Power Clean

[Squat1]

Is the power clean a bad idea given that it involves partial squats

[Michael Wolf]

No.

[Adam Skillin]

I won't even sit on a chair that's more than 14 inches high.

[Michael Wolf]

I won't even sit on a chair that's more than 14 inches high.

I, and the Universe, applaud you sir. Keep doing God's Work.

[Squat1]

I thought partial squats were bad for athletic performance.
So in this case it isn't.

[Michael Wolf]

I thought partial squats were bad for athletic performance.
So in this case it isn't.

Partial squats are bad for athletic performance when you use them as your squat variant to get stronger. The partial squat in the power clean is incidental to the primary part of the movement, which is the pull off the floor and explosive jump that gets the bar to your shoulders.

[16bit]

I have read its best practice to always go into a full front squat when doing the power clean?

I have always trained that way when doing power cleans. That said I have only been doing them for about 6 months.

If I catch it high enough should I not go all the way down into a front squat?

Kind of feels natural now.

Sorry to hi-jack thread.

[Brodie Butland]

Partial squats are bad for athletic performance when you use them as your squat variant to get stronger. The partial squat in the power clean is incidental to the primary part of the movement, which is the pull off the floor and explosive jump that gets the bar to your shoulders.

Not to mention that, insofar as you can even call that part of a power clean a "partial squat," the weight is significantly sub-maximal.

[Michael Wolf]

I have read its best practice to always go into a full front squat when doing the power clean?

I have always trained that way when doing power cleans. That said I have only been doing them for about 6 months.

If I catch it high enough should I not go all the way down into a front squat?

Kind of feels natural now.

Sorry to hi-jack thread.

Then what you've been doing is not a power clean, whose definition, as opposed to just a clean (unqualified by the word "power" preceding it; sometimes also called a "squat clean") is that you catch the bar roughly in a quarter squat, and don't go all the way down into a front squat.

Reading the book would help you people.

Not to mention that, insofar as you can even call that part of a power clean a "partial squat," the weight is significantly sub-maximal.

Also true. Significantly. It has no training effect whatsoever on someone who actually squats.

I think it's kind of funny that some people have gone so far as to interpret the anti-partial squat thing as being that one should never ever assume that position. No, kids. Lots of movements in life and sport use a quarter squat position in one way or another. However, that doesn't mean that position should be trained for specifically, as elaborated upon in SS:BBT3 and PPST3. And lots of articles and threads around here. Etc.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

I thought partial squats were bad for athletic performance.

They're bad for athletic performance because (a) they load the knee at an angle where contact forces are highest and contact area is lowest; (b) they invite the use of overloading (everybody can 1/4 squat 600 lbs) and (c) they take time away from full squats, which are good for athletic performance, for reasons that have been elaborated upon at length here and elsewhere.

So in this case it isn't.

So you're just stirring shit. The quarter-squat knee angle is fundamental to many human movement patterns. But unlike the bottom of a full squat, a position that humans can and do naturally assume for long periods, the quarter-squat knee angle is a transition state in most human movement pattern. Every day, billions spend time at the bottom of a squat culling grain or sorting beads or talking or shitting or poking sticks in anthills. It's a stable human position. Nobody spends the afternoon in a quarter squat. It's a dynamic position that we pass through when we jump, go up the stairs, sit down, stand up, thrust with a foil, leap a hurdle, etc.

Nobody every said we should never assume that angle, and you know it. What we're saying is that training that angle specifically is silly, because joint-angle-specific training is silly.