Topic: HANGS

[Jack Dluzen]

well here goes   (chris)    what  type of hangs work the best . from the high hang, top of the knees , or below the knee  for snatches and  cleans ,  i do them  mainly from the high hangs  (barski) type ,  my speed is really  fantastic from these .  but wich one will  develpe  a more powerful  pull ,wise

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Jack,

I personally am not a fan of hang or block lifts, although I think there is certainly a place for pulls from blocks at higher levels. On the other hand, I am not as strong in the top pull as the first phases so I may have neglected these exercises as an athlete. Who can be sure? But, what turned me off about them is their use with beginners. I do not like using the hang movements, especially, with beginners as I feel it is unnecessary to teach the movements correctly, and simply introduces more variables (controlling the bar and own starting position) which confuses the beginner and slows down the teaching process. But, I think both hang and block lifts are going to do no harm with veteran lifters and may be useful, especially from the blocks rather than hang. Although I have not used them, I see many effective coaches that do and I haven't ruled them out. I hope you get some more answers to your question. It is a good one.

[Paul LaDuke]

I have seen Leo Totten speak twice on teaching progressions.  He teaches both lifts from the top down and will use the hang positions in teaching.  The starting bar position is different for the hang snatch and the hang clean in his progression.  The reason is the back angle is the same because of different hand widths.  The hang snatch starts at about mid-thigh and the hang clean begins just above the knees.

Personally, I think the hangs are great for training more explosive power as you have less distance to generate the same force.  But you must also train the first pull as much if not more than just training from the hang.

[Lincoln Brigham]

I like to have lifters make a high percentage of their lifts and/or use good technique with a high percentage of their lifts, especially beginners. This is why I like lifts from the hang.

What I've seen is that beginners naturally perform lifts from the hang - especially the high hang - with much fewer glaring technical errors than from the floor. Their percentage of 'good' lifts - lifts done with acceptable technique - is much, much better when done from the hang. I feel using a high percentage of lifts from the hang ingrains better motor patterns than doing a high percentage from the floor. I feel that by focusing on lifts from the hang I am reinforcing good technique, while if I were to focus on full lifts from the floor I risk teaching bad habits.  I feel it is more effective to establish a level of mastery and confidence with lifts from the hang before devoting a majority of training sessions to lifts from the floor.

Lifts from the high hang encourage full extension and going down into a full squat, both of which are often a problem with beginners. The high position is also the most critical part of the full lifts, where the most power is developed. (Assuming the lifter gets to the hang in good position to begin with, which is another subject...) With hang position lifts, I also only have to teach half of the full lifts at a time. I'll use either the "isolate-then-integrate" approach for teaching the full lifts  - starting from the top down - or the "whole-part-whole" method.

Thoughts? Disagreements?

[Craig Cheek]

I find it easier for me to teach from the hang first. But maybe that is because I do not have 25 years teaching experience in OL and went through my whole collegiate athletic career without being shown how to properly execute a clean.

Plus Im not consumed with bottom line numbers since I train athletes from all over the sports spectrum. I find the hang position (knee) to be the more athletic position and work to produce power from the athletic position. We still do lifts from the floor but the majority of our time is spent in the hang.