I took a couple of videos of myself practicing cleans today at the gym. As far as I can tell my major mistake seems to be that I am doing something that looks like a power clean followed by a front squat. I think I need to focus more on pulling myself under the bar and work on the hip pop. H264/mov higher quality (use quicktime or VLC): (7MB) http://lagparty.org/~narbo/weaksauce/03-19-2008-clean.mov WMV9: (6MB) http://lagparty.org/~narbo/weaksauce/03-19-2008-clean.wmv Any form tips would be appreciated! (you can download VLC free from http://www.videolan.org)
It looks like that, because that is exactly what it is. I can't do a clean either, so I just power clean.
When you are doing your initial pull off the floor you are letting your legs extend before the bar leaves the floor causing you to SLDL the weight up. Your lower back looks rounded too.
Are you doing the squat on purpose? You already have the weight racked before you descend. The rack looks pretty good. Elbows are forward. More hip pop.
sorry if this seems like elementary, but here goes: it looks like you are building momentum with your legs, then dropping under the bar, but perhaps you need more of each, meaning... 1. propelling the bar upward in a linear path is the main goal. explosion in the legs should happen in the last few inches of extension. knees shouldn't be front of toes as much as possible. 2. at the same time as explosion with the legs, shrug the shoulders. a good exercise to do with bumper plates is to bring the bar up, explode the legs and shrug while releasing pressure from your grip immediately afterwards to let the bar continue to rise to chest level...to make sure that its legs and shrugs that are causing the weight to rise (your not trying to arm it up) 3. immediately after shrugging drop deep. drop deep fast and catch low. 4. get some bumper weights, you're going to kill your back. my old coach used to say "its called weight lifting, not weight lowering".
Ok cool, thanks for the advice. I will try to put it into practice. With regards to the plates, the inside plates on the bar are actually 25lb bumper plates so I can jettison it if I have to. (and the owner is more then cool with that) Unfortunately they are the only bumper plates in the gym so I have to use regular weights for the rest. Im just trying to minimize noise but I agree once I actually get to a resonable strength level I should just drop it and save my tendons/back/shoulders.
you've got a few problems going on but the most glaring thing is the powerclean+front squat thing you've got going on. Just lower the weight and practice getting under the bar and catching low, instead of catching high and then dropping down. You'll get the hang of it!
One thing I noticed from all these clean videos lately is how slow you guys do them. I don't want to sound conceited or know-it-all, but the way I do my powerclean is completely different. During the second pull, you need intensity, you need to really, really explode and shrug the weight up, and really JUMP back and pop your hips out while you shrug. From the video, you seem like you're just too relaxed on the second pull, like... real slow... going through the motion. What I mean is, during the second pull, don't just jump straight up, try jumping up AND back. I don't mean literally jumping back with your feet. I mean, jump up, but in an arch, as if you're about to do a backflip, but stop half way. If you're just jumping up, you're really not extending your hip and exploding. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEpC5KnqFmA is as good an example you can get. Notice how he really pops back during the second pull.
First of all, powercleaning then going into a front squat is a very good idea. For less experienced lifters it allows them the chance to "get used to" the lift. For those of you with real experience with olympic lifting, I'm sure youd agree that there is nothing wrong with progression.
yeah, i see a lot of guys doing power cleans that look more like upright rows with the catching the weight. that type of form takes away a good deal of the benefits of cleans (and jerk) which is really explosive power from the hips, killer back muscles, and athleticism from throwing weight up in the air. ...and we never hear anyone with questions about the snatch (insert clever joke here)
The snatch is a much harder lift to perform IMO. I personally do not do heavy snatches because of lack of form. If I had an olympic lifting coach, it would be different.
If you're still looking for feedback... You're getting very little help from your legs, like someone else mentioned. You could probably clean as well from the hang position. To reiterate: once you pass the knees, there should be a "violent explosion." Think of jumping UP and throwing your head BACKWARDS while shrugging. That should help a ton. The other biggest problem, and one you should fix right away because it's easy and will help you move a lot more weight: keep that bar a lot closer to your body as you accelerate up. It's drifting so far out in front of you and will become impossible to "chase down" (dive forward to catch it) when you get in to significant weight. If you watch it closely you'll see that the bar never gets near you groin area. You hips are always well back as the bar is ascending past them. Try those guys out, re-tape, and lets have another look! (I won't mention that your arms are already bent as you're bringing the weight up. Leave that fix for another time...)
