23| 2012-05-285 metcons a week is still probably too much -- just my two cents. Greg -- am I tounderstand that on week two we do 5 sets of 3 cleans + 1 jerk on Monday? Thanks.

Greg Everet t 24| 2012-05-28

Mags -

Yes, that 's correct.

Alena 25| 2012-05-28Curious, I have programed back squats twice a week, and over head and front once aweek. Are you front squatt ing twice a week to wo rk on the cleans catching in the ho le, orthe explosiveness to catch and drive? Why not the heavy back squats twice a week? *Billy- still to o much?

Greg Everet t 26| 2012-05-29Alena - More front squats because typically people new to weight lift ing don't haveadequate quad and trunk strength t o squat upright as they need to . It's meant t o beginshift ing their strength t o be more in tune with weightlift ing rather than more general lift ing.

Aust in 27| 2012-06-21Is the "heavy single" a 1RM?

Steve Pan 28| 2012-06-21The Heavy Single will be a 1RM for the day. It will be the heaviest you can go on that givenday.

brandon green 29| 2012-06-27Nice article but i must be missing some things. Where's the conditioning program thatgoes with this ? Why abdominal work every day ? Brandon Green

Kathleen 30| 2012-07-04Hi, I've been using Starting Strength since Feb and was able to follow a pretty strictschedule with rest days. My job has changed and now am not able to schedule days offbetween workouts. I'm looking for a something new and was hoping to try t his program. Isthis program still good if I have to schedule diff erently? (ie 2 on, 2 of f, 3 on)

Steve Pan 31| 2012-07-04Kathleen -

The program is planned to give you rest at certain times. You should be able to adjust it as


5/8

needed but I would say to listen t o your body and see how you respond and adjust f romthere.

Guy 32| 2012-07-05Coach I have pain in my shoulders and drop the bar though the weight is low what can I doto improve?

Greg Everet t 33| 2012-07-06Guy - You need to f igure out what t he problem with your shoulders is before you canfigure out how t o f ix it.

Guy 34| 2012-07-07Ok than cause I used to shoulder press and work on shoulders no problem butohs/snatchs hurt sometimes thanks you and guy is my name just saying

Oskar 35| 2012-07-07Hi yea like guy said I drop t he weight at bot to m though its light is it my flexability and watcould do I do

Amanda 36| 2012-07-18When there is more than 1 rep per set are you supposed to cont rol it o n the way downthen reset and do anot her rep or can you drop it f rom the top (guiding it down, nothingcrazy)?

Alyssa Sulay 37| 2012-07-19

Amanda -

When you are doing snatches, cleans and/or jerks dropping it from the top and guiding itdown is ok. With pulls and deadlifts you should control it on t he way down.

Mel 38| 2012-07-24Greg, about to ramp on with the above program prior t o f ollowing your main site program,from my oly garage set up in a small town by the beach in Australia. Quick Q - would it betoo much to program in a sand dune hill sprint sessions once or twice a week in additionto some chins etc. I'm able to split sessions every training day when required. As perprevious comments thank you for making your programming available online.

Greg Everet t 39| 2012-07-24Mel -

That should be fine.

Patrick 40| 2012-07-24Greg, I am new to your site, but like what I see. I am not so sure about what t o do withsupplemental exercises or beach work. How many exercises, what bo dy groups, whatshould the set/rep range be? Also what is the benef it t o do ing this, is it strength o r size?

Greg Everet t 41| 2012-07-26Patrick -

Add that st uff as needed. It may not be. Def initely ab/lower back work each training day. Ifyou feel like you need to add some size to your upper body, add some lift s in that vein, 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps, 1-3 exercises. If you need lower body size, you can add some SLDL,good mornings, weighted lunges and/or add extra higher volume squat sets (e.g. 2-4 setsof 8-10 reps) aft er your normal squats.

Tyler 42| 2012-07-26Deadlifts - Do you believe they are necessary with this program? - How can youincorporate t hem into the program?

Jonathon 43| 2012-08-03Greg, I've just started weightlifting at 37 years old. I've had some coaching and plan to goback when f inances and time permits. In the meant ime, I have my garage set-up. Wouldyou recommend for someone at my age- where learning curve is longer, recovery not asquick, to fo cus on just learning the snatch? Or is there a cross over benefit of working onthe snatch and clean/jerk at the same time? If I should focus just on the snatch, howwould you modify the starter program?

James 44| 2012-08-04Greg - T hanks for t he "intro" program. I've recently decided to transition to the olympic

lift s from the "power" lifts. At t his point st rength in the lift s is not a concern of mine, onlytechnique. I'm having difficulty with the receiving position of the clean (finding the groovewithout shattering a clavicle). Any suggestions? Also, any suggestions regardingimproving the 2nd/3rd pulls in the lifts (I conventional DL 465lbs at 148lbs, but snatch with185 puts me t o shame!). Thank you

Joe 45| 2012-08-05


6/8

Hey Greg and thanks for this intro. I have been doing crossfit fo r quite some time but f orthe upcoming mont hs I want t o get a lot st ronger so t hinking about changing theworkouts. Im thinking about fo llowing this program and then move over to the dailyworkouts. However I wonder if it is too much to also incorporate st ronglift 5x5 program(one of the excercises per day)? Would that be beneficial or is it best t o just st ick to t heworkouts posted here for best strength gains?

