Power cleans - HELP

Elliot is a strong dude but one small issue I have with his form is that he's shooting his hips during the first pull. You want to maintain a little knee bend as the bar passes the knee and then fiercely extend the knee and the hips once the torso is in an upright position, all the while keeping the bar in close to the body with the lats. You'll notice that Elliot catches the bar forward of his starting position because allowing his knees to straighten during the first-pull has lead to him making his second-pull a little early, before he was fully upright (or even slightly leaning back). Ideally, you want the bar path to be vertical or even slightly back at the catch.
Allowing your knees to straighten during the first pull also has the effect of slowing the vertical progress of the bar because the knees have to rebend more prior to the second pull.
So, just think about maintaining a little knee bend during the first part of the lift. Make the first pull use more quads than you would for a deadlift.
You'll need to hook-grip too or you can easily lose the bar during the second-pull.
 
Not sure if this helpful to you or not, but this is goddam impressive and inspiring.

 
Shankle!
Donny is a great guy. He has personally answered several of my questions. He has a very helpful blog with numerous articles about the O-lifts.
 
Last edited:
One thing to bear in mind with the Donny Shankle hang-cleans is that he is more of a "hip-cleaner", meaning that he maintains bent elbows during the first-pull to get the bar closer to the crease of the hip for the finish of the second-pull (as in the snatch).
Most beginners who bend their arms during the clean are trying to lift the bar with their arms. That is a bad idea. Hip-cleaning is not the same thing at all. Most people would be advised not to do it so that they don't lose power transmission to the bar if their arms straighten during the second pull.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top