Power clean form check

[Stefan Theimer]

Hello folks,

I haven't cleaned in quite awhile and am interested in fixing up my form and getting better at coaching the movement. So I trekked out to a different gym with a platform and went through the progression to warm up. This is 115 lbs, a bit light for me, but it seemed like whenever I got up to 165 lbs or so I would tweak my elbow when racking, so I stayed light today.

I can see that I go back on my heels on the first rep, I rack late in the second rep, the third one felt pretty good.

Power clean form check

Thanks in advance.

[Donald Clayton]

It looks as though you are lowering the weight onto your shoulders rather than jamming your shoulders forward to catch the bar. I had a coach help me with this and his comment was to get confident getting under the bar. It took me a bit to understand this was more about getting under the bar quickly with force, and that force was slamming my shoulders to meet the bar. You can see that your elbows don’t end up in the high and forward position indicating the rack is incorrect.

[Donald Clayton]

Regarding the elbows it’s most noticeable on rep two. As the bar lands on the deltoids your elbows are pointing down and you then raise them to the correct spot.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi there,

there seems to be a noticeable pause in the bar movement when it goes past the knees; basically, all three reps restart from a hang position.
As noted above, the last part of your movement lacks a bit of urgency; there's a lot of effort to shrug / pull, but not much commitment to finish hard and fast.
So, smoothness and speed need a bit of work.

One last note; given the position of your hips, the first pull is basically all back, with almost zero involvement of your legs. I wonder if maybe, just maybe, you are too close to the bar.

Hope this helps,

IPB

[Fulcrum]

Hi there,

there seems to be a noticeable pause in the bar movement when it goes past the knees; basically, all three reps restart from a hang position.
As noted above, the last part of your movement lacks a bit of urgency; there's a lot of effort to shrug / pull, but not much commitment to finish hard and fast.
So, smoothness and speed need a bit of work.

One last note; given the position of your hips, the first pull is basically all back, with almost zero involvement of your legs. I wonder if maybe, just maybe, you are too close to the bar.

Hope this helps,

IPB

I agree with all this ^.

Also, you seem to get your shoulders behind the bar (and shift onto your toes) as soon bar crosses your knee, i.e. too soon.

Keep your shoulders over the bar for a 'longer amount of time' in the pull. Wait until it is higher on the thigh before exploding.

[Stefan Theimer]

Hey all,

Just wanted to say thanks for watching these, and providing some insight- especially IPB- I have been setting up too close to the bar on deadlifts too and wow has it made a difference! Talk about form creep.

It's hard to believe it's been a month since I did these, but here we are. Another trek out to the gym with a platform today and a bunch of practice. This is the last set of about 6 or 7 where I slowly tried to fix some things like jumping backwards and not jumping hard enough.

I'm not sure I fixed the shoulders-behind-the-bar-too-soon thing, but they definitely felt better.

[Tucker Benjamin]

This may sound odd but you need more weight on the bar. You are pulling hard enough to power snatch the bar and this is forcing you to decelerate the bar to get into the front rack. Once the weight is sufficient you will feel as though you are pulling yourself under the bar to get into the front rack after your extension.

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

Hi,

One last note; given the position of your hips, the first pull is basically all back, with almost zero involvement of your legs.

This still seems to be the case, but let's ignore it for the time being.
Bar path is quite vertical and close to body; I think I even see the edge of your trunks being folded back for an instant as the bar slides over the thigh, so that's good.
There is still a marked lack of speed in the catch.
Also, you are landing your stomp with the toes; heels are still not fully in touch with the platform when then bar touches the shoulders (I think I see this when slowing the video right down).

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation; you land on your toes because you are slow, and you are slow because you land on your toes (I could say the same about elbows).

A bit more weight, like 5Kgs, could be useful to force you to move quicker. Ultimately, it's just a matter of habit, in this case the habit of thinking yourself faster. Easier said then done, of course, but you have an objective benchmark that will tell you if you are moving in the right direction: the sound of your stomp. If you are not making people turn around with your stomp, you are not moving fast enough. Or they might be deaf, of course.

Hope this helps,

IPB

[Stefan Theimer]

Thanks.

You've given me a lot to think about and work on. I appreciate the help!