Ik vind the Physique Clinic heel erg cool, en een van de aspirant fitness-atletes blijkt een OL voorliefde te hebben. Christian Thibaudeau geeft een recap van hoe-het-moet:
Perfect practice makes perfect - practice makes permanent I said it before I'll say it again, the simpler variations of the Olympic lifts (power clean from blocks/from hang and power snatch from blocks/from hang) can be learned very easily and safely. An athlete, or somebody training for himself, should thus stay with these easier lifts, they are just as effective as the full Olympic lifts as far as strength and power development is concerned.
However, even if the lifts are easy to learn, the slightest mistake can really slow down your progress and the gains you'll get from the lifts. Furthermore, since the Olympic lifts are skill movements (more complex structure than regular lifts, more timing involved), practicing a mistake will create a bad habit that is hard to correct.
To become efficient at the Olympic lifts you must practice a lot. Not only that, you must do a lot of perfect reps. Motor learning science suggests that a movement of the complexity of a power clean needs around 500 perfect reps to be automatized; each bad rep increasing that number slightly. That's why knowing what the most common mistakes and how to correct them will go miles toward making a better athlete or more powerful human being.
First type of errors: The starting position A house can only be as solid as its foundation! A lot of people focus so much on learning the explosion part of the power clean that they forget to learn the proper starting position. It is impossible to perform a technically efficient rep from a bad starting position. Before correcting anything else you must make sure that, at the start, the athlete is perfectly placed. Note that I'm talking about the power clean from the hang and from blocks as they are the variations I recommend you use in your training.
1. Rounded lower back in the starting position
This is a very common mistake. And I find it to be even more widespread among young athletes. There's something about the chillin' attitude that makes it hard to get a proper position at the start of the clean.
The tailbone is turned inwards and the lower back has lost its arch (in fact, it's even reverse-arched). This will absolutely kill your efforts to be explosive with the legs. It will place a huge toll on your lower back and it will encourage arm pull. It is capital that an athlete learns that the proper position is with the lower back arched and the hips back. For some people it's hard to get into that position simply because they have a relaxed attitude and never arch their backs. If your athlete cannot take the position by himself, don't hesitate to place the hips in the proper position for him. Illustrated below is a good starting position.
2. Insufficient knee flexion in the starting position
This is also quite common. The legs are almost straight in the starting position and the hips are too high. This prevents any form of explosive lower body action and shifts all the workload to the lower back. As athletes, we want to use the Olympic lifts to develop more powerful legs. Taking them out of the action is thus not very productive.
The knees should be flexed enough so that the legs can do most of the work. In most people that means an angle of 100-120 degrees. Excessive leg bend is not better because it changes the lever arm and makes the lift more difficult. The ideal position has the lifter with bent knees and the shoulders just above the bar (if you bend the knees too much, the bar will be in front of the shoulders). This position places you in the most advantageous pulling position possible.
3. Looking down/rounding upper back in the starting position
This mistake is frequent especially with rank beginners who lack confidence. When they are not sure about what they have to do they will invariably look down and bundle on themselves. This is a horrendous pulling position! It is impossible to develop a lot of force this way and it's dangerous for the back.
The athlete must look slightly above his eyes level and keep the upper back tight. I always tell my athletes to take a "beach position." The chest is out, shoulder blades pulled back and back tight. Obviously you must make the technical corrections, but also consider that if the athlete doesn't understand the movement he will have a tendency to adopt this starting position. So it's your duty to make sure the he understands the task at hand.
4. Bent arms in the starting position
This is a big no-no. Nothing will cut your power short more than having the arms bent in the starting position. However, understand that it is a natural reaction when an athlete first learns the movement and the load seems excessive to him. Bending the arms is a protective reaction. In the starting position think of your arms as ropes, they are only there to attach the bar to your body.
It is important that you teach your athlete that having the arms bent in the starting position makes it hard to utilize your legs maximally. You will have the tendency to pull with the arms and that is no good. Teach your athlete to let his arms hang down. The explosion comes from the hips and legs, not the arms.
Second type of errors: Execution Once the proper starting position is mastered, execution should be facilitated. Nonetheless certain problems may arise. Quite often these are hard to correct if spotted late. Unfortunately, the execution of the movement is fast, so it's harder to detect any mistakes. That's why it's important to keep a keen eye while in the gym!
1. Weak/slow full extension
This error has two representations:
a) the athlete doesn't fully extend on the pull
b) the extension is slow
At the end of the pull you should be able to see a full knee extension, ankle extension and some back extension. Teach your athlete to think "calves and traps." At the end of the pull he must focus on contracting the traps and calves.
If extension is complete (full knee and ankle extension, some back extension), but too slow the problem is either that the load is too high or that the athlete lacks explosive strength. The solution is quite easy for the first case. For the second it's a bit more complex and it requires time to correct. Inclusion of jump squats with 10-15% of the squat max will help increase explosion and will lead to a faster pull. But most of all you must emphasize acceleration! A lot of athletes pull slowly because they have never been taught to explode. Do not let your athlete do a low acceleration pull.
If the extension is incomplete (either knees or ankles do not fully extend) the problem is often a lack of limit strength in the lower body or an unconscious shut down because the athlete feels that the load is too heavy. But much like the previous problem, a shortened pull can simply be a learned habit; in that case simply emphasize reaching a full extension. A simple key I use is to have the athlete focus on "calves and traps." Feel the calves and traps contracting fully at the end of the pull. Most of the time this will solve the problem.
