This is a 13 week 3 day Olympic weightlifting program designed by Oleksiy Torokhtiy. It is a well-rounded base program that works through snatch and clean variations plus squat work, with back accessories on top.
Table of Contents
Program Overview
- The program is 13 weeks long.
- The program has 3 primary training days per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday).
- If you have extra time, you can perform the Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday workouts, but they are optional.
- There is a fair amount of exercise variety in the program, but here is general breakdown of exercise frequency for the three primary training days:
- Back extensions: 3 times per week
- Snatch + variations: 3 times per week
- C&J + variations: 3 times per week
- Squatting: 2 times per week
- If you see an “X” it means to choose the weight yourself.
- If you see “for technique” beside an exercise, it means to use less weight, slow the movement down, and focus on executing the lift with perfect form.
- The rep scheme is weight x reps x sets.
Programming Back Squat Loads Using Clean & Jerk 1RM
You may see some notes in the program or the original article on All Things Gym about how the first 4 weeks of the program use the C&J 1RM to calculate back squat loads. Users pointed out that this often led to the back squat loads being too light, so Oleksiy updated this starting in week 5. I went ahead and updates weeks 1-4 so that all weeks calculate back squat loads based on the back squat 1rm.
If you’re reading the above and are confused, don’t worry about it. Just plug in your maxes, follow the program, and you’ll be good. I mainly wrote that for folks that poke around in the spreadsheet formulas.
Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet via All Things Gym, which also has an interesting comments section for the associated article.
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Torokhtiy 13 Week Program FAQs
Do I need to do the optional days?
No. Monday, Wednesday and Friday carry the program. The Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday sessions are there if you have the time and the recovery for them, and skipping all three costs you nothing structurally. Most people running this around a job should treat it as a 3 day program and stop feeling guilty about it.
What maxes do I need to enter?
Snatch, clean and jerk, and back squat. The back squat one matters more than you’d think: the loads for every squat variation come off it, and in the original version the first four weeks were calculated from the clean and jerk max instead, which came out too light. That’s fixed in this sheet.
Is this a beginner program?
No. It assumes you can already snatch and clean and jerk with reasonable technique, since it moves straight into variations rather than teaching the lifts. If you’re still learning the positions, spend the 13 weeks on coaching instead.
What does “for technique” mean next to an exercise?
Drop the weight, slow the movement down, and execute it properly. It’s a coaching cue, not a load prescription. If you’re grinding a set marked “for technique” you’ve misread it.
Can I substitute exercises I don’t have equipment for?
Within reason. Swapping a block variation for a hang variation of the same lift is fine. Swapping a snatch variation for a pull is not, because the point of the variety here is exposure to different positions under the bar.
Updates
- All Things Gym retired the source article, so that link now points at an archived copy. Added FAQs covering the optional training days, which maxes the spreadsheet needs, and the notation used in the program.
