15/06/2020
The Clean - Tips for a Better Lift
Here is a side and front view of the Clean with written pointers below.
Making sure that you set up the same way everytime is so important in a lift like the clean. Olympic lifts are very reliant on position and small positional mistakes can mean the difference making or failing the lift as you start to add weight.
Here are our pointers for a set up and lift for the Clean:
1. Feet under the bar - Try and walk to the bar the same every time. Make sure you try and get your feet set in under the bar with the same width and angle to your feet every time.
2. Hands on bar - A lot of people rush to get into the lift and a lot of the time they fail the lift because the set up was wrong. Once your feet are set, don't rush to get your hands on the bar. The placement of your hands in the set up will impact your pull and front rack later in the lift. Make sure you are happy with your feet and hand placement. Once you are happy proceed, get yourself into the hook grip.
3. Setting up before lifting - Take a nice deep breath and brace your core, tighten up your back and lats (this stops your back snapping up and arching), sit into the starting position bringing your chest up, taking the tension into the bar and locking onto your focal point that you look at through the lift. Your weight should be mid foot to the back of your foot. Do not have your weight over your toes.
4. The pull - Slowly pull the bar from the floor as you would in a deadlift (do not yank the bar as that will arch your back and can pull you forward over your toes. This will make it very hard to keep the bar close to you as you lift).
5. The bump - As you get near the top of the deadlift and your hips are coming forward and your legs straighten, you need to explode through the hips; driving them forward as your feet leave the floor. This adds another injection of momentum into your lift. As soon as your hips make contact with the bar, you will start to pull the bar up towards your chest while shrugging your shoulders upwards. This helps the bar to get as high as possible before you drop down to catch the bar.
6. The drop - Once the bar has been pulled as high as you can get it you will already be dropping down into the squat. As you are dropping, the bar should be pretty weightless which will allow you to get your elbows around the bar into the front rack with your elbows forwards. The higher you pul the bar and the lower you can squat, will be two key factors to making this lift as the weight goes up as you progress.
7. The catch and stand - Once you land at the bottom of your squat, you should have had enough time to catch the bar in the front rack. Once you are at the bottom of the squat, take a second; take a breathe brace your core and make sure you are balanced before trying to stand the bar. If your weight is still a little forward over your toes you will end up having to step forward as you lift causing you to potentially fail the lift. When ready, stand out of the squat to finish the lift.
Take your time in the set up and do not rush.
Do not yank the bar as you pull, keep it slow even if you think it is a little too slow. Give your hips time to come forward to explode in the bump
Nail the lift.
