Swapping power cleans

[Ben Johns]

Doing the starting strength novice program, just added In power cleans and it gave me a lot of wrist pain, during the exercise and the day after. I'm 6"2 if that makes any difference.
Should I stick with them of swap it for a different exercise and if so what for?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

You might need to get some coaching on how to properly rack a clean. You are probably catching the weight in your hands rather than catching it on your shoulders. I do the same thing. If I'm gonna clean then I wear some thick/tight wrist wraps to save my joints. If you can't get it right and you are beating up your wrists and elbows then you might try learning to Power-Snatch instead.

[Ben Johns]

I was to start but now I can rack it properly, well as far as I can tell. It's not the same but when I try to touch my shoulders with my fingers in the "rack position" without and bar or weight it's hard for me to get my fingers to touch comfortably, feels like a big stretch on my wrist. Not sure if it's just flexibility that will come with time or not.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Hard to say. If you really want to make cleans a serious priority - get some in person coaching. If you are just fucking around with them, then catch it in your hands and don't worry about it. I did it for years and never had any major problems other than occasionally sore wrists. Granted I was never good at cleans- best single was 285. If you get more pain than just moderate soreness, then just don't do them.