Greg Everet t 46| 2012-08-06Jonathan -

You should be able to manage this as-is. No need to only work on one lift at a time.

Travis 47| 2012-08-09Thanks fo r all of this great info rmation Greg. I was wondering, do you think it isbeneficial/necessary for a novice weightlifter who has never done Olympic lifts before, tofocus on building strength with basic compound lifts (ie. Squats, Presses, Deadlifts) priorto att empting this starter program?

Jamie 48| 2012-08-13What would you say the general rest period between sets is? Particularly on the 5x1 etc.Program looks great i'm excited t o st art t omorrow.

Steve Pan 49| 2012-08-13Jamie -

You should rest at least 2 minutes between sets o r until you feel fresh enough to t ake thenext lift. Try not t o go overboard and focus on making every lift good.

Greg Everet t 50| 2012-08-15Travis -

It's goo d to have a reasonable base with t hat stuff but t here's no magic threshold youneed to reach. You'll be squatt ing and puling anyway so it 's not as if you won't be doingstrength work.

Anton Viberg 51| 2012-08-16Hey! First; t hanks for the great routine for us beginners and second, what does PowerClean & Power Jerk 5 x 2(1+1) mean? I'm curious abo ut the (1+1)

Alyssa Sulay 52| 2012-08-16Anton -

The 1+1 means that you do 1 power clean + 1 power jerk. So when it says 5X2 (1+1) itjust means to do 5 sets of 1 power clean + 1 Power Jerk at your working weight.

Johnny 53| 2012-08-21Thanks fo r this. I have fo llowed some of your programs and have worked up to a bodyweight snatch at 185 and a clean and jerk to 255. Would you say that I am still a beginnerand can I use this template but go by percentages or stay with it as is. I want t o st art overand focus strictly on f orm but not go t o f ancy adding lift s. I currently onlysnatch,fs,squat,snatch f rom the hip, clean and jerk, jerk for t he hip. Thanks for any input.Also I tend to dive on all my lift s and it drives me crazy. My power snatch is pushing 225and I don't think it should be like that .

Greg Everet t 54| 2012-08-24Johnny -

Yes I'd st ill consider you a beginner. You can use this template as-is, no %s needed. You'rebett er off going by feel at t his stage anyway. Just be careful with pulls not to go tooheavy - correct posture, balance and speed.

Johnny 55| 2012-08-25Thanks Greg for the response

James S. 56| 2012-08-27Just wanted to say thanks fo r posting this great starter program. Aft er leaving CrossFitprogramming to start your Oly cycles I'm amazed at the gains that can be made when youslow things down. I'm itching to finish this last week up and get going with t he Strength byFeel cycle. Thanks!

Miguel 57| 2012-08-28

From Spain, thanks for the article.

Shawn 58| 2012-09-06Coach, thanks for the programming! I've CFing since December with some exposure to olylift s, can I jump right into the main programming or sould I run a mont h of intro t o t ighen uptechnique? If i'm having diff iculty with a movement should I post video in comments or thefo rum portion o f t he site? Cheers! Shawn


7/8

Steve Pan 59| 2012-09-06Shawn -

It wo uld be good to run through this starter program befo re you jump into the mainprograming. Posting in the forum would also be t he best way to get some feedback onyour lift s.

Tim 60| 2012-09-08Hey, just completed Week 1 of this program, and have to tell you I'm loving it so far. I'vebeen a CrossFit athlete and coach for 3 years or so now and have been constantlyfrustrated by my plateau in Oly lift ing. Already not iced a huge difference just by shift ing

fo cus onto Oly lift ing and fitt ing CF metcons around my lift ing. PR's on both lift s alreadyat t he end of week 1 (76kg snatch 94kg c&j.) had plenty more in the t ank but t rying to bepatient and stick to a plan. Looking forward to posting some BIG pr's soon :) 1 question...can i post videos f or some online coaching?

Steve Pan 61| 2012-09-08Tim -

I would suggest posting videos in the forum to get f eedback on your lift s.

Sean 62| 2012-09-24Hey Coach, I started doing Oly style couple of month ago, I have a severe pain in my rightelbow everytime I try to Lock! I been off gym of 5 days now t rying to fix it, any tips orhints? (I iced, I f lossed, I stretched, I took Ibuprofen, there's still a slight pain if I squeezemy triceps near the elbow)

Greg Everet t 63| 2012-09-24Sean -

See a good chiro or manual therapist and get it f ixed right.

