PC Form Check

[Charlocity2]

http://youtu.be/qyskCwYcW9A

135, 5th set of 3, "Medium" day of HLM (after squats and bench press).

They didn't feel hard, but I know I have:

1. An early arm bend.
2. Weak jump (in that no stomp = weak jump)

To address these, I sometimes:

1. Do hang PCs (where I see no early arm bend)
2. Focus on a jump WITH a stomp (but not a donkey stomp).

Still, as soon as I go back to pulling from the floor, the early arm bend in the transition returns and the jump with a stomp disappears.

Age 50, 6', 185.

[Paul Horn]

Hey Char (can I call you Char ... awesome),

You're 50 and you're doing powercleans so I already think you're a badass. But, let's decide that we aren't just going to do powercleans, no, we are going to make powercleans our bitch! We are going to get so goddamn aggressive with powercleans that the old bag down the street starts gettin' all hot and bothered because of the noise, vibrations and testosterone emanating from your home gym. Sound good? Let's do this!

First, you actually need to jump. That means your feet leave the ground.

Second, I see you've marked the floor with tape. Great. Now make sure that when you land your feet aren't in the same exact place they were when you jumped. Start in your deadlift stance, jump, and land in your squat stance.

Third, catch the bar on your shoulders with your elbows up. Do not catch the bar in your hands with your elbows pointing at the ground and then rotate them up later (hint: you are doing this).

Fourth, get aggressive, pissed, angry, whatever it takes to put some more effort into it. Crank up some metal or put on your favorite Tony Robbins motivational tape. I don't care. Just convince me and the rest of the people on this board rooting for you that when you step into that garage to powerclean you're going to fucking WORK!

Now get busy and report back.

[Charlocity2]

Got it. Jump, land in a squat stance, rack it high, aggressive.

Actually, I overheard the old hag down the street once say, "I hope he breaks his leg" in regards to my lifting. True story, good source of motivation.

[Charlocity2]

Are these better?

http://youtu.be/2Eb3zv681GQ

[Paul Horn]

Much better! Let's dial it in even more.

1. When you land, stick your butt back. Imagine I'm coming to tackle you. To brace yourself for the impact, you're probably going to bend your knees (to about a quarter squat), lean forward a bit, stick your butt back, and put your arms straight out in front of you. This stance puts you in a more stable position than the upright stance you are currently landing in. The only difference here is that your arms will be in the rack position when you land.

2. Lock your elbows. You've got an early arm-pull. Squeeze the triceps hard and internally rotate the arms before you start the lift. Keep your elbows locked until after the jump.

Work on these two things and repost. Nice job thus far!

[Charlocity2]

Very helpful. Thanks for prioritizing my takeaways, as my initial concern was mainly my arm pull. Thank you again

[Paul Horn]

Happy to help. The landing is relatively easy to fix. The arm-pull can be a pain in the ass. Don't be afraid to go back to the hang and work your way down to the floor.

[Charlocity2]

Reposting as requested. I did the first rep from the hang.

I acknowledge that:

1. I did not stick my butt back on landing.

2. I did not lock my elbows on the full pulls. I see the contrast between my hang clean, with pretty straight arms, and the full pulls, where they started bending when the bar was near the knees. I was emphasizing internally rotating my arms and squeezing my triceps in the setup, but it seems to have evaporated in the transition. Early arm bend is a pain in the ass, indeed.

Unless you want a repost next time, I'll just continue to work on it until I can see for myself it's corrected.

http://youtu.be/sQ3x5eypOtk

[Paul Horn]

Try this:

Warm up by doing 2-3 sets of 5 from the hang/jumping position with a light/moderate weight. Focus on straight arms. Don't think about racking the bar until you are on your way back down from the jump. Be patient.

Then, add some weight and go down to the floor. Before each powerclean you are going to pull a rep without racking the bar. Pull it up to the jumping position and jump as high as you can with straight elbows. Do not bend the arms at all. Then, put the bar back down and pull a normal powerclean. So, for a set of 3 powercleans you will be jumping 6 times. The first rep allows you to focus on what it feels like to jump with straight arms. Recreate that exact feeling on the second rep, but tack a rack onto the end. Remember, be patient. Finish jumping, then rack.

You can do this on your powerclean day and/or as a warmup for deadlifts.

Good luck.

[Charlocity2]

Excellent advice. Just what I was looking for. Thank you again.