2. Bar is lifted forward
This mistake can be easily detected. The athlete will either jump forward to catch the bar or he will catch it with the shoulders in front of the knees. This problem is very often associated with an incomplete extension on the pull or is due to the weight being too far forward (on the toes) during the early portion of the movement.
Depending on the source of the problem you want to either work on completing the pull (calves and traps) or have the lifter focus on keeping his weight evenly distributed over the whole of each foot.
3. Bar is lifted backward
This is also easy to spot. The athlete will either jump backward or will catch the bar with the shoulders behind the hips. This is like the hook in golf, it's the problem of good pullers. In fact, in the execution of the full Olympic lifts jumping backwards is actually used by Bulgarian lifters (who use more back pull than most other lifters). But for athletic development it is not adequate. This type of execution shifts much of the workload onto the lower back and away from the legs.
9 out of 10 cases of backward pulling are caused by excessive lower back extension. To solve the problem have the lifter focus on getting tall during the pull; he must try to stretch his body upwards as much as possible.
4. Early arm pull
This is also quite common, especially as the load gets high. When the weight feels heavy in your hands you will have the tendency to pull with the arms first. This is a mistake! It greatly reduces acceleration potential and can lead to elbow injuries.
The arms should bend at the elbow when the body reaches full extension. If you notice a flexion before that, you must correct it!
In most cases, this problem has to be solved by relearning the movement focusing on keeping the arms straight. This means using lighter weights and really emphasizing lower body explosion. Once the lifter is solid and consistent you can gradually increase the load.
5. Wrist too far in front of the body
The closer the bar is to your body, the easier the lift will be. One of the most common mistakes in the power clean is to use a reverse curl action with the arms. This can really limit your potential on the clean. The arm action during a clean is more similar to an upright row than to a reverse curl. The bar is kept close to the body at all times and the shoulders, elbows, and wrists should be in line during the pull.
An athlete's perspective
Nicolas Roy is a 60m sprinter and future strength and conditioning expert. Since he is new to the lifts I decided to let him tell you about his experience learning the power clean from the hang. If you are yourself learning the lifts these tips will undoubtedly provide you with a lot of ways to make the learning experience faster and more efficient.
Learning trick no. 1 First of all, when I began to learn how to do Olympic lifts I had to deal with a dilemma. I was wondering if I had to jump with the bar or if I only had to do a plantar flexion. Some people were telling me not to jump with the bar and some others were telling me to jump with it. After discussing this with Christian Thibaudeau, I realized that it depends on your needs. If you are practicing the Olympic lifts to develop your power output for sports then you shouldn't hesitate to jump. If you are learning the Olympic lifts to have the perfect technique for weightlifting then you shouldn't jump. In my case, I was learning the lifts to improve my power output for sports so I learned to jump.
Learning trick no. 2 Another detail that would help me to increase my power was to begin my lifts from the hang. Why is it more effective then a complete Olympic lift for power development? Because if your starting position is over your knee the bar has to travel a shorter distance before reaching its final position, giving you less time to impart speed on it. So, you have to accelerate the bar much faster.
Learning trick no. 3 When I began to do Olympic lifting I wasn't using the power of my legs enough. In fact, it was almost only my back that was lifting the bar, so I wasn't efficient at all. With some feedback I learned to flex my knees, and immediately after to powerfully extend them; explode! When you begin the lift, you have to use the elastic energy accumulated from the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) like when you do plyometrics. Be careful not to wait between the flexion and the extension of the knee or else you're going to lose your elastic energy and the bar won't go up as well. When the bar reaches the knees explode immediately!
Learning trick no. 4 Keep your arms straight until you go under the bar so you won't lose the energy generated by your legs. If you flex your elbows, the energy will be absorbed
by the deformation of the segment forearm-arm (Chris' note: very good point and wellexplained).
Learning trick no. 5 Don't hesitate to extend the trunk. This motion will help you to finish your lift with your weight on your heels. This way, the bar won't have a tendency to fall forward because it will be over your center of gravity. Cutting my pull short is a mistake that I still sometimes do especially when I'm tired. Example: on the fifth rep when my CNS has difficulty recruiting motor units.
Learning trick no. 6 Keep the bar near your body to improve your mechanical efficiency. To illustrate this principle try to hold a 10lbs plate with your arm fully extended in front of you, then bring the plate close to your body. You will immediately see that the closer a load is to your center of gravity, the less effort the muscles must generate. If the bar is far from your body, your muscles have to generate a force greater than the resistance just to equilibrate the lever (and you still have not begun to lift the resistance yet). So, to help your muscles lift the bar, keep the bar as close as you can to your body.
Learning trick no. 7 Finally, when you receive the bar, raise your elbows really high in the rack position so that you won't have to fight against the bar to keep it elevated. Gravity will make the job of keeping the bar on your shoulders harder if it is not properly racked.
Conclusion With this section you should be able to learn and teach the hang clean properly and to correct the basic technical mistakes that impair performance. With Nick's tricks you also have a lot of important pointers to help you or your athletes improve faster.
Remember that even if this section gives you the proper tools to learn and correct technique, you still have to put in your time actively learning the power clean from the hang. Perfect practice makes perfect!