Did some light power cleans to check my form. If anybody have time, any comments or criticisms will be appreciated. I can’t seem to regain my balance after extending.
You’re throwing your head back way too hard and way too much!! That’s probably part of the reason your losing your balance. Your extending backward before pulling under, also. You should be extending UP!!
get low dont jump back
Now that you pointed it out, I do whip my head back pretty hard! Thanks for the observation, I’ll work on extending up now.
@Contender: I’m doing the Olympic lifts to develop power, not to actually compete. That’s why I’m trying to emphasize the hip extension instead of getting under the bar. Granted, I think I might be overexaggerating the motion. Need to work on that
This is going to sound douche-y, but I don’t know why bad form on the Olympic lifts is excused by the perennial straw man argument that one is not out to compete. I know OP hadn’t necessarily thought about this, but to say that a certain hip motion emphasizes power in a way that proper form does not is to suggest that weightlifters themselves have not given thought to maximal power development.
Power development comes from maximizing the wattage on your lifts, not from how exaggerated a particular motion is. Someone who can power clean properly (that is, with good form and economy) is going to have the power development edge.
As for not getting under the bar, I don’t understand this attitude at all. Power is also built through reversal of positions, pulling under, and managing the descent of a weight. Why should the lifts be bastardized and attenuated? What’s wrong with them as they actually are? Power cleans, bad form, half-lifts, 8,000-rep Crossfit workouts…why is there such a vast, vast resistance to simply getting under a heavy weight quickly and properly?
Sorry for the rant, OP. You actually do a decent job of keeping the bar close and have good explosiveness.
[quote]delikurt wrote:
As for not getting under the bar, I don’t understand this attitude at all. Power is also built through reversal of positions, pulling under, and managing the descent of a weight. Why should the lifts be bastardized and attenuated? What’s wrong with them as they actually are? Power cleans, bad form, half-lifts, 8,000-rep Crossfit workouts…why is there such a vast, vast resistance to simply getting under a heavy weight quickly and properly?
Sorry for the rant, OP. You actually do a decent job of keeping the bar close and have good explosiveness. [/quote]
I do power cleans/full cleans on a semi regular basis. I am going to try and answer your question, even though it is probably rhetorical. The first issue (of bastardization) has a lot to with people not knowing how to get under a bar. It’s 10x easier (and quite a bit safer) for a football coach to teach a power clean than a proper full clean to his lifters. The coach probably doesn’t have any idea how to get under the bar and catch the weight in the first place. Bad form and half-lifts are not specific to the clean that is every weightlifting/powerlifting/lifting movement around, a large population cheats. Crossfit sells, stupid but it works for some of the population.
The getting under the high weight thing has a few problems. 1 the whole technique thing again, most people don’t know how/when to pull under the bar. Not to mention the pull in the first place. Secondly, they have no idea how to catch it (using their wrists for supports) and after a few heavy lifts your wrists are going to be screwed.
Assuming the technique isn’t the issue, people are generally afraid of maxes (not sure why). For me getting under a heavy clean is still unnerving (i am a newbie on these), and I am sure most other people would say the same.
If that seems long and very poorly thought out, sorry.
A very reasonable response, American in Sweden. And, yes, it was more of a rant than a question. I suppose we are all afraid of different things, and technique / coaching are certainly limitations. It’s better to try something than to do nothing at all.
Looks fine man. Shoes would help alot for the falling backwards. Lots of lifters jump back good and bad ones.