Another power clean excuse

[Roamer]

I just got SS:BBT and PP:ST2. Am almost finished reading SS:BBT and started the Novice program last week. I love it and think I was built for squats.

I am in pretty good shape for a 50 year old. I am having a problem with the Power Clean. It is causing a bad pain in my right big toe joint.

Let me explain. I have Hallux Limitus in that joint. This past March I had surgery to repair it. It was too far gone to fix perfectly though. The surgeon removed a large bone spur that was causing the toe not to be able to flex up at all. He cut the first metatarsal bone and moved it back and down and put two screws in it. He drilled holes in the bone joint to promote new cartilage growth.

He said that there was a lot of cartilage damage and that in the future it would probable degrade to where I would have to get the joint fused or an artificial joint. At my last follow up visit with him he said I could do anything I want to do and judge by the pain how far I wanted to go with any activity
That I would have to live a “new normal”. That is aches, pains, and ibuprofen.

Well when I do power cleans and launch off the ground that flexes that toe in ways it does not like and causes me severe pain for days after. Could I be the first person you give a pass not to do power cleans or am I just a weenie?

Doug

[Mark Rippetoe]

There are lots of older guys that don't need to clean, as a SEARCH will reveal. If the jumping aspect of the clean fucks up your foot, you obviously should not do them. Keep your reason for training in mind, and don't be pig-headed about it like I tend to be.

[ferbo]

What would be the best sub for cleans?

[mike]

There are lots of older guys that don't need to clean

how would one best fill that void if the power clean was dropped? is there a preferred power clean replacement for the geezer club?

happy new year! coach rippetoe

[Mark Rippetoe]

There is no substitute for cleans. If you can't do them, the program is not optimal. Sometimes that's the price you pay for having survived long enough without training that you've started as an old guy.

[BryanM]

What would be the best sub for cleans?

Fat bar rack pulls?

While my reasoning may not turn out to mesh with reality, I think it can be helpful for the purpose of making the deadlift continue to go up.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Cleans are explosive, rack pulls of any bar diameter are not, eckspecially fat bar rack pulls. The explosive lift is included for a specific purpose, discussed in the books.

[Roamer]

I understand now why you say the Novice phase without the Power Clean is not optimal. I just read your article "Redefining Fitness" after seeing it referenced in PP:ST2. It takes to power component out of it.

My goal is just what you say in your definition of Physical Fitness:

"Possession of adequate levels of strength, endurance, and mobility to
provide for successful participation in occupational effort, recreational
pursuits, familial obligations, and that is consistent with a functional
phenotypic expression of the human genotype"

My recreational pursuit is golf and I would like to be able to continue playing
as I get older. I believe this needs a power component in my workout.

In the past I have done this with plyometrics and medicine ball work. Could I add this during my novice phase of which I am only two weeks into? Or would this be better left till I reached the intermediate phase?

Doug

[Mark Rippetoe]

I don't think that golf is a demanding enough physical activity that it will require specific power work over and above that which will be the normal consequence of increased strength. If John Daly can play the game at his level in the shape he's in, I think you'll be fine.

[blowdpanis]

There is no substitute for cleans. If you can't do them, the program is not optimal. Sometimes that's the price you pay for having survived long enough without training that you've started as an old guy.

Say "rows" and blow everybody's mind!