Gregory L. Johnson 64| 2012-10-19When moving from one cycle to the next should there be a rest week. Aft er completingthe Starter cycle can I just st art t he Strength by Feel cycle? And af ter t hat cycle would Ijust start ano ther cycle or rest a week first?

Steve Pan 65| 2012-10-22Gregory -

You should be able to start another cycle if you feel good. If you are feeling a litt le beat up

you can take a transition week and then get started on t he next cycle.

Zach 66| 2012-10-25Coach, thanks fo r post ing this! I'm looking fo rward to fo llowing your program. I'm anexercise science major, hoping to work in the st rength and conditioning field at t hecollegiate level. The Olympic lifts are certainly something I need to get dialed in, and thisprogram looks great. Just a f ew questions. I need to cont inue to wo rk on my upper bodydue to my sport (Javelin), both anterior and post erior. What days would you recommendinserting bench, rows, pullovers? Or is that something I should play by feel? Would yourecommend any supplemental hamstring work like RDL variations o r physio ball hamcurls?And last, what t ypically makes up your core rout ine? I usually will do a medball/KB core, butI'm always interested in hear what other people are doing. Thanks a lot!

Greg Everet t 67| 2012-10-26zach -

Tuesdays/Thursdays fo r that stuf f usually, but it f it's really heavy, it may be better onMon/Wed/Sat. Same w hamst ring work.Core work f or us is usually some heavy back work like SLDL, RDL or good mornings, lighterback work like back extensions / hypers, and a variety of ab work from light high-volumestuf f like sit -ups, crunches, reverse crunches, jacknives, V-ups etc, plank varieties, andheavy stuff like weighted sit-ups. I typically have people do something different every day.

Michelle 68| 2012-11-01This says its a goo d program fo r people who have not done much lift ing before. What's agood "next program up" f rom this? The daily programming?

Michelle 69| 2012-11-01Also, fo r core work, how much would be done? One f rom each heavy back, light back andsitup variety? 3 sets of 10-12 reps ish?

Steve Pan 70| 2012-11-01Michelle -

The next program from this would be to st art on week one o f o ne of the daily cycles. Youcan take a look at the cycles from the Workouts tab.

Core work is usually programmed in, however you may add in abs and back work if it is not


8/8

listed and if it doesn't interefere with your recovery.

Zach 71| 2012-11-02Coach, just curious when you say heavy singles how many sets should you do to lead upto your 1RM for t he day, and then once you reach that RM how many sets of that RMshould you do? Thanks.

Zach 72| 2012-11-02^EDIT: Answered my f irst quest ion, by reading your Program Help & Info page. Lastquestion st ill remains though, how many sets once we reach that RM for t he day shouldwe do? Thanks.

Steve Pan 73| 2012-11-02Zach -

Once you hit your RM that will be your last set fo r that exercise.

Jason 74| 2012-11-21I just lift ed in my first competit ion last week (100 + 110 f or a 210 t ot al). It was a blast, butit's time to add some structure to my training so I am starting this. With conditioning I havea few options at home. Between a skipping rope, kettle bell (60lb) and a c2 rower, I have anumber of ways to get my heart rate up, but I'm wondering if the rower is going to be t ooleg intensive to go along with t his program. I don't usually go to o long (2000m at t hemost) or I do 500m intervals. Thanks!

Shawn Furbish 75| 2012-11-25

I just finished week one of the starter program, well kind of. I still cant go heavy over headdue to a sho ulder impingment issue which I'm nursing back to healt hy. So on heavy singleday I did heavy front squat, heavy dead and some scap work. Any tho ughts onmodifications that would be beneficail to the program. I was thinking maybe Pendaly rowsand good mornings but wasn't really sure on rep scheme. Thanks!

Shawn Furbish 76| 2012-11-25I think it will look like heavy single clean, no jerk, snatch grip heavy dead and heavy f rontsquat. Just needed to think logicly for a moment .Thanks

Leave a Comment

Get training tips andCatalyst news AND get afree issue of thePerformance Menu journal.

Submit your questionto be answered byGreg or Aimee Everettin the PerformanceMenu or on thewebsite

[email protected]

Catalyst Athletics is a USAWeightlift ing team of competitiveOlympic-style weightlift ers. We arecurrently recruting new lifters andoffer sponsorship opportunities.

Read More

All cont ent Catalyst Athletics, Inc.| 1257 Tasman Drive Suite A | Sunnyvale, CA 94089 | 408-400-0067 | Site Terms & Conditions|Advert ise with Us
http://www.heavyathleticsnutrition.com/landingpage_catalyst.htmlhttp://shop.purepharma.com/us/index.php/rewardsref/index/refer/id/2591/http://www.catalystathletics.com/contact.php?to=Adshttp://www.catalystathletics.com/tandc.phphttp://www.catalystathletics.com/contact.phphttp://www.catalystathletics.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=155http://www.catalystathletics.com/weightliftingteam/http://www.catalystathletics.com/weightliftingteam/mailto:[email protected]

starter program for catalyst athletics online workouts by greg everett pdf

Documents