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!
