How to clean: an idiot's guide by a wannabe.

mrthingyx

mrthingyx

mrthingyx

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Things that need to work before attempting an Olympic lift or a derivative of one:

- Good front rack position: humerus parallel to the ground;
- working hip hinge; this is where the power comes from;
- strong core: lose bracing in an Olympic lift and you can kiss your back, lumbar, shoulders,etc. good-bye. And the bar doesn't move, which isn't what we're aiming for.

The easiest cues to follow for the clean actually come from learning how to snatch, bizarrely. This is because there is a much more obvious connection between the hip drive, bar, core and shoulders with the snatch than there is with the clean.

So. The snatch...


Start with the bar in a double overhand dead lift grip in a standing upright position. Brace your core hard, pulling your shoulders back and give your knees a slight bend (I've heard 5 degrees mentioned). St your hips back a couple of inches to create a little crook between your thigh and pelvis. From here, move your hands out along the bar until the bar is resting in that crook. This is your snatch grip.

Now, sit your hips back a few inches further until your braced torso is at between vertical and 45 degrees: the bar should be hanging around your thigh somewhere. This is the hang snatch position that I use.

The next bit is where we see how much power (not force) you can generate from your glutes and hamstrings. Keeping your core braced hard, am your hips through the bar as hard and as fast as you can, pushing from your heels. You'll know you've done this correctly with gusto when the sleeves on the bar start to buzz with the impact. This is why I call it bar humping. :)

You may notice your upper body flopping back as you do this, and that's because your core bracing has slackened off. This might not be so important with just the bar, but if you ever want to get past this point, brace that core hard. Your end position should be with your hips almost hyper-extended through the bar in a standing position. Rinse and repeat, whilst getting very funny looks from everybody in the gym that doesn't know any better.

Once you've got a good bar hump sorted, and the bar is buzzing like a nest of hornets and swinging out and up in front of you, it's time for the power shrug. This is not like a Dumbell shrug at all. With your shoulders pinned back and with as much power as you can, shrug your shoulders up so that your elbows bounce up and you wind up in that classic mannequin position (humerus at 90 degrees from your body but always above the bar). Do this enough, and your traps will thank you. ;)

The reason I'd suggest the snatch first is because there is a really positive connection between the hip drive and the barbell - your pelvis should actually be ramming through the bar and you should have a very sore pubis bone from where it's been cracked against the bar. :D

This is hopefully a reasonably clear guide on how to drive the hips for the snatch. The clean is no different in principle, but will feel different because there isn't the same obvious positive connection with the bar: apply the same technique, but with your hands in the dead lift position. You'll know you've done this right when you start getting very sore thighs from where the bar knurling rubs up against them at pace. There won't be the same buzz from the barbell sleeves as with the snatch drive, but you should still et the bar soaring out in front of you.


I appreciate this might not be helpful to everybody, but it's just how I do it, and I'm very happy to clarify any point that makes no sense.
 
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OP updated with videos.

They aren't meant to be the ultimate guide to cleans/snatches and - by way of example - my old coach had a look at the 110kg powerclean from yesterday, passed it onto his mate with the note that I'd managed it "with limited technical training."

So go figure. :D

This is meant to be a very basis starting point for how to clean and will NOT be the ultimate guide to becoming an Olympic lifter.

I'm happy to update this thread with any other help I can provide (if requested), but I hope at least somebody finds it reasonably helpful. :)

Enjoy and good luck.

@ Platypus: my gym is at work.:D Why do you ask?
 
Yeah - as much as I tried for a quiet background, or some loud metal, it wasn't going to happen.

Treadmills, and I think the second video has some dude doing Klokov-style push-presses in the background. Either that or he was having a massive dump.

@ Platypus: afraid not. :( You Cambridge-based?
 
Morba said:
Excellent, now do the 2nd part.... The jerk / power jerk :p
Click to expand...

Split jerk? Fine. Power jerks are for guys with much bigger triceps, lats and delts than me! ;)

p4radox said:
Nice guide so far. I power clean about 70kg without a problem, but I think my technique is terrible. I seem to generate my power from a vertical jump rather than from a forward hip drive.

I'm trying to work out where your "gym at work" is, I'm guessing the guy's t shirt in the background is a clue?

The only decent gym I've used in Cambridge (aside from a couple of the colleges) is a martial arts gym. MY current gym is fairly terrible.
Click to expand...

That's the trick - I'm sure a fair number of people on here could clean/snatch a lot more than me if they had the same coaching that I do. Instructor hax? :eek: :cool:

And yes - I work at ARM. :)
 
This weekend, I will mostly be working on a "how to jerk" addition to this thread.

For now, have some floor work.

The clean pull...

This is where strength/power work comes into Olympic lifting. However, to do this properly, you need to make sure you have the basics of core stability, hip drive and shrug working well (to the point where your lower back doesn't hurt when you clean).

The 'clean pull' is essentially a clean from the floor with a weight that is too great for you to get it to front rack. It involves three stages:

- First pull: a highly exaggerated deadlift with the thorax in a fixed position;
- Scoop->hip drive: bar passes knee, gets dragged up your thighs and WHACK!
- Second pull: the power shrug.

The first pull.

1) load the bar with 20kg (2*10kg) and get yourself into a 'standard' deadlift position with the bar over the bridge of your foot.

2) Keeping your weight over your heels (this is where ankle mobility comes in), lean right over the bar until your shoulders are almost past it, and pinch your scaps, and brace your core like your life depends on it.

3) Pull. Keeping your torso fixed, shoulders hard back, lift the bar with your hamstrings. ;) This is done by pulling your knees back. This should wind you up in an interesting position, with your knees almost straight, the bar just below your knee and with your torso at a severe angle. Recognise it from your hip drive work?

