Power clean form check

[pyaarawala]

Hey, here's my latest clean video, 2 angles at 107.5 lbsx3x5. Is my jumping position correct? Difficulty is about medium right now.

Front: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZz...bs9SPd79V64h5g

Side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCHY...bs9SPd79V64h5g

Thanks

[BareSteel]

Pretty good, Hassan. You know where the jumping position is and you've really got a good beat on the starting position. Just stop sprawling your feet out wide like a frightened spider! I like to think 'Stomp!'

[pyaarawala]

Pretty good, Hassan. You know where the jumping position is and you've really got a good beat on the starting position. Just stop sprawling your feet out wide like a frightened spider! I like to think 'Stomp!'

Hey man. Thanks for looking through all my form checks pretty much.

Yeah the spider thing is pretty annoying, but I can't seem to help it. Is it because my body is afraid of losing balance or something that I kinda naturally spread my feet out like that? Maybe if I do think of stomping on the ground like those grey things in Super Mario, it'll help me keep my feet together.

Do you have to adjust your feet before bringing the bar down, or after bringing the bar down, to reestablish the proper distance between the feet before each rep? Or do you just pull the next rep in whatever position your feet were after the jump?

[BareSteel]

Think of landing in the same stance you pulled from. You'll probably end up in a stance slightly wider than your pulling stance (especially guys like us who have fairly narrow pulling stances) and that's totally normal.

See if the Super Mario cue works. If it does you can coin it as your own

You definitely have to pull from the same exact stance every time. I actually can't recall if I tend to readjust at the top, or if I do that stuff at the bottom. Never gave it any thought. But you definitely want a repeatable starting position. I think you got that covered.

[Nick Klemetson]

The cue I use is "Land in your footprints."

[osv2]

Do you have to adjust your feet before bringing the bar down, or after bringing the bar down, to reestablish the proper distance between the feet before each rep? Or do you just pull the next rep in whatever position your feet were after the jump?

Before bringing the bar down, as you catch it on your thighs. You risk jamming your thumbs between the bar and the thighs if you don't.

[osv2]

Rather good form! I'd like to see more snappy elbows-up movement though. Aim not to notice the movement in a video at all. One frame elbows are down, the next one -- elbows are up.

[pyaarawala]

Thank you everyone! I'll keep those in mind.

[tdood]

You get it. You just need to get some more confidence and weight!!!

[CircusCL]

It needs more violence.

I realize that's abstract, but when I was coached, I was told that the vast majority of technique issues automatically work themselves out when you develop proper timing and are violent in the second and third pulls (arguably the first pull should never be violent, just very accurate).

I would recommend setting your hips lower. Most of the adept (still intermediate) lifters I've trained with do not pull a power clean/full clean with their hips in the same position as a deadlift (some do). Your hips should be starting in a spot that allows for the maximum amount of force when your hips pop the bar up in the second pull. Meaning your hips need to start in a place that allows you to get incredibly violent with the weight as it contacts your thigh. In my experience, if your hips start too high, your second pull loses power and aggression. I tend to sit my hips as low as possible while keeping my shoulders above the bar, while being able to drive through my heels. Where your hips actually end up depends on proportions. Some people (like a lot of Chinese lifters) with short femurs/long torsos will have their thighs almost parallel to the floor.

During the first pull, you need to push your knees back AND out. If you watch slow motion footage of the Chinese, or good lifters like Farris, you will see that their legs spread apart as they set up the second pull. Your second pull currently has some power, but you could be generating more. So you're doing some things right. If the bar isn't accelerating after it's past your thigh, then something is very wrong.

The same violence applies to the third pull (going under/racking the bar). In a clean, the bar will usually distinctly rattle twice, once when your hips pop it and once when you turn it over and rack it. Your third pull should be violent -- like get under the weight as fast and as aggressively as you can.

The violence required for heavy weights, combined with proper timing works a lot of kinks out -- my second coach told me to NOT worry about how I'm landing. He just stressed getting under the ****ing bar. If you yank yourself under the bar as hard as you can, your feet tend to automatically accommodate your frame and you don't need to think about moving them because their movement is a result of a violent third pull, and not of anything else.

Pull, pop, yank.