Topic: Speeding up the thigh brush

[rjohnston435]

So my clean is stalled-out at 75kg and I know I am good for more. I have pulled 120kg off the floor with a hook-grip and chalk, flat-backed so therefore my weakness is the second part, brushing the thighs.

If the Russian theory is true, I should be good for more off the low blocks than from the floor. However, I am not as I just barely managed to get my best off the blocks.

What should I do to remedy this? More work off the low blocks or the low hang?

[ViKtoricus]

So my clean is stalled-out at 75kg and I know I am good for more. I have pulled 120kg off the floor with a hook-grip and chalk, flat-backed so therefore my weakness is the second part, brushing the thighs.

If the Russian theory is true, I should be good for more off the low blocks than from the floor. However, I am not as I just barely managed to get my best off the blocks.

What should I do to remedy this? More work off the low blocks or the low hang?

Not to go against the Russians, but I believe hang snatches from the very top-end position would work better as it will reinforce the exact time when you should be the most explosive.

When doing cleans or snatches, the thigh brush must be snappy. But if you notice that it actually slows you down at the top-end portion of the lift, then you have to be more patient and let the barbell be in a higher position before you explode.



To teach yourself how and when to explode, do hang snatches with a vertical torso and slightly bent knees. To teach yourself how to have a snappy thigh-brush, do Romanian deadlifts from the floor (it's basically a first-pull followed by a powerful hip-thrust once the barbell reaches below-knee level. And don't lockout the knees).



Technically efficient weightlifters generally don't need to pay attention to such details as they naturally explode at the top-end position of the pulls WITHOUT having to pay attention to it. But a learning newbie will need to enforce himself/herself these habits to learn the right motor-skills.

COMPRENDE??

[rjohnston435]

Yes, I understand.

I think part of it is just smoothing out the different segments of the clean into one motion. I am doing hang cleans from the thigh, knee and from as far down the shin as I can with a stick every day. I am working on smoothing it out, no hesitating and it seems to feel right.

[ViKtoricus]

I am working on smoothing it out, no hesitating and it seems to feel right.

This worked well for me!

[rjohnston435]

Yeah, it would seem we are in the same position of being mostly self-coached. It's harder that way, painfully slow at times, but I still really enjoy it. I know I may not set any world records but I do not care. Maybe some Master's records or Canadian records some day. Akos Sandor's 105kg records are 170kg/207.5kg/377.5kg iirc, so who knows. I could even get coached by him or his father at the U of Toronto (Mississauga).

[Matt Erdman]

High blocks and hang above knee will work on power production.

Low blocks and hang below knee will work on the transition. It depends on what the real problem is.

[rjohnston435]

Matt, I think the problem is more the transition. I have been told my second pull is pretty solid, it's just the thigh brush.