Beginner Training Programs
Beginning the Journey
We begin our journey through the Sandusky system by imagining our ideal beginner: a 10-year-old who begins training during the summer of the year they turn 10.
Beginner Program
Click the program image to view a PDF version.
This lifter starts with our Beginner Training Program, an introductory weightlifting program designed primarily to teach the snatch and clean & jerk. At this stage, the program is not about getting strong or lifting heavy weights. It is about learning how to move, developing sound technique, and becoming comfortable with the fundamental lifts.
What Does the Program Look Like?
Each training day begins with overhead snatch support work, using either overhead squats or drop snatches. These movements introduce and reinforce the positions needed for the snatch while also serving as an effective total-body warm-up.
Lifters then transition to jerks or power jerks before moving into their primary snatch and clean work.
On Day 1, lifters practice the snatch from the hip and then from above the knee. They then repeat the same sets and repetitions with the clean from those positions. The workout finishes with front squats.
On Day 2, the snatch and clean are practiced from below the knee and then from the floor. The workout finishes with abdominal work and good mornings.
The exercises themselves are relatively simple. The coaching that happens within them is not.
The Program Doesn't Teach Technique—The Coach Does
There are particulars to this program that cannot be observed simply by reading a training plan.
The entire purpose of the Beginner Program is to teach the lifts. It is the coach's responsibility to make sure the technical details of each movement and each position are being taught correctly.
No program can teach ideal technique on its own. A written program can tell an athlete what to do, but it cannot see what the athlete is doing. That requires a coach providing constant observation, feedback, and correction.
This is one of the most important distinctions in the Sandusky system: the program provides the framework; the coach provides the instruction.
We Teach the Jerk as a Jerk
Our approach to teaching the jerk is another example of where our methodology differs from more traditional introductory programs.
We do not teach lifters to press before teaching them to jerk. In fact, from the very first day they train, they are shown the jerk and asked to perform it. From there, the movement is refined through coaching and repetition.
Presses are not part of our program and are not used as a progression for teaching the jerk. Push presses are also not used.
Both exercises have value in their own right, but we do not believe they are necessary steps for teaching the jerk or power jerk. If the goal is to teach a young athlete to jerk, we believe they should learn to jerk.
The Program Adapts to the Lifter
Our ideal beginner is a 10-year-old training twice per week, but real athletes do not always fit the ideal scenario.
A lifter who starts at an older age can still begin with this program. Likewise, if an athlete is ready to train more than two days per week, we do not need to create an entirely different program. The training days can simply be repeated within the same week.
The important factor is not how quickly an athlete moves through the program or how many days they train. They remain in the Beginner Program until they demonstrate proficient technique.
Proficient does not mean perfect. Young lifters will continue to develop and refine their technique for years. At this stage, our goal is simply to establish a solid enough technical foundation that the athlete is ready to begin building upon it.