Snatch High Pulls Improved My Performance

I have really gotten into power cleans lately, and normally do them before deadlift and squat. Today I decided to do high pulls instead of power cleans. After ramping to my heaviest set of 5 I still felt fresh so decided to do the power cleans too. They felt so smooth and I added 10 pounds to my PR and could have went for more probably. Would this be advisable to continue doing in the future? So it would be high pulls, power cleans, and then either squat or dead lift. Is there a reason why I felt so much stronger today after high pulls? Thanks.

[quote]matt_t2004 wrote:
I have really gotten into power cleans lately, and normally do them before deadlift and squat. Today I decided to do high pulls instead of power cleans. After ramping to my heaviest set of 5 I still felt fresh so decided to do the power cleans too. They felt so smooth and I added 10 pounds to my PR and could have went for more probably. Would this be advisable to continue doing in the future? So it would be high pulls, power cleans, and then either squat or dead lift. Is there a reason why I felt so much stronger today after high pulls? Thanks.[/quote]

What you experienced is likely a neurological phenomenon due to the “harder grip” (snatch grip) and pulling the bar higher than needed for a power clean. So when you got to the cleans you switched to an “easier” grip which improved your confidence which itself lead to a better performance.

Another aspect to consider is that high pulls teach you to keep the bar close. A lot of people kill their power clean performance by letting the bar move away from their body, doing high pulls prior to clean can help you keep the bar closer.

You can keep the high pulls in there, but you wont have the same sudden increase in clean performance. But the pulls will help you keep the bar close on cleans.

Thanks for the response. I felt great after the session today. I have felt it in my traps all day. Should I be trying to go for the heaviest set of 5 on the pulls or should I be going lighter weight?