"Operation Power Clean"

[TinyArnold]

I have been attempting to learn the lift for quite some time but I am still struggling.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0OJZyD52Dw

Any advice is appreciated.

[MikeC1]

You're having difficulty with cleanly getting to your rack position. For the time being, it will help if you slow everything down, forget about jumping, forget about generating power. Try to do the whole movement in slow motion, including the 'fast' parts. Keep practicing with the empty bar and with 40kg. You need to have soft and flexible hands and wrists for this. Make sure you drop your body down to help make the catch softer and cleaner. You should be catching it in a crouch with your knees and hips bent. Don't settle for a partial rack, rack the bar with the elbows up high in one clean motion. Practice this a million times with the bar and with 40kg.

[TinyArnold]

OK. Thanks.

[Simma Park]

You're having difficulty with cleanly getting to your rack position. For the time being, it will help if you slow everything down, forget about jumping, forget about generating power. Try to do the whole movement in slow motion, including the 'fast' parts. Keep practicing with the empty bar and with 40kg. You need to have soft and flexible hands and wrists for this. Make sure you drop your body down to help make the catch softer and cleaner. You should be catching it in a crouch with your knees and hips bent. Don't settle for a partial rack, rack the bar with the elbows up high in one clean motion. Practice this a million times with the bar and with 40kg.

I disagree. These could be far worse. They don't merit practice for 1,000,000 times with an empty bar.

I think what you need to do is

1) keep the bar closer to your legs (make sure it is touching the thigh as you accelerate into the jump) and

2) rotate your elbows around as quickly as possible as soon as you explode. My coach, who knows I have studied lots of MA, told me to imagine I was trying to deliver elbow strikes to the chin. Fixed my problem with slow racking instantly.

[MikeC1]

They don't merit practice for 1,000,000 times with an empty bar.

Okay, well, that was a slight exaggeration, just to be clear.

Your 1 and 2 are good suggestions.

[TinyArnold]

40 or 35 kg, trying to rack.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nEQHN835H0

My head doesn't fit but i hope bar & elbows are visible enough.

For some reason i find it hard to "find a place" for the bar to stay "on shoulders". Mostly it feels like I'm gonna break something ( if the weight was "heavy") unless the bar touches my throat.

Also note that the bar has to "avoid" my stomach in order to go up :P

[MikeC1]

What makes the rack work is flexible wrists and fingers, the fingers have to bend all the way back, even further than they can go without the bar; the weight of the bar is what bends the fingers.

You're still thinking of the clean as a flipping motion; you won't develop any power generation this way, and you'll continue having problems staying balanced. Instead of flipping the bar, the bar needs to be pulled up, and then your body has to DIP DOWN to receive it.

Your stomach concern is nothing that all heavyweight lifters haven't managed to deal with, so it is possible to work around, so to speak. Keep working at it.

[Simma Park]

Show us your rack from the front. I would bet that, in addition to flexibility issues, you're working from some misconceptions about what your rack should look like.

Also, note that the elbows should basically already be all the way around by the time you catch it. You're still too slow. I think it could be because your rack is incorrect.

[TinyArnold]

I'm aware that i should be faster. My own impression ( how it feels like when lifting ) is that i'm getting faster. I will post new video soon.

[Simma Park]

I'm aware that i should be faster. My own impression ( how it feels like when lifting ) is that i'm getting faster. I will post new video soon.

It looks like you're racking incorrectly, which can significantly slow things down and make it impossible to ever rack quickly enough. A possible indicator of this, other than the limited data on the rack I can see from this view, is your legs/hips when catching the bar. You will not let yourself get under and catch the bar on your body properly if you don't feel like your rack is secure and solid.

But, as I said, we'll have to see a front view to be able to tell for sure. Get a good shot of your rack BEFORE you start cleaning, then make sure we can see your rack clearly as you do your reps. Front from a slight angle is the best view for this, probably.