Do you think power Cleans stimulate the quads? I’ve been focusing on the mind muscle connection with these in the initial part of the movement and I think it helps execute the exercise.
What are your opinions?
I am a fan of power-cleans agree that the quads are involved to initiate the pull; however IMO the quads respond best to higher rep ranges and it is doubtful one could perform enough with reps with an adequate load to seriously fatigue their quads.
power cleans don’t do very much for quad hypertrophy. However, engaging your quads for the first pull is important.
[quote]trap_builder wrote:
Do you think power Cleans stimulate the quads?[/quote]
Cleans “stimulate” a lot of muscles from the calves to the traps and plenty inbetween. That’s why they’re awesome and useful.
“Mind-muscle connection” isn’t really the right term when it comes to exercises like cleans because that generally refers to feeling/identifying certain muscles working for a certain time under tension.
In a clean, for sure the quads are activated, but it’s for such short time during such a large exercise that over-focusing on quad tension will almost definitely lead to technique issues and poor performance. And I’m not one to say you need competitive-level form on the O-lifts, but you do need to pay attention to what’s going on. It really is a “movement, not muscles” type of lift.
My opinion is that I’d really like to know what your current training week looks like. You’ve had some peculiar and specific questions lately and I can’t quite figure out how you train. You military press every day, don’t believe in lateral raises, and don’t bench. I think you could get some better overall input if we knew what you were doing now. What’s your training routine? The days, exercises, sets, and reps.
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
In a clean, for sure the quads are activated, but it’s for such short time during such a large exercise that over-focusing on quad tension will almost definitely lead to technique issues and poor performance. And I’m not one to say you need competitive-level form on the O-lifts, but you do need to pay attention to what’s going on. It really is a “movement, not muscles” type of lift.
[/quote]
This is why CC is paid the big bucks, spot on.
My thoughts are that if I’m worrying about MMC in my quads while I powerclean, there’s a few hundred pounds of iron that’s likely to go straight through my chin. For the record, I think this is a bad thing.
As a tangent:
- a very efficient way to build quads is doing HIIT work on a stationary high-resistance bike
- while not being 100% eccentric-less, the eccentric portion is minimized
- using appropriate hip/foot positioning can minimize hamstring contribution
That’s why this can be done 2-3x a week without clashing with your run of the mill 4-5 weight training sessions a week (but preferably not in a hypocaloric state). Additional quad isolation work on weight-training days might only be necessary to correct some glaring balance issues with your different quad heads.