First time Power Cleaning

[timelinex]

An SSC taught my wife and I power cleans last week and I'm adding them into my programming finally. Here is my first time doing them alone.

I can see that I need to drive my elbows higher. I catch it once its racked and move it, but don't do it on the enough "jump".

[Dave Wilson]

You need to keep the bar closer to your body on the way up, you pull it up and away which is causing you to have to jump forward to catch it, and then you land unbalanced on your toes.

[Dave Wilson]

It should brush up your shirt the whole way up

[JcJake]

You need to lock your elbows in until you are fully extended. What you are doing now is a slow pull followed by bending the elbows and throwing your hips into the bar to propel the bar...which pushes the bar out in front of you and causes you to have to either pull the bar back towards you or you have to jump forward under the bar. You should be catching the bar with your hips back in a front squat position. Because you are having to jump forward you're catching the bar with your knees and back instead of your hips.

Work on your pull. Once you have that down, just shoot your elbows through the bar and you'll be good!

-Jake

[JcJake]

Another point if it helps at all, is that the bar speed should be increasing at a linear rate. You don't want slow and then super fast. You want slow, medium, fast.

[timelinex]

Thanks for the replies guys. So I am understanding what you guys are saying, but not sure what to do (or what cues to think of) to make the changes. How do I get the bar to go straight up instead of up and out?

Making the lift gain speed smoothly makes sense, I think a lot of the uneven speed is coming from the fact that this is literally the second time in trying he movement (after spending 20min learning it) so it's not on autopilot yet.

[JcJake]

What you can do to work on the pull is take an empty bar and get into position like you are going to do a power clean. Lock your arms, elbows facing in. Go all the way through the jumping motion. If you feel the bar's momentum go out away from you, that means you are starting the jumping motion with the bar too low on your thighs, extend more before jumping. Once you feel the bar's momentum going straight up in a vertical path, you can start to add weight and work on the catch. If the bar path is correct you should find yourself sitting to catch the bar in a front squat position. The key is to keep your elbows locked till after you have completed the jumping motion.

[JcJake]

also take your stance out a couple of inches and sink your hips a little more before starting the pull. Do you have the starting strength 3rd ed. book?

[timelinex]

I will certainly try your recommendations. Looking at the video, it looks like I'm already hitting the bar pretty high up on my legs, no?

As far as the stance..... I have the book and have read it. I also have seen an SSC.... My SSC coach has me standing more froggy on deadlifts to accommodate my inflexibility and slightly shorter arms. It allows me to actually pull my back into extension while reaching the bar. So thats why I'm also like this on PC, as its a mirror of the DL.

[JcJake]

Okay, yeah I would be curious to see what it looks like from a side angle, from this angle it looks like your lower back isn't in full extension. And yeah now that I look again the bar is pretty high up on your legs, but you're definitely bending your elbows before you finish and pushing the bar out with your hips. Try some pulls and let me know how it feels keeping your arms locked.