The Mike Burgener 12-Week Olympic Weightlifting Program is a longer build from coach Mike Burgener, known to most lifters as Coach B. It runs four days a week for three months and works through the snatch, the clean and jerk, and heavy squatting, with the intensity climbing and the volume dropping as the weeks go on.
It fits lifters who want a full three-month run rather than a quick peak. If you want something shorter, Coach B’s 23-day Bulgarian cycle is the faster option, but this one gives you the time to sharpen the lifts week by week. Week 12 day 4 is the payoff, where you work up to heavy singles at 85, 90, then 95 percent, or you go compete.
We rebuilt the program as a clean Lift Vault spreadsheet. Enter your maxes once and every working weight for all 12 weeks fills in for you, so you can just train and log what you hit.
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Mike Burgener 12-Week Olympic Weightlifting Program Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet via Mike Burgener (Coach B), archived by OWLsheets
Enter your 1RM for the snatch, clean and jerk, back squat, and front squat, and the sheet computes every working weight across all 12 weeks. The percentages are already built in, so you just read each line, load the bar, and log what you actually lifted.
How the Program Works
You train four days a week for 12 weeks. The work is built around the snatch and the clean and jerk, backed up by squats, pulls, and shrugs.
How It Progresses
The intensity climbs and the volume drops as the weeks go on. Early weeks carry more reps at lighter percentages, and the later weeks get heavier with fewer reps so the snatch and clean and jerk sharpen up. Week 12 day 4 is a max-out day, where you work up to heavy singles at 85, 90, then 95 percent, or you go compete instead.
How the Percentages Work
Everything runs off your maxes. Enter your 1RM for the snatch, clean and jerk, back squat, and front squat on the setup, and the sheet does the math for every set. Pulls and shrugs run above 100 percent on purpose, since you can move more weight on those than on the full lifts.
Reading a Set
A step like 95×3 means 95 for 3 reps. A full work-up reads left to right, lightest to heaviest, so you climb across the row until you hit the top set for that day.
FAQ
Who is the Mike Burgener 12-week program for?
Lifters who can already snatch and clean and jerk and want a full three-month block to build their numbers. It’s a longer commitment than a quick peak, so it suits you if you’ve got the time to run the whole cycle.
How many days a week is it?
Four. You can run it on any four days that give you rest between the heavier sessions.
What does a set like 95×3 mean?
95 for 3 reps. The 95 is the percentage the sheet turns into a real weight from your max. When you see a row of numbers, you work across it from the lightest weight to the heaviest.
Why do the pulls go over 100 percent?
That’s on purpose. You can pull and shrug more than you can snatch or clean, so those movements are loaded above your full-lift max to push the right muscles.
How is this different from Coach B’s 23-day cycle?
The 23-day Bulgarian cycle is the short option, built to peak you fast. This 12-week program is the long build, so you get three months to work up the lifts instead of a few weeks. Pick this one when you want the longer run.
Where did this program come from?
It’s Coach B’s program. The original mikesgym.org page is offline now, so we credit it to Coach B and sourced the sheet from the OWLsheets archive. Open the spreadsheet, then choose File then Make a Copy to save your own version.
