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“Train movements – not muscles” is the motto of many strength coaches and personal trainers. Nice expression, but if a single muscle group is weak, then it will affect performance in multi-joint movements. That’s why sometimes it’s better to start periodization cycles by training muscles first, not movements.
 
This concept has been used by powerlifting guru Louie Simmons with great success. He looks for the weakest link in a lifter’s competitive lifts and then designs training cycles with specific lifts that target these weaknesses. Likewise, I’ve developed a structural balance program to assess weaknesses in individuals that could affect athletic performance and make them more susceptible to injury. And even if an athlete can lift extremely heavy weights, they still can have structural imbalances that are holding them back. Let me give you one example.
 
When I started working with NFL hockey great Jim McKenzie, his best 14-inch, close-grip bench press was 280 pounds. My structural balance assessment showed that his strength in shoulder external rotation was extremely poor, and my research has shown that such a weakness can affect pressing strength. As such, for 12 weeks I had him do no bench pressing at all to focus on this weakness. In 12 weeks his bench press increased to 331 pounds. Six weeks later, with structural balance restored, he made a new max of 380 pounds!
 
What I’ll do here is show how this same model of structural balance training can be used to improve an individual’s results in the power clean. This program lasts 32 weeks, and is what I would consider a short-term model of periodization. This program is discussed in detail in my PICP Level 3 course, but here I will just give you the highlights to give you an overview of its structure.
 
One reason I selected the power clean is its popularity in athletic training. One survey found that the power clean was used by 85 percent of the 137 Division I college strength coaches who participated in the study. In professional football, 88 percent of the coaches who responded to the survey said they used the power clean. Another reason the power clean is a good example is that there are many studies proving the value of the power clean in increasing explosive strength.
 
One such study from 2004 compares the effectiveness of the Olympic lifting movements versus powerlifting movements in increasing results in the vertical jump, which is one measure of explosive strength. This 15-week study, conducted at the Department of Health and Exercise Science at the College of New Jersey, involved 20 Division III college football players. Both groups showed improvement in the vertical jump, but the authors concluded from the results that the Olympic lifting exercises “provide a significant advantage” over powerlifting exercises in increasing the vertical jump.
 
My power clean periodization program has three phases, which are broken down into subphases over 32 weeks, as follows:
 
Phase 1
Weeks 1-3, 4-6, 6-9, 10-12
Week 13: Active Rest
 
Phase 2
Weeks 14-16, 17-19, 20-22, 23-25
Week 26: Active Rest
 
Phase 3
Weeks 27-29, 30-32
 
Phase 1 lasts 12 weeks and consists of four 3-week subphases, followed by a week of active rest. This phase works the lift progressively from the top down, which is the way the Olympic lifts are often taught in Russian weightlifting programs. However, consider that this is not an Olympic lifting program and that the power clean is a far simpler exercise than the squat clean.
 
I’ve come up with three variations of phase 1, based upon the structural balance levels of the athlete: beginning, intermediate and advanced. An athlete will use whichever variation that corresponds to their level of strength and structural balance.
 
Note that weeks 1-6 of the first two variations pay special attention to the start of the lift, strengthening the hamstrings and lower back muscles. Weeks 6-9 of all three variations work on the middle section of the pull, and weeks 10-12 focus on the top portion of the pull – although the advanced trainee will perform the full power clean. Finally, week 13 is devoted to active rest, which means performing some form of physical or aerobic activity but not weightlifting. For example, during this active rest period an athlete could play tennis or basketball.
 
Phase 1
Beginning
Weeks 1-3: Standing Good Morning
Weeks 4-6: Clean Deadlift, Podium with Chains
Weeks 6-9: Snatch Pull
Weeks 10-12: Power Clean from Mid-Thigh
 
Intermediate
Weeks 1-3: Snatch Deadlift, Chains, Podium
Weeks 4-6: Clean Deadlift, Bands
Weeks 6-9: Snatch Pull, Blocks
Weeks 10-12: Power Clean, Below Kneecap
 
Advanced
Weeks 1-3: Power Clean from Mid-Thigh on Blocks
Weeks 4-6: Power Snatch, Mid-thigh
Weeks 6-9: Power Snatch, Close Grip from Blocks
Weeks 10-12: Power Clean from Floor
 
All Levels
Week 13: Active Rest
 
Regardless of which variation an athlete followed in phase 1, after week 13 they will move to phase 2 and perform the exercises in the following sequence: Weeks 14-16 focus on the start of the pull, weeks 17-22 focus on the mid-range, and weeks 23-25 focus on the top pull. And as with the phase 1, at the end of this training period there will be an active rest phase.
 
Phase 2
Weeks 14-16: Isometronic 3-Position Deadlift
Weeks 17-19: Snatch Pull with Bands
Weeks 20-22: Clean Pull on Podium
Weeks 23-25: Power Clean from Mid-Thigh
Week 26: Active Rest
 
The last phase only has two, 3-week training periods. The first period will focus on the start and mid-range portion of the pull, and the final three weeks will simply have the full power clean.
 
Phase 3
Weeks 27-29: Snatch Pull from Floor
Weeks 30-32: Power Clean from Floor
 
I realize that some weightlifting purists will say that there are no assistance exercises that are specific to the sport, and the best way to improve the power clean is to power clean. However, the fact is that many of the world’s best lifters perform partial movements – a quick perusal of YouTube will prove this point.
 
The takeaway point is to not get hung up on the exact exercises but to try to understand how this example of a short-term periodization program progresses from structural balance to general exercises to more specific exercises. I have found that such an approach is an effective method to achieve superior long-term results in athletic performance.