Power Clean Form Check

[TJones]

I've been trying to teach myself to power clean for the last few weeks. I have two videos from today's workout. I'm trying to focus on getting full hip extension and resisting the temptation to arm pull the bar. I would appreciate any tips you have to offer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfLA3q54J1w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEIrayxEAfM

[milesdyson]

might as well be doing power cleans from the hang with that pause before the second pull. setup is weird, as is the "pulsing" before you actually do the lift.

[tnumrych]

Looks pretty good for just starting out Tjones. Two things, (1) you're truncating the movement into two separate pulls, and (2) you're jumping backwards and upwards.

1. It's true that the power clean can be broken down into constituent component "pulls" to learn it however when it comes to performing the actual thing focus on a smooth movement. You have a split second pause once anticipating the "jump" portion/2nd pull, at the knee. With that pause you are losing momentum you picked up in the first pull. Tommy Kono, in his book, stresses the importance of picking up momentum and accelerating as the bar is moving up. So it's not necessarily that you pull slow off the ground and then jump, rather you accelerate the entire time as you progress through the different phases/pulls.

2. You can see in the video your feet change position backwards by about a foot when you rack the bar. Remember, the final result you are trying to achieve is changing the vertical displacement of the bar by imparting upward force on the bar in the opposite direction of gravity. Ideally your feet would be landing in the same exact spot they started. Focus on jumping up instead of back.

But, honestly, this is just nitpicking for someone that just started a few weeks ago. Keep up the good work, and keep working on the things I mentioned, you're on the right track.

[Tom Campitelli]

You should work on your set up. Your first pull, that which moves from the ground to mid-thigh, is non-ideal. I highly recommend reading the parts in SS regarding how to set up for the dead/clean. When you pull the bar off the ground, it should look a lot like a deadlift. There is a really nice step by step process that I go through each time I pull that came right from SS. It is very useful.