Reply With QuoteI'd like an answer to this too. I took a video last night and it was HORRIBLE. My hips looked too high, back was in flexion and I think I was pulling too much with my arms...oh yeah, and I couldnt catch it on the delts, either. Help!!!!!
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Flexibility for Power Cleans?
I've tried to teach myself powercleans out of SS book, but find I have such extreme inflexibility that I can't even start from the proper 'rack' position:
my elbows are pointed down, and my wrists don't allow the bar to rest on the deltoids. This is despite widening the grip as suggested in the book.
Because of this, I have not even attempted to learn the lift until I have the requiste flexibility to rack properly. Part of this might be my age (I'm 35) so I'm not as flexibile as I once was.
Granted I have ALOT of flexibility issues; include such tight shoulders that my low-back squats give me a rip-roaring tendinitis (strangely, near the labrum and NOT the elbows, as everyone gets) as well as bad hamstring flexibility that I eventual overcame just be squatting more.
Does anyone else have this problem? If so, what did you find helped?
Thanks in advance!
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I'd like an answer to this too. I took a video last night and it was HORRIBLE. My hips looked too high, back was in flexion and I think I was pulling too much with my arms...oh yeah, and I couldnt catch it on the delts, either. Help!!!!!
Member
Depending on your own individual body proportions ('anthropometry') you might not even be able to ever rack properly.
In my case I have a short upper arm and a long forearm, and as such the rack position points my elbows down roughly 45 degrees from horizontal. The only way to remedy this, of course, is to widen your grip but my upper arm is too short to allow a sufficiently wide grip (I'm providing a poor description of the kind of anthropometry that isn't able to rack properly, hopefully someone provides a better explanation of the mechanics of it all)
Instead, I substitute the PC with a Power Snatch and I am making continued progress in the deadlift. Though lately, the weak point in the deadlift has been my upper back so I might add in some rows - something to think about.
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I also have the same flexibility problems that won't allow me to rack cleans or get into the low bar squat. I'm 32 and have never been very flexible. I've performed the recommended stretches (dislocations, rack stretch, wrist stretch) with no luck.
It's been mentioned that massage may help flexibility issues as well as losing weight if you're fat. I'm working on getting the fat off now. I'm curious to see if there are others on the board who have noticed an improvement from either of the two.
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How are you guys holding the bar in the rack position? You only need your finger tips (and not even all of them) in contact with the bar. I have to use a pretty wide grip (hands at the rings) and usually only 3 fingers end up in contact with the bar in the rack.
As far as arm pull goes, use a hook grip -- it will lesson your tendency to grip the bar hard, which will lesson the tendency to pull with the arms (it will also make for quicker elbows when you rack the bar, which also helps get your elbows up high). You should also flex your triceps and point your elbows out running directly parallel with the bar before you pull.
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Me too.Originally Posted by brobinson
I will try a hook grip. I'm going to be brave a post a PC vid for you to look at. To me, it looked like I was trying to do a jumping jack with 135#
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I don't think age, certainly in your mid-30s, has to be a problem. I turned 43 in October and finally am very comfortable with the bar in the rack position. Mainly lots of focused work on gripping the bar about mid-abdomen and just doing lots of work throwing the bar up into the rack position, giving lots of opportunity to work the wrists into the required state of extension. But I didn't do a lot of this each day, as initially the wrists were pretty sore. Also, throughout the day, I would do some wrist hyperextensions by just pushing back slightly with my other hand to the point of tension and holding. Also, sometimes just holding the bar in the best rack position you can get to will help.
I started this in late '08 when I was first learning about SS and Crossfit. It was hard and almost painful at times, but when I came back to do SS in earnest this year, I found that I could rack the bar with no problems at all. Patience and persistence.
tim
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While my form is fine till I rack my wrists are no where near flexible enough for a proper powerclean or front squat rack.
I've been doing wrist stretches and shoulder mobility work for the last few weeks so I'm hoping this will get me there.
A hook grip may work for guys with big hands but hooking the thumb with half a finger doesn't do anything for me. When they start making 3/4" olympic bars I'll start using a hook grip till then I just hang on to damn thing.
High Pulls are a decent alternative in the interim. While I can mostly get away with a butt ugly powerclean I find I have to be very careful with my shoulder tendons.
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I think that part of the problem may be just needing to learn some drills for the rack position.
I was reading Greg Everett's book on the O-lifts, and he has a few good drills for learning the 3rd pull on the clean. One is called the 'scarecrow clean.' Basically, while standing you hold the bar at about the middle of your chest - almost like you are doing an 'upright row.' Your humerus will be at or nearly parallel to the floor, and your forearms will be at or nearly perpendicular to your humerus. From that position, you hop (like a shortened, less intense version of the 2nd pull), and rotate your elbows around the bar. I know that sounds weird, but the cue to think about 'rotating your elbows under the bar' really helped me with my rack position - I think this is because I was trying to 'lift the bar' above my body with my arms, rather than using my arms only to 'pull my body under the bar.'
I think that breaking the clean down into 3 pulls (pull from the floor, 2nd pull accelerates after the bar reaches mid-thigh, and 3rd pull uses the arms to pull the body under the bar) is really helpful.
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Your personal circumstances might be drastically unique, so please don't take this too personally, but I have severely reduced range of motion in one of my wrists -- I'm talking less than 30 degrees extension -- and I can get my elbows high enough in the rack position. I also have very small hands. And if Naim Suleymanoglu (and just about every 56 and 62kg lifter) can manage a hook grip, nearly everyone of average size should be able to.
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