Power Clean - Form Check

Hi guys,

I’m not on an olympic lifting programme, and am very much a noob, but enjoy throwing light-ish power cleans in before squats and deads for activation purposes and am thinking about teaching myself the snatch and jerk in due time.

I’d like to brush up on my technique. I decided to go heavy as I assumed this would give y’all a bit more information about my technical weaknesses.

In order, the links show a 93kg power clean, a p.b matching 102.5 kg clean and a 105kg miss. I included the miss as it appears to reveal slowness in getting under the bar.

Any tips or helpful cues will go a long way since I cannot afford coaching.

It’s not lack of speed getting under the bar. It’s improper pulling technique. You’re missing any and all contact with your legs, just trying to pull the bar to your shoulders instead of pulling yourself under the bar. You engage your back too early.

[quote]nkklllll wrote:
It’s not lack of speed getting under the bar. It’s improper pulling technique. You’re missing any and all contact with your legs, just trying to pull the bar to your shoulders instead of pulling yourself under the bar. You engage your back too early.[/quote]

Hey, thanks for the reply nkl, any useful cues that I can begin applying immediately regarding the contact with legs? keep the bar closer?

Are there any technical drills i should be doing instead of the power cleans so that i can get more out of them in the future?

[quote]rabidshrimp wrote:

[quote]nkklllll wrote:
It’s not lack of speed getting under the bar. It’s improper pulling technique. You’re missing any and all contact with your legs, just trying to pull the bar to your shoulders instead of pulling yourself under the bar. You engage your back too early.[/quote]

Hey, thanks for the reply nkl, any useful cues that I can begin applying immediately regarding the contact with legs? keep the bar closer?

Are there any technical drills i should be doing instead of the power cleans so that i can get more out of them in the future?

[/quote]

We call snatches and cleans “pulls” but you should really think of them like you’re pushing the ground away from the bar, instead of pulling the bar off the ground.

I can’t see anything really with your set-up but here’s a quick rundown: shoulders should be internally rotated with your lats engaged (think like a bodybuilder’s lat spread pose). Back should be solid. bar should start against your shins and should be over the first lace of your shoes (about, not a hard and fast rule, but general). Your weight should be forward on your foot. Your legs should be active as your getting set. When I first started I knew I was doing this right when my legs started to burn just by getting into the proper start position.

Your first move should be to extend the knees while keeping your back angle constant (hips and shoulders move at the same right, but the knees come back). This will help you get the bar passed your knees. When the bar is just above your knee, your weight should be towards your heels, with your lower leg perpendicular to the ground (straight up and down). Keeping your weight on your heels as long as possible, you now start pushing as hard into the ground as possible, forcefully extending the hips and knees. If done correctly, the bar and thighs (in the clean) or hips (in the snatch) should meet.

You will then actively shrug yourself under the bar, using your arms to aid in bringing the bar to your shoulders.

Wow, awesome. thanks for the in depth description.

When you get the bar to above the knees, do you think about extending the hips and knees simultaneously, or does one precede the other?

You only realise how complex a move it is when someone knowledgeable breaks it down for you. Maybe I should start saving for 1 or 2 coaching sessions…

You really shouldn’t drop the bar if you’re not using bumper plates. That’s going to destroy both the floor, the bar and isn’t doing the plates any favours.

floor is made of the thick rubber tiles ofted used for playground surfaces. appears to absorb most of the impact

[quote]rabidshrimp wrote:
Wow, awesome. thanks for the in depth description.

When you get the bar to above the knees, do you think about extending the hips and knees simultaneously, or does one precede the other?

You only realise how complex a move it is when someone knowledgeable breaks it down for you. Maybe I should start saving for 1 or 2 coaching sessions… [/quote]

The movement happens too fast to be thinking about those kinds of cues. You should just be focused on driving through your heels and pushing down as hard as you can. Like I said before, there’s a good chance that if you do that correctly, a lot of other things will fall into place.

I’m not a pro or a coach.

I saw in the first video that you jumped. Your feet completely left the floor. I was taught for the Power Clean that during “triple extension” to get up on my toes, but not to jump.

coach, at around 25 seconds, explaining you don’t have to jump but get up on the toes.

http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/power-clean-from-hang

[quote]alpha_mike wrote:
I’m not a pro or a coach.

I saw in the first video that you jumped. Your feet completely left the floor. I was taught for the Power Clean that during “triple extension” to get up on my toes, but not to jump.

[/quote]

If you watch any elite level lifter, their feet leave the ground when the lift. You’re goal is not to jump, because jumping is a different movement, but you should be applying so much force to the ground that you do get airborne.

For a power clean, I think these lifts look pretty decent. If your goal is build power and activate cns for squatting, the only thing you need to worry about is keeping the bar in close, and pulling the bar more north and south vs swinging and “lifting” with arms.

Now, if your goal is to lift as much weight as possible, then the lift of instructions is very different and should lead down the road towards a full clean as the end goal.

Nice power for a guy your size. 105 looked very doable and 110-115 would be within reach shortly.