Unilateral leg work for strengthening Split Snatches/Cleans

[par2941]

Hello Mr. Rippetoe,

I already know what you think about unilateral assistance work; it is unnecessary and rarely applicable.

I have been studying up on the split snatch and was wondering if doing heavy lunges would be helpful in strengthening heavy split snatches and cleans (by heavy, I ask you to imagine an international level weightlifter using the split technique, not my measly 60kg snatch: would unilateral work help this hypothetical weightlifter?), or is there enough of a carryover from heavy squats that would make unilateral work not required?

Thanks for your time.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Let's say you can split snatch 60% of your squat (which you're not doing unless you don't actually train the squat), and that you are practicing the split snatch with that weight. Does it seem likely that unilateral strength would be an issue that could not be resolved by doing the split snatch?

[AdamBlalock]

I have split for both lifts here and there over the past few years. It is significantly easier on the shoulders and elbows especially if you got a relatively late start in the sport or came into it after playing college football and all of the various injuries that go with it. Surprisingly it has never been difficult to rise from the deep split even with max poundages. You are not on one leg as many would think. You push/shift back, not necessarily up. David Webster has an ancient book on the clean & jerk available from Ironmind. He notes that the squatters always had trouble rising from the deep squat but the splitters had no trouble. The guy loved Palinski of Poland and used him as the ideal model. Granted the pulling style was very different back and the volume of squatting was way down too.

You will experience soreness in the glute and hamstring of the forward leg as it is receiving a heavy and fast eccentric contraction as well as the groin and hip flexor of the aft leg. To compensate for this you should consider 1. splitting with the non-dominant leg during your warm-up weights and 2. Front Split Squats for the non-dominate leg. This will help keep the legs and hips balanced in flexibility and strength and maybe prevent compensation or dependency on one side.

One of the Kavilajari (Spelling) brothers from Finland was a splitter for the clean and would regularly work up to 215 kg in the front split squat.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You will experience soreness in the glute and hamstring of the forward leg as it is receiving a heavy and fast eccentric contraction as well as the groin and hip flexor of the aft leg. To compensate for this you should consider 1. splitting with the non-dominant leg during your warm-up weights and 2. Front Split Squats for the non-dominate leg. This will help keep the legs and hips balanced in flexibility and strength and maybe prevent compensation or dependency on one side.

In light of the fact that it has never been hard to recover from the split with even max loads, I'd suggest that you compensate by just letting the adaptation occur. I think it's a terribly bad idea to practice both sides of the split on the way up to a heavy attempt, and split squats for the dominant leg are unnecessary if the recovery is not a problem and will produce an asymmetry if they are heavy enough to cause a unilateral adaptation.

[AdamBlalock]

Because the recovery is not hard does not mean that an adaptation causing stress has occurred. The asymmetry comes from both the strength/power and the flexibility component of the lift. This problem can be reduced by practicing the split with the non-dominant leg during warm-ups, which will also improves your coordination. I think our definitions of warm-ups are different, working up to 70% or so shouldn't be a problem. Andy Kerr of Great Britain was a good splitter and practiced this often. While overall strength may not increase in the form of bigger squat I know that my left hip and hamstring are stronger than my right and my left hip-flexor is nowhere near as flexible as the right. I have to concentrate while squatting and make an effort to push through both feet and also include strength/flexibility work for the non-dominant side that is as close as possible in structure to what the dominant side is receiving. Simply squatting, deadlifting and stretching have not been enough for me.