You have an early arm bend, and you're not catching with elbows high enough, as you've observed. But this is not a bad clean. I wish that you had given me more than 1 rep to see, because I can't see a pattern developing in a single.
Member
Couple of new form check videos
First up is the last of 3 singles in the power clean I did this morning. I tried to get as close to 45 degrees from the front as the gym setup would allow. The weight at 256 felt easy and I had no trouble bringing it up to my shoulders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2yui0I54rc
But the things I noticed are these:
I bent my arms too early. That's been the hardest thing for me to get over.
Still bringing the bar too far in front of me during the 2nd pull. Don't know if I'm bouncing it forward with my thighs or if I'm extending too far back. I would guess it's the former due to how hard I feel like I'm hitting the bar. I keep thinking about brushing the bar with my t-shirt, but apparently it wasn't working this time around.
Didn't get enough drive out of the hips out of this one so I feel like I didn't extend at the ankles enough.
I still need to work on my wrist flexibility so I can get my elbows up. In order to get my elbows up to the proper height I have to unhook my hands and only leave 2-3 fingers on the bar while in the rack. Fine for a clean, but I can't transition into a press or jerk like that.
Feel free to point out any other mistakes that I'm making.
Next up is a set of 5 barbell rows. This is the last set of 3 that I performed at the end of my workout. I've never really been taught proper barbell rows from the floor, so this is a best guess effort. 236 with a non-hook grip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usqk2Kbt58k&feature=user
Is this the correct technique or do some refinements need to be made?
Thanks a bunch.
TMPHBITEU
You have an early arm bend, and you're not catching with elbows high enough, as you've observed. But this is not a bad clean. I wish that you had given me more than 1 rep to see, because I can't see a pattern developing in a single.
Member
I've seen some people rack with 2-3 fingers and then adjust before the jerk. I do that as well since my elbow position is much better with 2-3 fingers, but I often have a hard time doing the adjustment. It's not impossible, but it really sucks when only one hand gets under the bar correctly...Originally Posted by TravisRussellDC
I'm not sure sure that this is only an elbow flexibility problem as much as a forearm length problem, but maybe Rip can comment on that.
Member
OK, next homework assignment: video record sets of triples.
On a completely unrelated note, I've been heavily recommending your books to my patients who are working out. In fact, just the other night I was speaking with a husband and wife who have been into bodybuilding for a long time. While going over their gym workouts, we got to talking about the squat and its proper form and technique (the wife has some significant imbalances in her pelvic, hip & thigh structure and musculature). After pointing out some things to do to work on their squatting technique, the husband said to me, "that's the way I was always taught to squat." I told them to pick up Starting Strength and relearn how to do the basics. Once they got those down correctly, then I would feel better about them adding in some more "specialization" exercises. I'm hoping that by getting them to exercise with the proper technique in the basic barbell exercises, I can accelerate their progress in terms of balancing out their structure and improving function.
TMPHBITEU
I don't really think wrist flexibility is the issue with most racking problems. Forearms can be long (not in this case) and the grip can be widened; fingers can be dropped off the bar to accommodate tight triceps. Elbows can be shoved in and up so that the bar is supported.But my wrists are not very flexible and I can rack a clean just fine.
Member
Rack problems are generally in the shoulders, IMO. You feel it's in your wrists because you have to do goofy things to them in order to try to reach the bar, but they only get in that situation because you can't adduct and flex your shoulders enough.
Member
Well, I feel that some of the lack of flexibility is in my wrists. 10 years ago I had surgery on my right wrist to relocate metacarpals 2-5. Because of the trauma done to that wrist, there has been some calcium deposition in the carpal/metacarpal joints and full extension of the right wrist is impossible. In fact, it's painful for me to do pushups with a flat palm due to it.
But I will work on the shoulder flexibility as well.
TMPHBITEU
Widen your grip too.
Posting Permissions