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Thread: Clean form check

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2010
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    Default Clean form check

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    This is a video of some clean and jerks I recently did at 165#. At this weight, the cleans should have been mostly technique work as the jerks were limited by shoulder pain (I should have just skipped the jerks anyway since I simply ended up pressing them out).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AptB6PokOJw

    Please ignore the jerks in the video - no doubt there are a multitude of problems (shin past vertical, pressing out, etc.), but I'm more interested in fixing the clean right now.

    Any help anyone could provide on the clean would be great. The bar path seems fairly vertical until the jump, at which point it loops way forward - this is a problem which I've had for a while, and I'm having a tough time getting rid of it. I seem to be banging into the bar with my legs, so I'm not sure if I'm jumping too early and need to wait until the bar is higher on my thighs, or perhaps something else is going on - at any rate, I have this loopy bar path with both the snatch and the clean. Do I perhaps let my hips cross the frontal plane and not send them vertical enough? Or any other ideas? I feel like I'm waiting long enough to jump, but then again, if my sense of "feel" was accurate, I wouldn't be having this problem.

    Even in the world of those who subscribe to the "S-curve" for bar trajectory, this bar path is extreme, and it clearly pulls me forward as well.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated. These are awful.

    Thanks in advance for the help.

  2. #2
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    Dec 2009
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    Default

    I am not qualified to comment on the subtle advanced stuff you want.

    But I noticed you are not racking with elbows high, even though you get elbows nice and high when you prepare to jerk.

    Did you widen grip when you prepare to jerk? Have you tried to pull using the same grip width? Technically it should be easier to rack with elbows higher than in your jerk position as hands/fingers can be open and loose.

    The other thing was that you are coming onto your toes when you are driving you jerks. If you push through the heels you will feel a MASSIVE boost in power transfer.

  3. #3
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    Thanks for the tips on getting my elbows higher (as well as staying off the toes on the jerk). I do occasionally lose a clean because I'm not aggressive enough with my elbows, so that's a good reminder.

    As for the bar path stuff, sorry, I may have gotten a little too fancy for my own self. Essentially, the bar shoots way out in front of me when I jump, and I'm just looking for a way or a cue to stop that.

    I've used the free program Kinovea a couple of times to look at the bar path, and it is - sadly - hilarious. It often ends up looking like a question mark - straight, and then a crazy loop.

  4. #4
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    I had a similar bar path to you.
    The advice that I was given was to think about punching a hole in the ceiling with my head.
    I tried to follow the advice by visualising myself jumping, and keeping my focus on the jump straight from the first pull.
    Just think about jumping up; the timing will come by itself, because there is only one position of the bar on the thighs that allows you to jump straight and vertical.

    I can't claim my clean is good, but I think this advice has improved it, at least a bit.

    Your mileage may vary, as usual.

    IPB

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    The bar path seems fairly vertical until the jump, at which point it loops way forward.
    I agree, although a clean will normally have a little looping forward. Here are a few cues to think about that may or may not be of help.
    • Focus on lightly brushing the thigh as you jump the bar upward instead of hitting the thigh. Your bar path is probably influenced by bouncing it off your legs, as you mentioned. Brush by on the way up.
    • Try jumping backwards a little. I realize that is not technically correct, but an exaggeration might help with your bar path.
    • Nail your position off the floor each time. Really squeeze the chest up and get a tight lower back position before you start the pull.
    • You rock your feet back and forth as the bar comes off the ground. Keep the the weight over the midfoot as you would in a deadlift on the first pull to eliminate additional unnecessary wobbling.

  6. #6
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    starting strength coach development program
    Thank you both for the help and the tips. I will definitely be working on this.

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