snatch and clean & jerk: iron weights

[sergeant_81]

Mr. Rippetoe,

Out of curiosity, I've been experimenting with the full squat clean and jerk and snatch, if only because they're a lot of fun.

As you have seen from my squat vids (the self-constructed squat stands, if you remember), I'm rather limited in equipment. Pretty much just a bar and 300 lbs of iron weights.

I am wondering how the old-timers returned the bar following completion of a lift before bumper plates came along (the 1970s, if I'm correct). I imagine the clean and jerk is returned in the same way as the power clean; catch it on the thighs. The snatch I'm not so sure about, especially with such a wide grip...would bringing the bar back down on the eccentric part of the movement with such a wide grip tear your shoulders up? And is the snatch caught in the same manner as the clean, that is, on the thighs?

Many thanks for your thoughts on this.

Regards,
-sergeant-

[Mark Rippetoe]

You just have to learn to put them down under control, as many generations of guys did before the invention of bumper plates. Maybe we can get some old-guy advice on this...

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

I would say read this thread

http://strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1547

I've been doing the performancemenu.com wod and I try to put down all the lifts gently. It's harder but it can be done.