Topic: Technique Questions

[Rob Macklem]

You do the pull well. You start the pull with your legs, you're over the bar. Back angle off the floor remains the same...maybe a bit more arch in the back but tons of lifters pull with a similar back. You keep your feet flat, very reasonable transition to the power position (bar close to body)and from there it starts to disintegrate. You get a nice long extended position into a shrug...thats the problem...you should shrug to pull under not to get extra height...you are just plain slow in getting under the bar because of this.

I spent a few mins. capturing various frames of your lifting.

You need to learn to explode your BODY under the bar....you got the UP part of the clean.... but not the DOWN.

You look like you could become a decent lifter. Look for someone to coach you.
Can you think of any exercises to help you?

I am not a coach.
 

[Mike Kim]

This is a typical miss technique on my part:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVzsp8pG1ms

Almost every miss I do is exactly like above - I rarely bail out of any lift. I realize other tech errors like slow scoop, arm break early, etc. but it's usually better than above.

You can see the lack of tightness once the weight gets heavier in this video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QhFWXa7wig

I also realize I'm slow under the bar, but I'm not exactly sure how to get faster here.

How do I stop missing like above? Is it lack of back arch? Incorrect breathing? Any ideas?

[Dave Almeida]

Bar swing from extending your knees to far causes you to leave the bar out front and you collapse. Keep your legs in the lift. If you pause it at one point you are in an SLDL position, that means your knees extended back too far. The purpose of the knees going back is simply to get them out of the way in the bar in the first pull. As soon as the bar passes the knees they return under the bar with the majority of the weight on them.

Also, to be faster under--the purpose of the shrug is to pull you under the bar.

there is also a little bar crash on the heavier clean that crushed you

[Carl Darby]

On your missed clean, notice how little your hips move in towards the bar and how far back your shoulders move, once the bar passes your knees. Then compare the same on the two snatches at the end of the last clip, or take a look at LaDuke's 80kg snatch video and see how far his hips shoot forward.

[Mike Kim]

I'm not losing the bar because of forward position. The bar trajectory is actually back behind starting position. I'm not losing the bar because of the crash (which is minimal). The bar is lost because of 1) lack of tightness; 2) lack of arch; 3) feet positioning. 4) weak rack (minor); Excess flexibility might also be an issue, but it shouldn't be a problem given tightness. I can pause (hams to cavs) FS around 130 without an issue but 90 can cause problems in tightness. This is just an absurd problem that no one really has. If I could fix this problem cleaning 120ish wouldn't be much of an issue.

The hips aren't supposed to move forward alot in any lift. They should be going more up than forward. Forward movement can displace the bar and is inefficient.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

3) feet positioning.

I thought this was a lot of the problem. The feet actually jump closer together for the catch...which is not really ideal and could be in large part causing your problem. Make sure you are squatting with an appropriate stance that allows the hips to fit inside the ankles in the bottom position and try to use that stance when you catch cleans.

Good luck

[Dave Almeida]

I'm not losing the bar because of forward position. The bar trajectory is actually back behind starting position. I'm not losing the bar because of the crash (which is minimal). The bar is lost because of 1) lack of tightness; 2) lack of arch; 3) feet positioning. 4) weak rack (minor); Excess flexibility might also be an issue, but it shouldn't be a problem given tightness. I can pause (hams to cavs) FS around 130 without an issue but 90 can cause problems in tightness. This is just an absurd problem that no one really has. If I could fix this problem cleaning 120ish wouldn't be much of an issue.

The hips aren't supposed to move forward alot in any lift. They should be going more up than forward. Forward movement can displace the bar and is inefficient.

Mike, I had just typed up a whole response to that but i deleted it, and not by accident.

why did you ask for help if you already have all the answers in the first place? If you think your pull technique optimal and the bar trajectory is correct then good luck to you. you won't successfully catch a near max clean with that technique ever. that may sound harsh, but i had the pull and trajectory problem when i first started and i fixed it. you should probably listen.

[Mike Kim]

i don't think you have any idea what you're talking about.