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Thread: high pull as a pulling alternative

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
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    Default high pull as a pulling alternative

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    After some time off I have resumed training with a linear progression. I have pushed my weights up pretty fast, and just suffered a mild back tweak deadlifting. Yesterday I decided to do some cleans as an alternative to heavy deadlifts, give my back a little rest. I found catching the bar pretty awkward. I am 50 years old and I had more or less given up on cleans due to wrist pain and other issues when I try to progress them to heavier weights.

    I know Rip is against high pulls because there's no way to objectively measure whether you completed the rep. But would it really be wrong to use them as a light/dynamic pulling alternative? I tried them yesterday and they felt a lot better than the cleans did. All the explosive pulling, none of the awkwardness and wrist stress. Also, my gym will get mad if I drop the bar, and it is easier to let the bar down from a high pull than from the clean rack position. I hope to keep myself reasonably honest by touching the bar to the same spot on my chest with each rep. But I am not competing and I don't really care what my max high pull is. I guess I would think of them more like an assistance or accessory movement.

    Bad idea? Considerations?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    53,557

    Default

    They are the worst idea anybody ever had for competitive Olympic lifters, but if you want to do them, fine.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2018
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    You don’t have to drop the bar when Power Cleaning. Just unrack it and lower it down like you would a deadlift.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Schexnayder View Post
    You don’t have to drop the bar when Power Cleaning. Just unrack it and lower it down like you would a deadlift.
    Yeah, I know you don't have to. But I find lowering the bar from the rack position more difficult than from the top of a high pull. The bar is at a dead stop and one has to get it back fully into the hands, reversing the elbows-high movement that got it to the rack. That puts some stress on my wrists. And I have a tendency to lower it in two stages, dropping it to hip level and catching it there, then lowering it the rest of the way. Catching it at hip level causes a jolt. When I high pull, I already have a good grip on the bar at the top and I find it easier to lower it in one smooth motion to the floor.

    Ok thanks, glad to know that this at least isn't an absolutely terrible idea.

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