Cleans: am I still breaking arms too early?

[DannyP]

Cleans have been feeling better and better (as in one second I'm cuing myself to jump, the next the weight is on my delts and I don't know how it got there) but I can't tell if I'm breaking the arms too early still. Also, does my setup look OK?

I'm not at 135 yet but have solved the "I can't clean off the ground" problem for the most part; this setup puts the bar only about an inch higher than 135+ off the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASZJ...M&spfreload=10

[Adam Skillin]

Arms bend or no arm bend, you need to learn to jump. JUMP Danny.

[tmcnulty]

And yes, your arms are still breaking early.

[DannyP]

Probably need to take a few lbs off; those were 110 so maybe take it back to 100 or 105 next time. Thanks.

[Adam Skillin]

Probably need to take a few lbs off; those were 110 so maybe take it back to 100 or 105 next time. Thanks.

Maybe you need to put more lbs on. You need to friggin' jump. Do the part of the teaching progression where you get into the jumping position from the hang position and just JUMP with straight arms. Do it 1000 times, do it in your sleep, do it between bites of cereal at breakfast (just kidding about the cereal, it's not Paleo, bro).

[tmcnulty]

I agree with Adam that it's a weight that looks OK for you.

I think you just need someone to show you how to do it in person.

[Joe Jaloszynski]

Run the teaching progressions from SSBT3E. They're golden.

[DannyP]

I agree with Adam that it's a weight that looks OK for you.

I think you just need someone to show you how to do it in person.

Yea, this is probably diorite one when I finally get back to doing some follow up coaching sessions with Dave.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hello,

you are indeed not jumping, because, I think, you never even reach the jump position. As you start pulling with your arms, the bar just hangs in front of you, and that' because the first pull is basically a sort of back extension.
In order to change the situation, I think this might have to be addressed:

this setup puts the bar only about an inch higher than 135+ off the ground.

The bar is high, and your grip is very narrow; when you start, your legs are already almost fully extended, which means they don't take part in your first pull. You start pulling, you let the bar slide in front, and from that point there is no recovery, the bar is never going to slide on the thighs, never mind reach the jump position.

I would say, place the bar at the right height, widen your stance a little bit and widen your grip a lot, at least 3 inches either side, probably more. This will force you to crouch when you grab the bar, and will change your first pull to involve your legs more. Also, it should make it easier to keep the shoulders in front of the bar, which is where you want them as the bar goes over the knees. From there, from that position, it will be easier to slide the bar on the thighs and then reach the jump position (which will be nicely higher along your leg, courtesy of your wider grip).

Also, as suggested by others, I would add a ton of movements from the hang position, maybe even just slide the bar up and down the thighs to see how it feels.

Hope this helps.

IPB

[stuffedsuperdud]

Disclaimer: I'm definitely not a coach, and when it comes to The Book, I'm definitely not a fan of how Rip has decided to teach the clean (IIRC he said himself that it's a compromise meant to get total noobs cleaning ASAP), but I have been watching an angry Eastern European man teach high school / college players how to PC for the past few months, so based on that, here are the problems that jump right out at me. Take this with extra salt.

Setup:
Your hips are way too high and your back is parallel to the floor. This also ends up pushing your shoulders too far forward of the bar. Also, your hands and feet are too close together.

Adjustment: Move your hands and feet out by a few inches. Drop those hips and puff that chest out. As the bar goes from the floor to knee height, the movement much more resembles standing up from the bottom of a squat than the start of a DL, which you seem to want to do.

1st pull:
You're doing an RDL with the bar, and then when your torso is about 30 degrees from the floor, you go into a row.

Adjustment: Your torso angle relative to the floor should remain constant until the bar passes your knees. Maintain that big chest and keep your arms straight. The bar goes up because you are pushing the floor away with your feet, not because you are extending your back.

2nd pull:
Aside from early arm bend, you're trying to upright row the bar and coupling it with a big jump. Your hips are also way too far back, a byproduct of your setup. Look at around 0:26-0:27: your hips are separated from the bar by several inches. Efficient application of force to the bar this is not.

Adjustment:
Once you fix your hips at the start, a lot of this problem should go away. Also, if you don't do the early arm bend, the bar will be lower when you violently pull, and you should meet it with your thighs. Only after your violent extension (what you guys call a jump), should you shrug shoulders and bend arms. It's called jump-n-shrug, not shrug-then-jump.

It's kind of hard to go into further detail without being able to adjust you over the course of many repetitions, so for now, first and foremost, fix your setup and 1st pull, and then post another video. It should be automatically cleaner from there.

In the meantime, since a video speaks a trillion words, here's the most dominant lifter of the past decade doing it more or less right. Slo-mo included for your convenience.
Notice the back angle at his setup, how it stays constant until he violently extends, and how he does the shrug / start of arm bend not until after he jumps.