THE AGE OLD QUESTION “does size matter?”
Well, we won’t be answering what your thinking of but rather a weightlifting spin-off, allow me to paint the picture… You feel confident in the technique. It’s improving but still a couple of areas need working on, do you go for a max everyday or keep ploughing away at the 75-85%?
The answer is both, and seek programming advice. I’m not saying don’t ever go for a PR/ PB, because that is what Weightlifting is about but it needs to be in moderation. Train up to a PR/ PB, working on the technique with the training percentages (75-85%) and then after a few weeks go for it. Smash it! A lot of people jump into going for a max as soon as they’ve got a grasp of the technique and don’t allow much training to be in the ranges of 75-85% to continue to work on their technical skills. Be wary of this.
I was rather lucky to start lifting at a young age and for the first year of my lifting life I was solely working on the technique (lifting a mighty 15kg Snatch and 22kg Clean and Jerk, I might add). This gave me a good grounding to build strength and further develop my lifting throughout my teens.
The morale of the story is take time away from lifting PBs and going to max everyday, to learn the technique and it will stay with you forever (or at least long enough that you’ll be able to still use it) and size (of the weights) only matters in a competition, so stick to a training program.
