Olympic Weightlifting Template

Hello Dr.

I won’t be having access to a rack for a few months and am contemplating learning the Olympic lifts in that time period. Would the Olympic Weightlifting Template be appropriate for me after I get my C&J and Snatch techniques down to a decent level? Unfortunately, no Apple device to check the 1st week.

I suppose I won’t be able to squat “heavy”, and also would have to do floor presses/weighted pushups in place of the bench. As for training history, I’ve run your Beginner, PB 1/2 and Strength 1 templates.

Thanks in advance.

I think it would be better than a non-barbell-inclusive alternative, but I’d really, really, really try to avoid not having access to a rack for that long. May I ask what’s going on where this is likely?

I’m going to a vacation house for some time to catch up with relatives and trying to become one with the nature, you know. Needless to say, a good gym is pretty far from that place to allow for regular training, and the only equipment I have are a barbell and some plates (about 160kg in total).

How about a commercial gym? Of course, there’s a lot you can do even without a rack or any other equipment, but it’d probably be easier if we didn’t have to.

Unfortunately, the “nearest” half decent gym has no racks, only a smith machine, some dumbbells and the usual machines. Despite that, the travel time to and fro alone would make it very impractical for me to go there on a regular schedule (>1 hr each way). Hence why I’m contemplating doing what I mentioned. If this changes anything, I would have a couple of cousins to workout with (makeshift biological rack?).

As an aside, I wonder what you would do in such a situation. Just a barbell with some plates amounting to ~75% of your deadlift, and absolutely no other equipment access for atleast 3 months.

Yea man, that’s tough. I’ll be honest with you, your situation is not something I would ever voluntarily agree to for an extended period of time. I can see how that might not be the response you were looking for, but it has the benefit of being true.

If you end up doing this, there are a lot of variations you can do and be more than fine. I just would never do it.

If I had a client in this situation, some of the variations we chose would be determined by their proficiency in the Olympic lifts and their goals. Still, some of my go-to’s for without a rack:

Squat pattern:
zercher
front squat (cleaned)
lunge, split squats, bulgarian split squat
split deadlift
“goblet” squat with bar wedged in corner
step ups

Push pattern
press, push press, push jerk (cleaned)
landmine press (bar wedged in corner)
floor press
push-ups (normal, close grip, deficit, tempo, paused, etc.)

Others:
bird squats
barbell row, lever row, upright row
deadlifts of all varieties
nordic hamstring curls
copenhagen planks

Hah! I had totally expected an answer along these lines.

Thanks so much for the extensive reply Dr. I’m totally excited to incorporate some of the listed variations and try to get strong at them.