this thread is awesome! I’ve been working on trying to improve my clean and really drop under the bar. My 1RM right now is 245 but I feel like if I get the technique down that weight will shoot up quick.
good stuff
[quote]gregron wrote:
this thread is awesome! I’ve been working on trying to improve my clean and really drop under the bar. My 1RM right now is 245 but I feel like if I get the technique down that weight will shoot up quick.
good stuff[/quote]
245 is nothing to scoff at. can we get a vid (not a call out), just legit interested in seeing some of the bigger guys preforming the lift.
Had a duh-huh moment today…
My bar sucks for power cleans. So I took it apart, cleaned up the areas where the sleeves meet the bar, greased said areas, and put it back together.
Worlds of difference when your bar will rotate freely. Snapping your elbows under the bar becomes lightning fast, and the catch becomes less of a pain in the ass.
[quote]JayPierce wrote:
Worlds of difference when your bar will rotate freely. Snapping your elbows under the bar becomes lightning fast, and the catch becomes less of a pain in the ass.
[/quote]
oh yes indeed. i take that for granted because i’m lucky enough to train with a eleiko women’s bar. so happy for your breakthrough!
I always found the vertical “jump shrug” method with a stick work the best. Then whenever you feel like your form is weird just do the jump shrug method.
MUCH better. Still a high catch, but I’m catching it on my shoulders now instead of in my hands. I actually got up to 195 today with good form and a lower catch (still above parallel), but didn’t get a vid because my phone battery died.
EDIT: Anybody know why I can’t embed my vids?
EDIT EDIT: Never mind. No need to embed, you just copy and paste the address from the viewing page. You have to get to it from your ‘videos’ page instead of your ‘channel’ page.
I got a little chuckle out of the youtube address on that last one. Arny Afleck? Fucking seriously? FML.
yes!! form looking much better 
love your bumpers, too
edit – FASTER!!
[quote]actionboy wrote:
[quote]gregron wrote:
this thread is awesome! I’ve been working on trying to improve my clean and really drop under the bar. My 1RM right now is 245 but I feel like if I get the technique down that weight will shoot up quick.
good stuff[/quote]
245 is nothing to scoff at. can we get a vid (not a call out), just legit interested in seeing some of the bigger guys preforming the lift.[/quote]
Yeah for sure. I’ve got one of 245 with straps in my log but my new “real” PR of 245 w/out straps I’d on mh phone. I’ll upload it to YouTube and post it soon. Feel free to critique away cause it is DEFINITELY a work in progress. I have some knee wobble in the lpw catch that I’m trying to take care of
Actually here’s the video. This is so easy when you can upload the video straight from your phone lol.
The low angle (my phone was on the ground) makes it look like my catch wasn’t very low but it was down there… Critique away cause I know I need it!
Two things to start with:
Don’t pull the bar up with your arms. Wait until after the jump, and use your arms to pull your body down, instead. You’re pulling with your arms as soon as the bar passes your knees.
Catch the bar on your shoulders instead of catching it with your hands and lowering it to your shoulders. It’ll put the bar closer to your CG and let your torso stay more upright, keeping you from tipping forward during the squat. Make sure the bar you use will rotate freely in the sleeves (as in my post above) so you can shoot your elbows forward faster.
All in all, good form and strong lift. You’re gonna have one hell of a clean when you get the technical stuff down.
[quote]alexus wrote:
yes!! form looking much better
love your bumpers, too
edit – FASTER!![/quote]
Thanks a bunch.
I’ve been keeping the speed down until the second pull so I can concentrate on keeping the bar close to my body. Plus, it’s a pretty light weight for me. 175 is about the weight where I have to turn the speed up.
BTW, how are those ankles coming along?
yes. you want the bar to gradually increase in momentum through the first pull and then really explode / fly up when you hip drive it at the second pull. i reckon you could drive it harder in the second pull which would get it flying faster at that point. and of course you could speed the whole thing up. hear what you are saying about learning it in a more controlled fashion so the correct movement becomes automatic - but then speed!!!
koing has a tendancy to say ‘if you can’t move the bar fast then you can’t move weight fast’. it isn’t about speeding up when you NEED to it is about speeding up ALWAYS. unfortunately… when the bar gets heavy… it will move a lot slower all by itself.
i guess it is part of the you can make great gains working at submaximal weights thing. fast fast fastest!! also… remember power is some function of weight moved and speed. if you can move that weight faster you are using more power to do it.
i really like the way you get the bar moving back towards you from when it leaves the floor. that is something i still need to work really hard on and i’m not actually sure whether it is happening for me very often. need to take some vids of myself…
edit –
ankles… i started a new job which involves a lot of walking around. finally got some new shoes (merrell’s) which have a thin flexible sole rather than my doc martins which were like walking around with blocks of concrete on my feet and my feet would protectively curl up which was just awful. just starting now to not have inflammation problems with them which means i’m ready to get stuck in with the stretching / mobility.
i’ve discovered hindu squats. except my version involves weight on the ball of the feet / toes, arms relaxed by sides (though i’m working up to that), torso as upright as possible, maintaining lumbar arch. ankles together knees together (feels harder that way). feels like a wonderful stretch / strengthening exercise for my arches / toes / ankles. have started thinking of my feet as a bit more three dimensional. i think part of why i’m not making gains on dorsiflexion is because i’ve focused on that as the only thing i care about. working plantarflexion more now, too, and also rotation stuff and stuff from different angles. finding muscles / tendons all around my ankles / lower legs i never knew i had. things feel like they are starting to wake up. hopefully this will all help my achilles stretching!! it is a slow process for me, indeed. no more dorsiflexion but other movements are getting better. hopefully will get more dorsiflexion as other movements catch up.
thanks for the info… I’m working on the form cause I know it is far from textbook.
This thread is full of great info.
Was doing half cleans today and I think I got it right. Albeit 132 lbs on the bar, I felt no fatigue in the shoulders. Going to work it for a couple more weeks and then see where I am at. Will video it too!
Greg, keep the bar close and if you checked out the pendlay videos, in the first one he tells them to lift from the explosion/power position. THAT is where you should start explosively using your arms/shoulders/traps/hands whatever. Explode with your legs and then pull yourself under. There is also a bit of pulling the bar up, but its mostly getting under.
Lifting from that point will make the weight feel much heavier(of course you’ll do less weight), but that’s the point. Make it feel heavy so you learn to drop under it. Just start light and gradually build up.
maybe its just the angle but from the “second pull” you could be using a lot more hip drive. watch the video and focus on your hips, you can see that they arent moving much. in fact, it doesnt look like they push forward at all.
aside from that, pretty fuckin bad ass.
why should your shoulders of all muscles feel fatigued from cleans?
cause oly lifting builds the delts bro
[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
why should your shoulders of all muscles feel fatigued from cleans? [/quote]
Was using too them too much initially, as opposed to using hip drive.