Power Clean - Just starting out...

[joeeey]

Hi guys! I'm following program as best as I can and it's that time to alternate out the deadlift

This damn power clean is tough so I'm just working on the hang clean-ish portion.

Please be kind and as always, thank you thank you thank you.

Power Clean - Practicing Mechanics - 10/22/16 - YouTube

[Tobias Sjösten]

Others might see more things to fix but these are the most glaring ones I notice:

1) You're using your arms to reverse curl the bar up there. Instead you want a snappy extension of your body, to whip it up. Does that make sense? Think of your arms only as an attachment between bar and back and use the latter to lift the weight.

2) Don't catch the bar with your hands, in the rack position (on your shoulders). Hands are only used for guidance. And be sure to slam your elbows up during the catch too, so to tense the deltoids and give the bar a nice little rack.

[joeeey]

Others might see more things to fix but these are the most glaring ones I notice:

1) You're using your arms to reverse curl the bar up there. Instead you want a snappy extension of your body, to whip it up. Does that make sense? Think of your arms only as an attachment between bar and back and use the latter to lift the weight.

2) Don't catch the bar with your hands, in the rack position (on your shoulders). Hands are only used for guidance. And be sure to slam your elbows up during the catch too, so to tense the deltoids and give the bar a nice little rack.

#1 totally right and I'm trying to stop myself from doing it, i.e. that first try in the video.

#2 I guess this part of the 'fear' of learning the clean movement, I think my brain needs to get more comfortable with the barbell hitting my clavicle/neck area. Looking back at the video and seeing what you wrote, I can tell I'm using my hands to catch the bar and *then* letting it hit my rack area. If I understand you correctly, the cue should be to reverse these so to speak right?

[Tobias Sjösten]

Looking back at the video and seeing what you wrote, I can tell I'm using my hands to catch the bar and *then* letting it hit my rack area. If I understand you correctly, the cue should be to reverse these so to speak right?

Not so much reverse, as removing the hands from the catch all together. They're only there to help steer the barbell to the right position.

You shouldn't actually be hitting your clavicles if you're catching the barbell correctly. This is why you shoot up your elbows, so to flex your shoulders and let the bar rest on the bulk of the deltoid muscles.

Try this: put your left hand on your right shoulder and then bring your right hand straight up in the air. Do you feel the shoulder tensing? That's your barbell rack.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi Joeeey (did I get the number of 'e's right?)

in the video you attempt a full power clean, and two clean from the hang position.
Given that I think you need to work on that first, before you can progress to the full movement, I'll focus on you last two reps.

The main problem with those is twofold:
- the position of your shoulders
- what you do with your hips

First, your shoulders. They need to be right in front of the bar. Like, well in front. When you launch for a power clean, you launch from a position that is a bit like wanting to fall over. Your shoulders need to stay in front of the bar (like they would do in a deadlift, so to speak). You will feel the weight of the bar trying to push you down, to topple you forward, and that's correct. Right now, your position is like sitting on a stool with your bar in the hands

Second, your hips. Once you are set in your (incorrect) hang position, you try to extend, and you do two things: you push your pelvis forward, and swing your shoulders back. If you think about it, this means you are bouncing the bar off your legs, and at the same time puling it back. Overall, you are pulling and pushing the bar, but giving it precious little momentum upward, which is where it's supposed to go.
Jump up. Staight up. Up and vertical, like you want to make yourself extremely tall and punch a hole in the ceiling. Tall, straight, vertical, up; that's all you need to think about. Lock your triceps, and jump up. Racking and all that will come later, but if you don't learn what it fells like to try to jump straight up, your power clean will always be a bit messy.

Last but not least: drop those bumpers and start practising from the hang position with the bar. Once you can assume the hang position properly and jump straight up with the bar, you can take care of the rest and add weight. But not before (at least, this is MHO).

Hope this helps,

IPB