Need advice on olympic lifting cleans

*updated critique added below* While doing cleans, I seem to be having some technical problems that could use a new set of eyes. If you have any advice on what I am doing wrong in the cleans, it would be appreciated. The lifts are numbered for reference.

I got a response from a USA Weightlifting coach. This is what he said.

Not a bad lift, but there are a couple of things to concentrate on to help it be "easier". Your start or get set position is good (really concentrate on flexing the wrists or getting the knuckles to the ground and keeping your arms straight as long as possible).

Your hips move up first and the bar moves away from you. The travel is around your knees rather than pushing your knees back. This is bad as when you get to the second pull, you are chasing after the bar-- despite pulling it in toward you (your back is tight and looks good). When you get to the rack position, the bar is a few inches in front of you causing you to have to chase after it.
Does it feel as if you are leaning a bit forward when you catch the bar? Then, your back gets a little loose as you stretch to reach the weight. Back soreness or injury as weights go up.

OK, that being written, what to do to correct it?
1. Push your feet in to the ground longer at the start of the lift, concentrate on pushing in to the platform and driving your knees back. Your back stays very tight so, you should see an immediate improvement. An exercise to help with this is to do Russian deadlifts or deadlifts from the floor to a pause at the knees, hold for a second or two, then lower the weight. Do this with snatch and clean grips. Now more than 10% of your best lifts, reps of 4-5.

2. Second pull is good strength wise, could use a bit more speed. Best exercises for that are hang cleans and snatches. The Barski clean is superb for getting that second pull going nicely. Reps of 3, start with bar at waist, lower it to just above the knees, then immediately and rapidly reverse the direction of the bar. Reps 1 and 2 should be OK, #3 is the money lift.

3. It looks as if your elbows are rotating around the bar, but not quickly. Are you "popping the lock"? As soon as your elbows start to rotate around the bar, unhook your thumb from the hook grip. You will catch the bar on your fingers and be able to drive your elbows around more completely. Make sure that your back remains tight and isometrically contracted hard.
Good mornings or barbell bendovers help a lot with this feeling.

4. Your feet appear not to be moving to the side at all. This coupled with incomplete extension at the top make you have to lean over to get the barbell. You drop nicely, it would be easier for your lifting if you were able to slide your feet about 3-4 inches each to the side, maintain an arched back, rotate the elbows quickly, and then rack the bar. You would be much more comfortable. OK, again, what to do to correct it?

a. incomplete extension: do clean and snatch extensions, especially from the hang position. Put the barbell at your knees, get set, drive your feet in to the ground and jump. Make sure to shrug big and push until your feet are extended-- you should finish the lift on your toes, arms STRAIGHT, shoulders shrugged. Maybe 10-15% more than your usual lifts for this weight in reps of 4-6.

b. incomplete extension: also helped by 3 pulls and a lift. Say you are cleaning 60 kg. Do 3 extensions as described above then on the fourth lift, do a clean with it. No straps allowed, release the bar between every exercise and count to 10. So: perform one extension, release bar, count to 10, perform 2nd extension,,,,count to 10, do full lift.

c. foot position: start on toes with feet in jump position, quickly slide feet to sides, maintain an arched back, get in to receive position. Don't use a barbell for this exercise. So, up on toes, arch back, quickly move your feet, get in to receive position.

5. Here are two workout sequences to try:

Foot position work
Cleans (Barski or 3-stage)
Front squats
Russian deadlifts
Good mornings

Foot position work
Cleans (Barski or 3-stage)
Front squats
Hang clean pulls
Good mornings
Our university does not have bumper plates so I can't do the full clean and jerk without being kicked out of the weightroom. Thanks.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Olympic
• Weightlifting
• coaching
• training
• advice
• cleans

[bd1saul]

Your hips move up first and the bar moves away from you. The travel is around your knees rather than pushing your knees back. This is bad as when you get to the second pull, you are chasing after the bar-- despite pulling it in toward you (your back is tight and looks good) In the rack position, the bar is a few inches in front causing you to have to chase it.

Does it feel as if you are leaning forward to catch the bar? Your back gets a little loose as you stretch to reach the weight.

[bd1saul]

What to do to correct it?

1. Push your feet in to the ground longer at the start of the lift, concentrate on pushing in to the platform and driving your knees back. Your back stays very tight so, you should see an immediate improvement. An exercise to help with this is to do Russian deadlifts or deadlifts from the floor to a pause at the knees, hold for a second or two, then lower the weight. Do this with snatch and clean grips. Now more than 10% of your best lifts, reps of 4-5.

[bd1saul]

2. Second pull is good strength wise, could use a bit more speed. Best exercises for that are hang cleans and snatches. The Barski clean is superb for getting that second pull going nicely. Reps of 3, start with bar at waist, lower it to just above the knees, then immediately and rapidly reverse the direction of the bar. Reps 1 and 2 should be OK, #3 is the money lift.

[bd1saul]

3. It looks as if your elbows are rotating around the bar, but not quickly. Are you "popping the lock"? As soon as your elbows start to rotate around the bar, unhook your thumb from the hook grip. You will catch the bar on your fingers and be able to drive your elbows around more completely. Make sure that your back remains tight and isometrically contracted hard.

Good mornings or barbell bendovers help a lot with this feeling.

[bd1saul]

4. Your feet appear not to be moving to the side at all. This coupled with incomplete extension at the top make you have to lean over to get the barbell. You drop nicely, it would be easier for your lifting if you were able to slide your feet about 3-4 inches each to the side, maintain an arched back, rotate the elbows quickly, and then rack the bar. You would be much more comfortable. OK, again, what to do to correct it?

[bd1saul]

a. incomplete extension: do clean and snatch extensions, especially from the hang position. Put the barbell at your knees, get set, drive your feet in to the ground and jump. Make sure to shrug big and push until your feet are extended-- you should finish the lift on your toes, arms STRAIGHT, shoulders shrugged. Maybe 10-15% more than your usual lifts for this weight in reps of 4-6.

[adster2010]

@bd1saul I was going to say the same things you were. On the second pull, when you are extending fully, incorporate an explosive shrug at the top. Just keep in mind that it is your big muscles that are getting the bar up. It's one explosive movement. The more explosive you are, the more weight you will be able to do. From the looks of your lift, you seem to know everything I just said, I just want to make sure you keep that in mind. Other than adding the shrug, it looks awesome. Keep it u

[armpitpolice]

GET AWAY FROM THE MIRROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To quote Alexeev, " they are great furniture but have no place in a weight room"

Youre head has everything to do with the geometry of your body.

As soon as you stop starring at yourself, your form will naturally start to become absolutely perfect.

[x22fighter]

everything is right except wen u come up pull the bar straight up and point ur elbows straight out it will save ur back.

[WuTangClanForever88]

your not doing squat cleans, you're doing power cleans to a front squat

[john51880]

Ok I see most of these posts are 9 months old. If you still are having trouble don't take advise off the computer. I can tell from it you are doing alot of thing that need correcting. Get to a coach!

[Shadowzz4]

Your shoulders should be in front of the bar, not behind, this is where the leverage comes from.

[MorbidJoy]

The only thing I would recommend is that you stay on your heels. Otherwise the form looks pretty good. The further out you get your elbows in front of your chest the more you can let your legs do the work.