All sports need power and to develop power you need strength. More power means you can achieve higher speeds faster. In CrossFit we perform some of the basic Olympic lifts to develop power. Doing these lifts teach you to explode under the bar and build strength. Cleans are an Olympic lift that we use often and for today I am going to talk about the Power Clean specifically.
Let’s go over some of the basic concepts of a Power Clean and break it down for you!!!
What’s a Power Clean?
*The Clean starts in a position similar as for the dead lift with your feet under your hips and arms at least thumbs distance away from your hips. Clean the bar off the floor by pulling it with a violent shrug as you catch the bar in a partial squat on your shoulders in the front rack position.
The Power Clean Movement.
*The Power Clean consists of 2 pulls. You’ll spend most time working on the technique of the 2nd pull which is trickiest to learn.
1st Pull. Pull the barbell from the floor to your knees. The 1st pull is similar to a dead lift. It is slow to the top of the knee as you move towards the “down” position.
2nd Pull. Pull the barbell from your mid-thighs to your shoulders by extending your hips as you pull yourself under the bar catching it at the shoulders. The 2nd pull is an explosive movement that requires speed and force from the hips.
Power Clean Setup. The setup is always the same, whether you’re doing Romanian Deadlifts, Hang Power Cleans or Power Cleans.
There are also a few key components to remember when doing any movement from the ground position.
Chest Up, Shoulder-blades Back & Down. This prevents your back to round as you start to lift the bar. Make a big chest, lift it up and keep your shoulder-blades back & down by squeezing them together like you have a pencil between your shoulder blades.
Use a Hook grip on the bar to aid in more grip when doing faster power cleans. You will wrap your thumb under the pointer and middle fingers when gripping the bar. This acts like a wrist grip on the bar that you see people use in the gym when lifting heavy dead lifts.
You can also initiate the movement from three different positions: the ground, hang or high hang position. When starting from the ground or mid shin the movement starts from the floor. The hang position is at the top of the knee to start the 2 nd pull. High hang is working on speed under the bar by using the down and finish to initiate the movement to start. Being fluid in all three positions will dramatically help the speed and power of your clean over time.
Why should you add these into your workout ? The advantages of this lift include the following:
- Muscle Development. Power cleans are technically considered a shoulder exercise, but they do more than build up your deltoids. They hit your posterior chain hard, giving you well-developed muscles in the legs including the calves, glutes, and hamstrings. The power clean technique also targets the muscles in the lower and upper back and traps.
- Builds explosive power and strength.
- Power cleans are tremendously effective in burning calories and body fat, which helps you achieve a lean physique including impressive muscle definition and size.
- The initial phase of the power clean, which mimics the first half of the dead lift requires intense muscle contractions. This trains your explosiveness from the ground, which helps in any fast paced sport with running or jumping, such as football, soccer or basketball. The second part of the power clean motion is extremely useful for athletes who need to move quickly on their feet.
- Grip Strength. Since the exercise requires you to hold onto heavy weights at high velocities, you can greatly improve your grip strength.
- This Olympic-style exercise requires the coordination of every muscle group in the body. In time, the exercise adds muscle density and functional strength over your entire body.
Learning the proper form and technique is very important when doing Olympic style lifting so be sure to have a coach or trainer helping you to develop the technique and form you need to succeed !
Resources