SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

Why power clean?  Isn’t getting under the bar the correct way to clean?  Shouldn’t you squat under the bar always?

I have come to see the power clean (and power snatch) as invaluable teaching tools for both myself and other students because they are less complex.  Because they are simpler movements they are easier to learn and execute.  This doesn’t necessarily mean you should perfect the power movements and then move on to the full movements.  I’m sure people do that.  That’s fine.  For me, it simply means you can try to change something in the power movement and have an easier time.  Once you get that to manifest in the simpler movement, you can try and transfer it to the more complex movement.

Don’t diss on the power clean.  Instead, use it as a way to work on your clean.

Consider the clicking noise that the barbell makes at the finish of a really solid snatch or jerk.  I *think* that sound is the bumper sleeve slamming into the bar.  I think it is a good thing because it means that the lifter really whipped the bar into place quickly with a fast turnover.

What if you could get that same noise from a push press?  What if you could get it by punching straight up at the end of the lift, creating a tiny whip and accelerating the bar?  Let’s try it and see, shall we?

http://youtu.be/HJUxDz1qSnM

Some days we do crazy moves like pause squats and people are all “aargh!  Why do we sit down there and wait?”

There are several good reasons to pause squat but one particularly strange one to consider is because you aren’t supposed to pause when you clean.  Instead, you should bounce out of the bottom of the squat.  So why the heck practice something that you aren’t supposed to do?  Well, pause squats will make you stronger because you lose the assistance of momentum but the point of today’s post is that sometimes it is good to do things the “wrong” way so that when you do it the “right” way it feels so much easier.

So yes, you should do pause squats to get stronger but you should also do them so that when you bounce out of the bottom of a clean properly you think to yourself “wow that is 1000 times easier that sitting at the bottom and waiting.”