Power Clean form and teaching progression
I believe there is a step missing from the power clean teaching progression.
Summary of my point:
The book contains a strong implication that, during the power clean, the bar is in contact with the body all the way up to the jumping position. However, this is not possible. I believe that the jumping position can only be reached after the jump has already been initiated and that the bar must travel past the knees in a vertical line for some distance prior to initiating the jump (double knee bend).
Support:
The following are citations from the book where it suggests that the lifter must drag the bar from the starting position to the jumping position (mid-thigh) prior to initiating the jump.
1. PG. 187 of the book discusses the jumping position and how one must feel the bar on their thighs prior to catching the bar on their shoulders.
2. Fig. 6-13 on pg. 188 shows the jumping position with the bar touching around mid-thigh.
3. Step 1 of the power clean teaching progression: from jumping position (pg. 187) – “from the jumping position, with straight elbows, jump straight up in the air with the bar hanging from your arms…”
4. Step 2 of the power clean teaching progression: from just below the knee (pg. 189) – “from this position just below the patellas, slowly slide the bar back up to the jumping position, jump, and catch the bar…”
5. Step 3 of the power clean teaching progression: from the starting position (i.e. bar is on the floor) (pg. 190) – “slowly drag the bar up the shins, past the knees, to the jumping position, and then jump and catch the bar”.
6. The 5 step summary on pg. 191
7. First paragraph of pg. 192.
The only deviation from the above is on page 194, which seems to address the above by saying that the knees have to bend in order for the bar to touch the thighs in the jumping position. To quote: “When you heed the reminder to touch your thighs with the bar at the jumping position, you are re-bending your knees to do it. So instead of thinking about a sequence of events sometimes considered too complicated to even try to teach, you accomplished this double knee bend by merely touching your thighs with the bar.”
Figure 6-15 (figure on the left) also shows the correct jumping position (i.e. mid-jump – knees already bent) but the book does not really address arriving at this position.
II – My Analysis
Arriving at the jumping position is only possible once the double knee bend has completed.
In other words, the jumping position (i.e. the bar touching mid-thigh) is only possible after the lifter has dragged the bar past their knees. Once past the knees, the bar continues upward for a bit (without touching the body), the lifter initiates the jump which forces them to re-bend their knees (now the bar touches mid-thigh), the lifter jumps and extends, and racks the bar.
Even though pg. 194 mentions that re-bending the knees occurs naturally, this statement now seems like a big deviation from the teaching method above. Especially since the movement has so much in common with the deadlift where the lifter drags the bar straight up with zero knee bend after clearing the bar above the knee. This would lead the lifter/reader to believe that they must drag the bar up all the way to mid-thigh (jumping position) before even initiating the jump.
III – Conclusion
There seems to be a crucial middle step missing between dragging the bar past the knees and reaching the jumping position. I.e. when to actually bend the knees after the bar clears them.
If the double knee bend is to happen naturally, the lifter/reader must know when to initiate the jump. However, that initiation cannot happen when the bar is in contact with the thigh.
It also cannot be that the lifter instantly re-bends their knees after the bar clears them. There is definitely a space after the bar clears the knees and before the jump is initiated (i.e. the double knee bend) where the bar is ahead of the lifter (or still traveling in a straight line from the floor).
Here is a video of Lasha Talakhadze’s clean and jerk in slow motion: YouTube
We can see how the bar clears his knees and travels up, in a straight line, before he initiates the jump with the double knee bend.