Olympic Template Modifications

Before I came across BBM in the pandemic, I often followed some of the programs by Ross Enamait, who trains some high level boxers like Katie Taylor. I’ve noticed the Olympic Template seems to have a somewhat similar structure to some of the workouts he advocates for combat athletes, combining Olympic movements early in the workout with slower strength movements afterwards. The difference I’ve noticed is that he alternated days of heavy Oly lifts with days of lighter Oly lifts, where the latter is focused on bar speed due to the demands of combat sports. For context, he suggests 50%-65% of max lifts on the “speed strength” days, depending on the exercise.

Do you think there is any advantage to this alternating approach for specific athletic training?

Outside of controlling fatigue via lighter days, no. I don’t think there’s more high velocity strength gained from lighter vs heavier Olympic lifts. For traditionally slow strength exercises, e.g. squats, bench press, deadlift, etc., yes, doing them lighter (30-50% or so) would drive more high velocity strength than heavier loads for trained athletes.

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