Olympic weightlifting is one of the most underutilized ways of weight-training on the planet, especially for bodybuilding. Back in the old days, the good old cleans, jerks and snatches were a staple for bodybuilders, strongmen and olympians alike. However, nowadays, unless you're an actual competitive olympic weightlifter or a football player, chances are, you probably don't do olympic lifts (except for maybe power cleans).

Personally, from my own experiences, I find olympic weightlifting to be a great supplement to, and even a cornerstone of, a great, successful bodybuilding routine. Olympic lifting's reputation for building strength, flexibility and athleticism is well-known, but for building pure size, the olympic lifts can be a bodybuilder's best friend.

The two olympic lifts are the clean and jerk, and the snatch. Of course, you can use any variation you like. My favorites are the hang clean and the split jerk.

Olympic lifts work the entire body, therefore, they make it easy to get a full workout in a very short amount of time by working them into your routine. Gains of 10-20 pounds in a month are possible, and not unheard-of, minus supplements.

What kind of sets should you do? Sets of 5 reps or thereabouts are best. Why? Less reps, and the overall work volume will be too low unless you do 8-10 sets. More reps, and you run the risk of compromising form, or are forced to drop the weight in order to do the reps. 5 or so sets of 4-6 reps is optimal for bodybuilding purposes.

A sample olybuilding (olympic bodybuilding) routine might look like this:

Squats: 5x10

Power Cleans: 5x5

Split Jerks: 5x4

Or:

Power Snatches 5x5

Bench Press: 3x10

Deadlift: 5x10

Why haven't I written a set routine? Because there's multiple ways to skin a cat. Take any established bodybuilding routine that is known to work, and add olympic lifting whenever possible. Add it to 5x5, or the Russian Bear routine, or Escalating Density Training (EDT) or whatever suits your fancy. The important thing is, you'll be olympic lifting.