When should an athlete program cleans?

[Ryan Dell Whitley]

Rip,

Is there a reason to ever do full cleans instead of power cleans if one isn't training to be an oly lifter? I personally don't see the carry over to any other sport other than oly lifting for which power cleans wouldn't be a better choice. I appreciate any enlightenment.

[Mark Rippetoe]

No, there really isn't a reason to do them unless you are a competitor. Even then it may not be the best thing for every lifter.

[mlentzner]

Can you elaborate on the reasons why?

From reading your work it seems like the rule of thumb for core exercises is if it allows you to do more weight it is better. A full clean allows more weight (when done correctly) than the "power" version. Obviously there are other factors involved.

Crossfit takes the opposite tack and seems to think that the full clean is the superior exercise. Of course a lot of what I see in practice is more like a power clean/front squat as opposed to a strict clean.

Not trying to pick a fight here, I'm just looking for the different reasoning that have two different groups, both of whom I respect, coming to opposite conclusions.

Regards,

Matt

[Mark Rippetoe]

If the "more weight" rule is the only criterion, we can squat suited and wrapped with a wide stance and satisfy that. The power clean causes the lifter to pull the weight over a longer ROM; we are thus cleaning over a longer ROM instead of squatting part of it. Lots of Olympic lifters could stand to train their pulls harder than they do -- thus my comment about them.