Weightlifting Programming: A Winning Coach's Guide Paperback – December 1, 2012

I also wrote this review on this blog in case it doesn't appear correctly (for some reason): [...]I just finished Bob Takano's stellar book, Weightlifting Programming: A Winning Coach's Guide. Coach Takano is essentially a demi-god, having been inducted into the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame as well as being a USAW Senior International Coach. He served as head coach for the international team for many years and produced many quality weightlifters for the USA. When Greg Everett released that he was publishing this book for Coach Takano, I naturally jumped at the opportunity to learn and pre-ordered his book on the pre-release date (I know ... I'm a nerd).One of my weakest points as an ever-learning coach is the concept of programming. With so many philosophies to choose from, it can be easy to get lost and feel overwhelmed. This book did a phenomenal job at not only explaining an approach to programming, but Coach Takano did a wonderful job at explaining why you choose certain exercises during certain phases of a weightlifter's career. The ease in which he explains the concept of Long Term Athletic Development is incredible. In my pursuit of higher learning, I never encountered someone that was able to break it down into such easy terms. His integration of mathematics, statistics, biology, kinesiology, exercise science, and physics of how they're used in a coach's pursuit of the perfect program for his individual lifters is flawless. There was never a time where I had to re-read a sentence because I couldn't understand the material presented - that only happened because I actually wanted to out of pure fascination and satisfaction. Lastly, his writing style is refreshing. You can tell he is a learned, 40-year biology teacher. It makes me wish I had someone like that in high school or college when I was learning such a key subject.This book should really be on any person's list to read if you are in strength and conditioning, be it the garage warrior or an experienced coach. Your desire to continue learning and developing yourself should NEVER end, regardless of experience. There are key points that those within the aforementioned range of experience can benefit from. He is not shy at pointing out fundamental flaws in the US' athletic development system and presenting his theory as to why we continue to have an issue with steroids and performance enhancers. His statistics demonstrate just how important quality repetitions are. Regardless if your athlete is a weightlifter or a wrestler, the "perfect practice makes perfect" principle exudes from this well-written book and can be applied to any part of your life. You can see a weightlifter's average intensity remain constant over time, but his volume increases significantly through each stage, therefore making me come to the conclusion that it is absolutely critical to increase the amount of perfect repetitions as the athlete continues to reach top-end strength levels and develops into a high-level athlete. Without it, the athlete won't be able to apply those new strength gains in whatever sport he/she plays, which essentially makes that athlete strong for no good reason. It also compounds the notion that to be good at one movement, you have to drill it perfectly 10,000 times and not necessarily at maximum intensity - the very same theory I heard when I was a wrestler. Pick up this book today!

i very much enjoyed the book. i did get the kindle edition which unfortunately is missing the table of contents, though it's not a big deal.the book is written by someone who is obviously passionate and very knowledgeable about the sport.the book is highly informative (though it presumes the reader is already familiar with lifting techniques, as it spends no time on technique analysis) and sums up decades of experience by the author in the sport. more than anything, it lays out the framework of the sport and approprate training techniques for lifters both in early and advanced stages of the sport. the instructions are very detailed (weights, sets, reps, loading, etc) which is probably the book's best attribute.though the book is written for coaches, due to the severe dearth of oly lifting trainers, most athletes interested in the sport will benefit from the book.if you are a crossfiter struggling w/oly lifting (i.e. every crossfitter) - well worth the time to learn the programming.great job!

When the book came out I read it and decided to implement it with my club. We just finished our first nine week cycle. I had nine lifters complete the nine weeks. All nine set PRs in all four measured lifts. Of the four measured lifts, we had nine target goal numbers hit or surpassed. It was a complete success. We are about to start a transition week and will re-set out target lifts for the next cycle which will start on April 8.I like this type of programming because it is GOAL ORIENTED. We set end of cycle goals, and the program is a map to get us there. I'm very excited to start the next cycle. I've seen progress in my personal lifts, and all my club members are getting better.

The writing isn't super compelling, but the content is good. Lots of examples of Soviet era programming for athletes at various levels, which is helpful for determining how much volume and at what intensity to program for athletes at different levels. The chapter on restoration describes a lot of different modalities but fails to cite any empirical data on their efficacy. Overall worth reading simply because there are so few English language resources available for weightlifting programming that are approachable for a non-academic reader.

I have been coaching and Olympic lifting for many years and I consider this book to be one of the most valuable of all my Olympic lifting books . It's very clear and straight to the point on how to write and follow a training program with very good results . I've used it successfully with my training and I hope to use it in the athletes that I coach also . I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in raising their total for any sport .John R. Schou

I don't believe there is an another book on programming in the United States as detailed as this one for Olympic Weightlifting. Coach Takano does an excellent job detailing Russian style programming for every class of lifter from the Beginning stages all the way through International Elite levels. He provides more than just sample workouts, which are included, but also provides the reasoning behind his programming, so that the reader can eventually program for themselves. I highly recommend this book to learn more about programming for Olympic Weightlifting.

Great book, a must for every coach. Great guide for young in-experienced coaches to get started programming their athletes. Takano's knowledge is extraordinary. He shares his wisdom while simplifying and interpreting the alleged mysteries of the old soviet principles. Their secret is out!