[quote]Shadowhawk wrote:
I went in for another bunch of SGHPs yesterday (10/26). I tried to keep my starting form from 10/23 with letting the knees be forward of the bar and maybe even strive to be a bit more vertical in the torso (but I forgot to mentally check on my thoracic extension…and I failed to remember the chest to ceiling cue).
But more than that, I tried to think more bottom up–more “standing up as fast as possible”/jumping–to maybe avoid what I thought I was seeing in my prior videos (almost trying to catapult the bar from my hip hinging).
Not sure how successful I was, but the 140 lb one seems to be a straighter bar path up…which seems like a good thing.
Here are the videos:
10/26/2015 SGHP 135 lbs set 5 of 6, 1/4 speed
10/26/2015 SGHP 135 lbs set 6 of 6, full speed
10/26/2015 SGHP 140 lbs, set 5 of 5, 1/4 speed
Feedback and thoughts welcome.
Thanks![/quote]
The body position is “less bad” still not vertical enough. Your elbow action is bad though. Right from the start they are aimed back. When you do most of the pull your elbows should be pointed upward as much as possible. It’s only at the very top that they will start to point back.
I have a few (probably dumb) questions about this lift:
When pulling the weight towards the chest, should I just try to be as explosive as possible, or should I actively shrug the traps and retract the scapulae? I know they activate anyway but my doubt is if I have to actively shrug up and contract the traps, which could slow down the barbell
How do they interact with muscle snatches and power cleans? Can they be done on the same day and in what order should they be done? Since the high pull is the first portion of a muscle snatch, I guess it would be muscle snatches first, then high pulls, and same for power cleans right?
How many sets and reps would be recommended in this case? And should I mix them up during the same set, or keep them strictly separate?
I.e.: start off with 3 reps of muscle snatches, then immediatly do 2 reps of high pulls from the blocks, followed immediatly by 5 reps of hang high pulls for 3-5 sets VS start off with a 3x5 sets of muscle snatches followed by a 3x5 sets of high pulls
Which one would you suggest to learn and practice first between high pulls and power cleans? To keep some kind of progression from easiest technique to hardest, I seem to understand it would be high pulls > power cleans > muscle snatches.
The number of new lifts I can practice and add to the routine is very limited and I’ve never done explosive work so I really wanted to go slow and steady, nail down the technique on the simplest ones then moving on to more complex stuff
Complex: you can do something like 2 high pulls + 1 muscle snatch… this is more of a motor learning tool since the high pull is fairly light compared to what you can do… it is used to teach you to been the bar close and finish your pull in the muscle snatch.
Activation/preparation: doing sets of high pulls prior to doing muscle snatches. This is to engrain the “pulling close and long” in your brain so that you can simply transfer the feeling when moving on the muscle snatches
Mechanical drop set: this is what you mentioned: doing something like 3 muscle snatches then immediately doing 3 high pulls. Basically you do as many muscle snatches you can, and you continue pulling doing only high pulls… this is more of an hypertrophy method.
High pull as assistance: Do your sets of muscle snatches then do sets of high pulls with a bit more weight to get your pull stronger
Hi CT,
thanks for the prompt and detailed answers.
I’ve done a few years of boxing in my young age so the cue about throwing a punch is exactly what I needed - understood it clearly.
A few more questions:
-point 2, activation/preparation: the high pull sets are to be done with a heavy load? Wouldn’t that trigger some degree of fatigue before the muscle snatches?
-is there some kind of known ratios between these exercises? I.e. high pulls to muscle snatches, or muscle snatches to push press, or high pull to power cleans and such. I rarely follow ratios strictly, I just try to start very light and nail the technique, then progress slow and steady, but from time to time I do check my numbers to see if something is lagging behind
This is my beginner’s attempt at a clean pull. I have slow motioned it, so I think it reaches my belt level.
Any feedback especially constructive negative feedback is appreciated. It takes a short while to load. It’s vimeo.
I read a lot of threads and articles which are excellent thank you.