The LSUS 10-5-3 is a 10-week Olympic weightlifting program created by Dr. Kyle Pierce at Louisiana State University Shreveport. It’s built on block periodization – you spend 3 weeks doing sets of 10, then 3 weeks of sets of 5, then 3 weeks of sets of 3, followed by a 1-week taper into a max-out or competition. You’ll train 5 days per week with a mix of Olympic lifts, squats, presses, pulls, pull-ups, and accessories.
This program has serious pedigree. Dr. Pierce used it to develop three-time U.S. Olympian Kendrick Farris and national-level lifter Jared Fleming. He’s a 3x USOC Weightlifting Coach of the Year (2006, 2007, 2010) and was inducted into the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame in 2017. The program itself is based on published research by Stone, Pierce, and other colleagues on periodized strength training for weightlifters.
What I like about this program is how straightforward the progression is. You start with high-volume, lower-intensity work to build muscle and work capacity, then steadily drop volume while cranking up intensity. It’s textbook linear periodization, and it works. The caveat: this thing is a volume monster. You’re looking at roughly 75 working sets per week in the 10s phase. If you’re not used to that kind of workload, you’ll need to ease into it or modify the volume down. I’d recommend this for intermediate to advanced Olympic weightlifters who have at least a year of consistent training under their belt and can handle 5 sessions per week.
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