The key thing with the first pull is keeping your torso as tight as you can and shoulders right over the bar - I can't emphasise this enough.

Scoop, hip drive and second pull.

This is essentially the same as your standard power clean/hip clean/whatever. However, as the weight is too great, you will simply be driving your hips through and shrugging hard.

Do not worry about the weight (assuming you can get it past your first pull): you might think it will move more slowly (and it will at first), but in the end it will be zipping almost as fast as your regular loads.

However, you MUST make sure your driving from your hips rather than lower back for these. If you pull from your back, you might as well be doing a bad deadlift and your in for all kinds of pain. Trust me: I've done it. And it is pretty uncomfortable. :D

So what does this look like?


Notice I'm using straps. Clean pulls can put an enormous strain on your grip because of the hip drive power (not force!) involved. Straps make this a lot easier to bear.

Also notice how my torso dips slightly during the first pull, showing how I need to keep my core more stable and shoulders pinned harder.

WARNING: for the first few sessions, this exercise will give you the most uber hamstring and trap pump you have probably ever felt. It's fricking awesome. :D
 
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That's my gym kit. :D

No - it was the original recording from last week when MoNkeE asked for a demo (this was after I'd changed from the gym session).

And it's generally what I wear in the office.
 
When I get in the gym to take some videos of it. :D

Haven't been in the gym properly for 2 weeks, so currently on a voyage of rediscovery, but I'll have a play this afternoon and see what happens. ;)

I'm still waiting for Morba to do Grace, but there we go. :D
 
Right. So. How to jerk.

Pre-requisites:

1) Ability to OHP the same weight you’re jerking;
2) Hip drive a la OP;
3) Good inward/outward shoulder rotation;
4) Somewhere safe to drop a barbell without annoying/injuring anybody;
5) Massive, massive balls (sticking 100kg over your head when you can only OHP 65kg or whatever takes some commitment and sense of humour).

The point of Olympic lifting – pointed out eloquently once upon a time be UE – is to lift more weight through a combined movement than individuals movements/muscles can manage. Not sure how many people can OHP 263kg, but a few people can jerk it overhead. This is why you will see a lot of dropping heavy barbells by weightlifters, and not much re-racking. ? This also why Olympic lifters generate enormous amounts of power (not necessarily force!) from their hips (check out the lightweight lady lifters: most of them are tiny waif-like creatures with MASSIVE thighs/glutes).

This is epitomised in the jerk. The principle of the movement is to generate enough power from the hips to lift the bar off the shoulders and then dive under it, lifting it back up with the legs: technically speaking, the arms are used to push the lifter down under the bar, rather than lift the bar itself.

So how does this work?


START POSITION:

1) Sit an unloaded bar in a comfortable front rack position;

2) Keeping your core braced, shoulders back, let your ankles/knees have the 5 degrees of flexion, so you sink down ever so slightly;

3) Sink back into your hips, taking the strain onto your hamstrings. You should wind up in a slight facsimile of the clean/snatch from hip position;
POWAAAAAH!

4) Keep your head back as you do this! From here, dig your heels into the ground and ram your hips forward as hard as you can (hip drive!): if your core is braced correctly, your hips should extend and your quads should engage to force you into an odd, heel-drive jump.
This should launch the bar off your front rack: could be lots, could be a little bit. Either way, the fun part comes next.


THE POWER JERK

1) When you ‘jump’, the first thing to do is push up on the bar, lock your elbows and pinch your scaps. The idea isn’t to drive the bar up, but to force YOU down; as you do this, force your head forward. This gives you scaps the room to really pinch and gives your shoulders a nice, stable position to work from;

2) Your lower half: keeping your core tight, bring your knees up and out. This should flex your hips to get you into a PT squat position (femurs at 45o from parallel).

3) Land and brace.

4) From here, it’s a simple question of reversing the ‘squat’: push with your hips, and up you go. :)

THE SPLIT JERK

1) Same principle applies as for the power jerk, but as you dive under the bar, throw your primary foot (the one with which you’d kick a ball) back and the other forward.

2) Front foot: out straight, and weight on the heel. Back foot: on the toes, heel straight up in the air. Weight should be evenly distributed between them.

3) To recover, push off your front foot and bring it into line with your body. Then step up with your back foot.



The key to both these jerks is speed. The best lifters out there are not necessarily the strongest, but the fastest: who can get under the bar quick enough. You might get bored of me mentioning this, but check out Ilya Ilin: he’s by far and away one of the fastest lifters I’ve ever seen.

And no, I’m not going anywhere near a squat jerk. Those a truly insane (check out Xiaojun Lu for an example of this craziness).
 
Yup - you're correct. :cool:

The 'straight foot' is more of a cue for me because I used to default to excessive internal rotation (almost 30 degrees! :eek: ) which really hurt that forward knee.

I should haev also mentioned that I'd also noticed - with the split jerk - a tendency to not control my core enough, meaning a rotation of my whole position which I had to pay a lot of attention to correct (this is what caused the inward rotated front foot, and a flat, side-on foot at the back).

Practically, it's not as if more than two people have tried using the advice in this thread, anyway... :( :D

And if anybody was doing this seriously, they should see somebody that ACTUALLY knows what they're talking about. :)
 
MoNkeE said:
Bumping this after this weekend :) going to have a shoulder mobility and Olympic lifting session tonight!
Click to expand...

I've just... I've just... :o :eek: :D

Awesome!

reiyushin said:
Cleans rock.....I can't snatch to save my life though :(
Click to expand...

But snatching is easier than cleaning... :confused:

EDIT: I should probably update this thread with a few bits, too. The technique in the OP is a very basic one to get hips working properly, and could do with some more work to make sure it stays relevant. Assuming people use it, of course. :D
 
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