Triangulated Power!

Today I want to go over something that will help ensure you are performing your clean's and snatch's to a better degree. If you're not into Olympic lifting, guess what!?! You can you this too as an athlete in order to better perform a major lift in the gym to accomplish true power and strength! Read through all this and apply it to your Power Cleans! 

 Look around you. Triangles are everywhere!  Any structure requiring a strong and rigid construction depends on triangles to achieve that goal.  Even though they might not be obvious or even seen for that matter, triangles are at work wherever strength and rigidity are important. This holds true even in weightlifting. Ask any coach what the "power triangle" is and he will gladly show you a person who has a developed set of shoulder blades, abdominal, and the glutes. However, today we are not talking about how to create a power triangle. We are here to discuss how to properly close the weightlifting triangle that has created the power and stability for your lift. 

Once you get past your knees in the initial pull, you should certainly have a triangle between your knees, shoulders and the hips. Can't imagine what I am talking about? Go ahead and grab a stick, bar, or just act as if you are holding the a bar. Go slowly thru the 1st pull and stop when the "bar" is just past your knees. Pause there and think. You have created a triangle. This position is important to form: The hips are away from the bar, the arms are directed back towards the thighs, and the chest over the bar forming 3 sides of a “power triangle.” In this position you are strong, stable and prepared to transfer the weight thru the 2nd pull.

This is where people make a big mistake. They either close the triangle to slow, to fast, or do not actually keep the bar in contact leaving a gap in the triangle. You may hear it at the gym as: completed a short pull, leaving the hips out, or not finishing with extension. Regardless how you are completing the pull, you are not closing the triangle in one way or another.  

The triangle stores a ton of potential power, the hips/glutes/lats are primed and ready to explode with force. You basically have to try in order to not create the triangle when the bar is above the knees. However, people often form the triangle correctly... but do not properly shut it.

Focus on driving your hips to the bar as soon as the bar passes your knees. Keep the bar close by utilizing your lats. Pull your knees under the bar with a dipping type movement, and then forcefully thrust your hips forward into the bar while simultaneously pulling the bar into your hips with the lats. DO NOT BEND YOUR ARMS!  Shut the triangle with control and conviction to get the most power into your clean or snatch. I however want to caveat this with one thing that will inevitably happen as you practice. Body position is always critical throughout any Olympic lifts. So... ensure proper body positioning at all times!. As you transition thru the 2nd pull your back/hips should move in conjunction with your knees. Neither should extend earlier than the other. If you extend your knees to early, you have no more room to explode upward. Same goes for your hips... if you open to early you will be leaning to far back and taken out of the proper power position as well as your bar path will be impacted. Either way, you are unable to create triple extension as intended or desired.

Practice closing the triangle at a slow pace with light weight. Gradually increase your speed as you get more familiar and are able to demonstrate proper positioning throughout the lift. Once you are moving in a fluid motion and able to maintain positioning, then move up in weight.

 As always, if you found this helpful, please leave a comment or email me. I am always looking to write what interests the readers, so have an idea of an interesting or debated topic , want to know something specific, liked a previous post and want it expanded upon? email or comment below. All feedback is greatly appreciated! 

Until next week... Lift it over head, slam it to the ground and repeat! Practice makes progression and progression to Gold!

"Pause"itive Gains

Being explosive is a necessity in weightlifting. The unfortunate aspect of training for Olympic Weightlifting, however, is that often the simple foundational factor of strength is forgotten. Everyone focuses on form and power (which are also a necessity), how to move quickly, open the hips explosively and move the bar overhead in a smooth motion. That’s all great, but your form isn’t going to make up for the fact that you’re a weak A$$ Biotch!

So how do we become stronger?! Strength training... duh! "But this is Olympic Weightlifting." 100% true... so lets incorporate a technique that will still build on the lifts, but make gains on, gains on, gains!

PAUSE REPS!

Pause repetitions are a tried-and-true method of building muscle and strength and should be a staple in any training program. Pause reps are the opposite of ballistic or explosive training. Rather than seeking to take advantage of speed or the elastic components of our muscles, pause reps force you to face your lifts with strength and strength alone.

Pausing during any portion of the rep ensures the elastic energy has dissipated while simultaneously breaking your momentum. When completing pause reps, there is no stored energy to take advantage of, no kinetic energy to assist in lifting the weight. When you pause, it takes pure muscle to produce the force you need. No cheating... just pure strength.

Here is a video of a pause snatch to give you an idea of how this looks for Olympic weightlifting.

Some people go overboard with the pause, stopping for a full two or three seconds between reps. There is certainly some utility to this approach, but doesn't need to be used for Olympic Weightlifting. That's more of a powerlifting technique. That being said, you only need a small pause to get the advantages pausing provides. Just long enough (Say Pause in your head... that's long enough) that you know your momentum is broken and you are starting from a halted position. If you pause between 1-2 seconds, I am telling you now... getting the weight to move again is going to suck! However, this is how you know you’re doing it right.

Utilizing a pausing phase into your lift is the cornerstone of simplicity. We know the obvious benefit (strength) it offers, but there’s another reason I particularly like pause reps: pausing forces you to lower your weight to a load you can handle, thus ensuring strength AND technique are accomplished in unison. I’m a huge advocate of simplicity in my training. Hence, my love for pause reps. Simple... straightforward... productive... and honest.

It’s easy enough to slap on some shoes and grind through a set of heavy cleans. When you have to mindfully pause at the knees without releasing any of your tension and then initiate pull entirely with pure strength, then there’s not a lot of room for interpretation. You can lift the weight or you can’t. Your technique tricks (speed/momentum) won’t help you.

