Power Clean Form Check

[Fury]

This is my first attempt at the power clean, it's with 132lbs. I'm doing my best to emulate what's in Starting Strength.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nYaNTGrTk4

This next one is in slow motion. Is it useful or unnecessary for you in terms of coaching me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlJwrpBTYvA

Thanks Mark.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You've given me one rep to see, from one angle. Aside from a pretty significant arm pull, I can't tell you much.

[Will Morris]

Like Rip said, you are pulling with your arms, as there is no significant shrug taking place. A couple other things I saw:

1) There is definitely air between your body and the bar when you jump....the bar should be in contact with your legs when you jump

2) You are jumping straight up in kind of a Donkey Kong type manner. There is no extension of the hips at all. If you really extend your hips when you jump, and shrug while doing it, you'll tend to jump backwards just a little bit.

But, also like Rip said, this is one rep......and I'm pretty terrible at the clean so I'm not sure I'd listen to me.

[Fury]

You've given me one rep to see, from one angle. Aside from a pretty significant arm pull, I can't tell you much.

Yep. Sorry for the lack of footage. I didn't know it but unfortunately the Mrs took the SD card out of the camera so I only had a few seconds of film to get. I just wanted to get some sort of feedback before I try it next time. I'll post something again in the next few days, hopefully with more footage and less arm pull.

In regards to the arm pull, I know in Starting Strength you mention to imagine the arms as pieces of rope attached to the bar and I get that the arms are not supposed to pull the bar in any upright row sort of fashion and I get that but I know I'm still not doing it right.

So I start the shrug with locked elbows and then as the bar moves up my torso, my elbows unlock so I can jam them under the bar and get in the rack position?

[Fury]

Mark,

I went back over your chapter on the power clean and looking back over my original post, I can see I was bending the elbows before I initiated the jump and was arm pulling the bar.

Are these ones looking any better? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m-CWI4zeiE

It's with about 30kg, I was just practising the jump and shrug while keeping the elbows straight, then just allowing them to bend as a consequence of the jump. I think they look better. It seems there is a definite jump and shrug with straight arms that wasn't there in my first attempt.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The new hang cleans are correct. Make sure they stay this way from the floor, because the tendency is to go back to the arm pull after the long trip from floor to mid-thigh.

[Alexandros Brod]

hip extension is still lacking slightly in the hang cleans, no?

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you look hard enough, you can find other things too. I was asked about his arm pull.