Power/Clean Form

[Sean Herbison]

Critique away, if you please.

This was three sets of two at 295 (or six singles, if you think I take too much time between reps). I've decided to work on my full-clean a bit, so I squat-cleaned the second rep of each set.

Main things I'm aware of:
1) Round (upper) back
2) Inconsistent foot movement, especially where only the right foot moves
3) Wonky knee movement, particularly sinking into the squat
4) Still rolling the bar slightly forward when I (try to) set my back



I put all three sets in the video, but if you don't want to watch all of them, the last two aren't that different from the first, though I personally think the third is probably the best.

[BareSteel]

Hey Sean,

I don't see much upper back rounding. I see a somewhat rushed setup on a few latter reps, but you demonstrate that you know the setup pretty well. Maybe you see something I don't.

I'm looking really closely to see what the wonky knee movement is. I think at 0:29, you actually manage to get your right knee out a little too far. Then it normalize on the ascent. Maybe someone more experienced can verify this, as I haven't seen many cases of too much knees-out.

Really these are very nice lifts.

[Sean Herbison]

I'm looking really closely to see what the wonky knee movement is. I think at 0:29, you actually manage to get your right knee out a little too far. Then it normalize on the ascent. Maybe someone more experienced can verify this, as I haven't seen many cases of too much knees-out.

This was the main one I was looking at. I have a tendency to push my knees out too far, especially my right one. The same thing happens in squats. I may have different leg lengths, or it may be somewhere else along the way. I just know my shoulders aren't level, and one side of my back is more developed. This also makes the barbell sit not quite level on squats.

Not sure if there's a cue to fix this, or if I need to get measured and maybe shim my shoe.

Really these are very nice lifts.

Thanks, but they're rather atypical. I'll post more in the future, and they'll probably be the more usual ugliness. It may be because I'm not doing heavy squats right now, so I wasn't pre-fatigued.

I've got a 1.5 mile run test in a few weeks, and my legs kept cramping up during my practice/training runs, so I cut down squats to give me more recovery for running. I'm trying to knock it out at the beginning of the month so I can get back on a normal lifting cycle before the SS Seminar later in September.

[BareSteel]

I have a tendency to push my knees out too far, especially my right one. The same thing happens in squats. I may have different leg lengths, or it may be somewhere else along the way. I just know my shoulders aren't level, and one side of my back is more developed. This also makes the barbell sit not quite level on squats.

Not sure if there's a cue to fix this, or if I need to get measured and maybe shim my shoe.

That's a great question. Most lifters can't over-do the knees-out cue. I'm not sure if your ability to do so with the right knee is indicative of some hypermobility somewhere or if you just learned an exaggerated cue. Wish I could assist, but this is a pretty rare form problem.