If you want to get strong, take a second and learn to pause.

Pausing forces you to pay attention to your body positioning and the muscles you're activating to lift the weight. This essentially allows you to focus more on your form. Something that is not as easy at full speed.

One of my favorite ways to use pause rep is during my warm-up while using lighter weights, often just the bar. My reason is that it sets the tone for my entire workout. Instead of thinking about everything else going on in my head (upright back, hips move in unison with knees, lats pulling in the bar), I can focus and zero in on my positioning and mind muscle connection.

Another way I use pause reps is within my prescribed workout. This to me is the simplest way to ensure I build some strength, but also work on technique and positioning. On days that are prescribed around 50-65%, I will use pause reps in the clean, jerk, snatch, squat, deadlift etc. I specifically use pause reps at this time as I am using lower weights (we stated that is a must in the text earlier), as well as, the purpose within a training program to work at weights within these percentages is to focus on technique and positioning. I can accomplish strength gains as well if I incorporate pause reps here.


The pauses can also give you a chance to see if you're performing some common mistakes within your lifts, such as having your knees collapse inward or coming too far forward onto your toes.When you slow down the movement and use the pause to stop momentum, you will occasionally witness the imbalances within your snatch, squat, clean etc. and be able to better structure your workouts to work on the weaknesses.

So do you want gains?

Implement Pause Reps in your training and see your strength and performance sky rocket!

Found this helpful? Want to know how to exactly implement pauses in any of the Olympic lifts? Want to hear about a specific topic? Leave a comment below or send me an email! 

Until next week...

Lift it overhead, slam it to the ground and repeat! Practice leads to progression... progression to Gold!

Do you even hook grip?!?

Now its been a few weeks since I introduced the blog, gave insight into the lifts, and laid out how to go about finding programs to adhere to. Over the next few weeks, I am going to cover more detail on the lifts and how to actually execute specific aspects of each. Today I am going to expand on a very important aspect incorporated in both lifts and that is the hook grip! Almost any athlete that goes to the gym can utilize the info I am going to cover in this article! So let's read on!

The hook grip is when an athlete secures the barbell with a hook like configuration using the thumb and fingers. To utilize the hook grip, you need to grip the barbell and place either one, two or three fingers around your thumb. Most people will prefer two fingers placed over the thumb, with the thumb protruding slightly between the middle finger and ring finger. This grip is great for many lifts (cleans, dead-lift, snatch, rows, etc) as the weight placed on the bar is what secures the grip into place... not the muscles of the wrist and forearms. When you first begin, I promise IT IS GOING TO HURT! The pressure is all on your thumbs... the more weight you are pulling/lifting, the more the pressure and pain rises. So you will want to start lighter than usual and progress from week to week, gradually increasing to maximal weight as you are able to bear the pain. Get into the practice of using it now, and it will just be an extra advantage you will learn here.

 

So why do we really need this? You are already dead-lifting 500lbs right?! Well you are most likely using a mixed grip (one hand over the bar with palm facing toward you, one hand under the bar with palm facing away). That is not a feasible grip when Olympic lifting. The hook grip is important because it helps keep the bar from sliding into the fingertips during the second pull (explosion phase). The thumb helps keep the bar locked in place, thus keeping the bar close to your body during the acceleration that is generated during this phase. It is also important because as you transition from the first pull at shin height to your shoulders or overhead after the third pull/turn over, you arms are not tangled or twisting due to unequal force that could throw off the entire lift. You need a double overhand grip to complete the turn over and get under the bar! So the hook grip solves two problems in one easy set up!

Now when to use and when to go full grip.

The hook grip is typically utilized for lifts below the shoulders. During the clean, the hook grip is most commonly transitioned to a full hand (sometimes just the fingers if flexibility is an issue) when receiving the bar in the front rack. I would never suggest implementing the jerk with a hook grip because, 1. It restricts the movement of the barbell while traveling overhead  2. You are losing power throughout your arms when forcing the bar overhead due to the placement of the hand/fingers. During the snatch, you have the ability keep the hook grip throughout the lift, or you can release the hook grip when completing the turnover just as you are lifting the bar over head. The athlete has to choose which feels more comfortable for themselves. However, don't believe the hype that either way is right or wrong.

Many people attempt to hook grip the barbell but stop shortly after due to feeling as if the hook grip is slipping out. There is a solution to this problem. Tape your thumb like so:

The tape will ensure additional grip for your fingers to hold onto. This is especially helpful if you have smaller hands. Make sure to use tape that is flexible and be sure to only use a minimal amount. You can use athletic tape as I do, or you can go with a more advance and specific tape such as GOAT tape. Also, do not wrap the tape extremely tight as this will cut off circulation and could cause permanent issues to nerves as well as causes excess pain. (not cool bro!)

To get a better idea on how to Hook grip. check out this great Youtube tutorial using a small hand demo. This will help get the idea of the hook grip as well as service anyone who is struggling with the hook grip due to hand size. And if you are someone who struggles with the feeling of slipping barbell or just want to use tape, Check out the video on taping your thumbs for lifts. The only caveat to all the tape is check with the association you potentially could compete with to see rules/regulations on taping. Some federations want to see the thumb tip or knuckle.

Comment below if this helps you in any way! Do you use this for powerlifting, bodybuilding or crossfit? Having an issue I didn't discuss with the Hook grip? Leave me a message and I will reply with any advice I can!

Until next week...
Lift it overhead, slam it to the ground and repeat! Practice leads to progression... progression to Gold!