PowerBuilder
New member
As promised, here is a very brief overview of the traditional clean and jerk. I wont go into a lot of detail. In some texts that I've read, a clean can be broken up into as many as 8 parts. EIGHT. For a lift that goes for between 1-1.5 seconds, there sure is a lot to be said about a lot.
Here's a single lift that I did today. It's not great. It will do though for this discussion.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq9il_fLjrQ]YouTube - 57.5kg clean & jerk[/ame]
When in the starting position, my feet are about hip width apart, slightly pointing outwards. Hips are higher than my knees. The shins are somewhat angled. My grip is shoulder width. Holding onto the bar using a hook grip.
As you can see my back isn't overly straight and locked. This is in fact a technical fault.
The first step is taking the bar from the ground to the knee joint. This is largely done by movement of the knee joint. Within this movement, the shins go from being declined to (ideally) vertical. This is called 'the first pull'.
During this portion, the arms are considered as 'chains', merely holding onto the barbell. Arms are to stay straight and as relaxed as possible.
It's important that the first pull is done right, since if you fail on the 1st pull, the rest of the lift may not be great.
Taking the bar from the knee joint to the hip joint is termed as the '2nd' pull. This is when the largest amount of power is generated.
Please note that your shoulder girdle is to stay over the bar as long as possible, while actively driving your hips through the bar, as quick as possible. During this stage, the bar is to either graze against your thigh, skim against it or come very close to it. The quicker you do this, the more upwards force the bar will receive.
Arms are still straight and as relaxed as possible. Remember their chains, merely holding onto the bar.
During this phase the shin bones are to remain vertical. It looks like I failed at doing this, but only slightly.
Okay! So now that the bar has been driven through your hip? Stand up as straight as possible. High on your toes. Shrug like you need it...let's be honest, there will be times when you need to. Try and touch your ears. I dare you!! This is called 'The Triple Extension' position. Three things are extended. Your ankles. Your knee joint and hip joint.
This is actually as high as the bar needs to be when cleaning it. If you pay close attention, it's about an inch or so higher than my naval.
How do you get under the bar now that it's in place? Well, some texts say there are 2 pulls to the clean, others say there are three. It's not often you see it quoted as three.
How a lot of people get under the bar is simply shifting your feet from a pulling position (when their hip width) to the 'receiving position', which is at least shoulder width. There are two things to note here. It's not a 'jumping' movement. Second, shifting your feet too wide can spell certain peril. If you go too wide, you're going to have a lot of trouble standing up.
So now that you've shifted (not jumped) into a 'catching' position, simply lower yourself down (DO NOT CURL THE BARBELL) by bending your arms. When catching the bar, the most effective and efficient way is to have your elbows pointing straight forward.
All you need to do now is stand up, as if you're half way through a front squat.
As you can see, there's a lot to think about. The culture in our club is to concentrate on 1 or 2 things during a lift. More than that and you'll botch it up. Different people need different cues. Right now I cue myself on not raising my hip at the start of the lift, before my shoulders. This means I lose a lot of power. Second, I concentrate on pushing my hips through the bar.
Comments? Thoughts?
Here's a single lift that I did today. It's not great. It will do though for this discussion.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq9il_fLjrQ]YouTube - 57.5kg clean & jerk[/ame]
When in the starting position, my feet are about hip width apart, slightly pointing outwards. Hips are higher than my knees. The shins are somewhat angled. My grip is shoulder width. Holding onto the bar using a hook grip.
As you can see my back isn't overly straight and locked. This is in fact a technical fault.
The first step is taking the bar from the ground to the knee joint. This is largely done by movement of the knee joint. Within this movement, the shins go from being declined to (ideally) vertical. This is called 'the first pull'.
During this portion, the arms are considered as 'chains', merely holding onto the barbell. Arms are to stay straight and as relaxed as possible.
It's important that the first pull is done right, since if you fail on the 1st pull, the rest of the lift may not be great.
Taking the bar from the knee joint to the hip joint is termed as the '2nd' pull. This is when the largest amount of power is generated.
Please note that your shoulder girdle is to stay over the bar as long as possible, while actively driving your hips through the bar, as quick as possible. During this stage, the bar is to either graze against your thigh, skim against it or come very close to it. The quicker you do this, the more upwards force the bar will receive.
Arms are still straight and as relaxed as possible. Remember their chains, merely holding onto the bar.
During this phase the shin bones are to remain vertical. It looks like I failed at doing this, but only slightly.
Okay! So now that the bar has been driven through your hip? Stand up as straight as possible. High on your toes. Shrug like you need it...let's be honest, there will be times when you need to. Try and touch your ears. I dare you!! This is called 'The Triple Extension' position. Three things are extended. Your ankles. Your knee joint and hip joint.
This is actually as high as the bar needs to be when cleaning it. If you pay close attention, it's about an inch or so higher than my naval.
How do you get under the bar now that it's in place? Well, some texts say there are 2 pulls to the clean, others say there are three. It's not often you see it quoted as three.
How a lot of people get under the bar is simply shifting your feet from a pulling position (when their hip width) to the 'receiving position', which is at least shoulder width. There are two things to note here. It's not a 'jumping' movement. Second, shifting your feet too wide can spell certain peril. If you go too wide, you're going to have a lot of trouble standing up.
So now that you've shifted (not jumped) into a 'catching' position, simply lower yourself down (DO NOT CURL THE BARBELL) by bending your arms. When catching the bar, the most effective and efficient way is to have your elbows pointing straight forward.
All you need to do now is stand up, as if you're half way through a front squat.
As you can see, there's a lot to think about. The culture in our club is to concentrate on 1 or 2 things during a lift. More than that and you'll botch it up. Different people need different cues. Right now I cue myself on not raising my hip at the start of the lift, before my shoulders. This means I lose a lot of power. Second, I concentrate on pushing my hips through the bar.
Comments? Thoughts?
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