Clean and Press Together?

[Jason L]

Hello Coach,

Right now I don't have a squat rack/stand to use. So when I press, I have to clean the weight to get it in position. Well, this got me thinking ... why not just combine the clean and press into one move? Horrible Idea?

[Mark Rippetoe]

That's they way it was done for millennia, before the invention of squat stands. I highly recommend them for getting everything strong.

[Brandon Oto]

I think he was asking about actually turning the clean + press into a single motion. This would basically be a close-grip muscle snatch.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You think? That'd be kinda dumb.

[JPC]

If you combine them into one move, and don't work on cleans seperately, you may find that you are never cleaning a taxing weight. I can power clean 225 but only press 165. It would be stupid for me to ONLY do them together.

[Jason L]

No, not a single continuous motion (I'm not sure I know how to even do that). Right now, this is what I am doing: Power Clean the weight, reset grips and stance, take another deep breath, press, lower the weight all the way down, and repeat. So instead of doing 5 X 3 Press and then 5 X 3 Power Clean, I end up doing 5 X 3 Clean & Press. By the time I am done with the sets, it feels a bit like a crossfit metcon thing so I am not sure how long I can keep this way before the weight (either for power clean or for press) gets to be too much.

[Clayhallak]

Tried this last night. I'm with you Jason - resetting once the weight has been cleaned keeps it as two distinct movements.

Mark, would it not be better to do the presses overhead consecutively - ie. cleaning once then five presses without putting the weight down? I usually find I begin to struggle on third/fourth rep of the last set, but when I combined the clean and press, because I put the barbell down after each press, I didn't feel as worn out. What would you advise?

Thanks in advance.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The clean and press is a different exercise than a press (from the rack), and this is why the press is in the CF Total. And I'm not sure what you mean by "putting the weight down".

[Clayhallak]

What I meant was when I combined the clean and press, the barbell would begin on the floor and after one rep of cleaning then pressing I'd put the barbell back down on the floor, to begin the next rep on the floor.

Whereas when I just did the press, I'd clean the barbell then do five presses without putting the barbell back on the floor until I'd finished the set.

Clear as mud?

Sorry, it's been a long week!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yes, cleaning each rep is more work. If you're just trying to train the press, don't do this.