Long forearms: stretch or snatch?

[dubeurre]

Hey Coaches!

I've tried the power clean for around 5 weeks now and I'm still unable to consistently rack directly on my shoulders, because in the racking position (with my hands/fingers pointing behind me) my palms end behind the shoulder, but my wrist/palm is too high for the bar to also touch the shoulders.
I have unusually long forearms, so I might be a candidate for power snatching instead of power cleaning, but I'm also relatively inflexible in my shoulder/elbow, so I wanted to get your input on whether I might get there with practice and time.





Thanks in advance!

[Michael Wolf]

It does look like you have long forearms, but from that upper picture, it kinda looks like you might be able to rack the clean well enough to do it. But it's really impossible to say just from that pic. Not sure.

[dubeurre]

It does look like you have long forearms, but from that upper picture, it kinda looks like you might be able to rack the clean well enough to do it. But it's really impossible to say just from that pic. Not sure.

Yeah, I thought I'm kinda in between. I can only get into that positon relatively slowly, however, i.e. I catch the bar mostly in my hands and then "stretch" them down so the shoulders carry some of the weight. (Or, worse, I catch the bar with my collarbone and then "stretch" my elbows upwards to press my shoulder into it.)
I'll start learning the snatch I think but keep stretching, so maybe I'll be able to do both in the future.

Thanks for your input!

[Michael Wolf]

That position you're in in the pic is fine, the problem is, it's only with one hand/arm. There's no way for us to tell if you can do that with a bar across your shoulders and two hands/arms. If you can, you're fine.

[ravl]

I struggle with the clean rack as well, I can get the bar to rack with elbows pointing forward but I only have the fingertip of my index finger on the bar to be able to get there. Would stretches make a difference over time?

[Tom Campitelli]

Stretching can sometimes help, as does working on this lifts. If you have really long forearms with respect to your upper arms, you will not stretch your way out of that.