Hello. I am looking to get a critique of my power clean technique. The video is at the link below. Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks!
http://www.hudl.com/technique/video/view/3a4fOjVz?e=4607581#
I prefer if you upload the video on youtube. I like to do a frame-by-frame analysis of the key positions so that I can show you exactly where your body is at the key points and where it needs to be. Explaining only with words can be a little bit harder to understand.
The things that you need to work on:
STARTING POSITION
Your shoulders are behind the bar, they should be at the very least above the bar or preferably slightly in front of the bar It is fairly obvious that you have long limbs and a short torso, so evidently this is harder to do, but having the shoulders behind the bar will make the lift less powerful and harder to make the transition from the first to second pull (the bar will move forward when you have to pass the knees). In fact right before you start the lift you let the bar roll forward, making it too far away from your shins in the starting position.
See these three lifters, all have different body types. Ilyin has a long torso and short limbs, Kolecki is pretty even and Lara has a short torso and longer limbs. Yet all of them at least have their shoulders above the bar, not behind.
FIRST PULL
When the bar reaches the knees the tibia should be perpendicular to the floor. In your case I is angled forward a bit, ha makes he bar stay forward, putting you in a bad position to explode. At this point your shoulders should still be above or even in front of he barbell, yours are behind, which is much weaker.
See here, tibia perpendicular to the floor, shoulders above the barbell, bar close to the body.
EXPLOSION
You explode with the bar too low… it contacts the lower portion of the thighs, that’s because your shoulders do not stay above he barbell long enough (in fact in your case your shoulders are never above the barbell)
You should explode when the barbell is a the upper 1/3rd of the thigh (or even higher when you have short arms, but that is not your case).
He is already higher than where you explode and he hasn’t exploded yet (he explode at about this position). Notice how the shoulders have not yet moved behind he bar.
Kolecki is a bit lower because he has long limbs, but still higher than where you explode from. And the shoulders have not yet moved behind he bar either.
EXPLOSION
Except for the fact that you explode too soon/low the only comment I would make is that you do not fully extend neither at the knee nor ankle. The weight is light enough for your power level that the bar still goes up, but with big weights it wont work. Look at the positons here:
Think “tall body”. You say flat footed and your knees do not fully extend.
MOVE UNDER
When you catch the weight you do not move under. Even in a power clean you want to move under the barbell in at least a quarter, if not half, squat. Your hips stay directly below the shoulders when you receive the bar and your knees move forward. This makes it impossible to receive he barbell in any kind of squat and make for a very weak position. Imagine that when you receive the barbell you want to be in a linebacker or tailback position: hips back, chest up, slightly wider feet than in the pull (so feet move out slightly).
Basically as soon as you finish the explosion (tall body, head to the ceiling) think of “punching your hips back”, this will geet you moving under the barbell.
Look at this video, of course Felix is caching it in a full squat, but it’s the same thing for a half squat (power). Only focus on the movement of his hips when he moves under the barbell after the extension. This is of course a drill, not the actual execution of a clean, just watch the hips and compare that to your video. In a power clean he would still punch his hips back, but just without going as low.
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