Specific – This program must be specific for the end user. Keep in mind that a program made one lifter national champion may exacerbate the flaws of another.

Measurable - Any goals set must be measurable. So saying “I want a better clean,” would not satisfy measurability as better cannot be quantified. A measurable equivalent would be “I want to increase my clean by 5 kilos.” This criterion is relatively easy to satisfy with Olympic Weightlifting.

Attainable – Any goals set must be realistic. An increase of 50 kilos on your snatch within 6 weeks for an accomplished lifter is not attainable. Set goals that you believe you can achieve.

Relevant – Goals set must be relevant to you. This one kind of goes without saying, but many people will include irrelevant things on a program. An example of this is including an increased bench press PB in a Olympic Lifting Program. There are however exceptions to this rule; we’ll look at these under entertaining.

Timebased – A finte timescale should be put on your goals. So an increase of 5kg in 3 months is great.

Entertaining – This is a really important point. Goals set should be entertaining or stimulating. A training program is much more likely to be successful if you enjoy it. If you can’t wait to get back into the gym and are super excited for your next session, you will execute it with passing and fire. This passion and fire will be reflected in your gains.

Reviewable – At the end of the program, you should be able to sit down and go through your progress. You should be able to see where you went wrong and what worked well for you. So if you found that doing 3s instead of 5 reps worked really well for your snatch goal, then you will know that that is the type of training that works for you.