MVP's Road to the Top

[MikeM]

Originally Posted by MVP

Now I see why everyone says Olympic lifts are hard to teach. I just don't feel like I'm doing this explosively enough.
My buddy has a problem to whereas he's trying to pull the weight from his knees using the muscles in his arms and shoulders. I'm no coach at them, but I told him I believe the momentum from the jump is supposed to cause the bar to go upward completely vertical. Am I correct?
!

I'm not the best at cleans, but I have been in exactly this place recently when learning how to do them. So maybe what I say might help you. Yes, you are right to not use your arms, they are just hooks, but the momentum does not come from just the jump, in fact, I tried just jumping to exert momentum for quite a while, but was going nowhere.

Turns out you need more hip thrust than "jump" and you need that big shrug of the shoulders during the jump to keep the bar in close and keep the momentum on the bar from the hips moving directly upward and in close to your body.

I'm probably desribing that badly, but watch some really strong guy doing a clean, some of them barely raise up on their toes, much less jump, but clean double body weight. It's that snap at full extension along with a hard shoulder shrug that does the trick, then the only things your arms need to do is whip those elbows forward and up to rack it nicely.

Hang cleans help with that hip explosion. Also, turn your elbows in, flex and lock your triceps, and hook grip the bar to get rid of any chance at arm pulling the weight, then shrug as hard as you can and feel the bar come up your torso, then bend your knees and whip your elbows under and catch it.

Now doing it from the floor is a lot harder, at least for me. You figure that out and tell me how you did it! I need some help with that first pull, so I'm not so out of shape with my second (hip/shrug) pull.

Just my .02

[big_swede]

Now I see why everyone says Olympic lifts are hard to teach. I just don't feel like I'm doing this explosively enough.

My buddy has a problem to whereas he's trying to pull the weight from his knees using the muscles in his arms and shoulders. I'm no coach at them, but I told him I believe the momentum from the jump is supposed to cause the bar to go upward completely vertical. Am I correct?

[MVP]

Mike, your in depth explanation of the Olympic lifts was extremely helpful. I prefer explanations like yours; you used both common sense and physiology.

This may be a complete novice question and forgive me if I sound silly, but I'm new to the Olympic lifts. What exactly is the "first pull" and the "second pull" and what differentiates the two? What would be reasons for failure at the first pull vs. the second pull?

[MVP]

Bump. ^

[BendtheBar]

Might want to throw that in a thread. Mike's off to a powerlifting meet this weekend and might miss it.

[MVP]

I did. I posted it in the Olympic lifting thread. Pull14 had a good response.

[MVP]

Saturday, March 31, 2012 - RE Upper body

OH Press
115lbs x 3 x 5

Pull downs
105lbs x 3 x 10

Bench Press
135lbs x 18, 30 secs.
135lbs x 12, 30 secs.
135lbs x 12, 30 secs.
Total= 42 reps

Bent Over Rows
115lbs x 3 x 10

CGBP
135lbs x 3 x 10

I learned in the bro bodybuilder thread I am doing cgbp wrong. I was doing them with my hands touching in the middle of the bar. I've never really done them consistently though so forgive my broscience.

[BendtheBar]

I learned in the bro bodybuilder thread I am doing cgbp wrong. I was doing them with my hands touching in the middle of the bar. I've never really done them consistently though so forgive my broscience.

Most people do them that way. It's and on the wrists and limits the weight you can use. I did them that way until 2008. I was a product of bodybuilding magazines who always taught the lift that way.

Anyway, keep smashing it MVP. We all want to see you succeed.

[MVP]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Most people do them that way. It's and on the wrists and limits the weight you can use. I did them that way until 2008. I was a product of bodybuilding magazines who always taught the lift that way.

I'm kind of embarrassed to say I've never really done them before. I don't think I've ever consistently worked my triceps other than dips and that was only during a phase of my lifting because I enjoyed the chest pump.

I noticed it was extremely hard on the wrist and that limited the weight I could use. I go kind of close grip with my flat bench presses; slightly over shoulder width apart. I guess that's why I was confused to where I should grip the barbell during close grip benches.

How much development did you see in your bench press when you started incorporating close grip benching regularly and properly?

Anyway, keep smashing it MVP. We all want to see you succeed.

Thanks, bud! I hope all of us reach our 2013 goals abbreviated in the 2013 thread.

[BendtheBar]

I'm kind of embarrassed to say I've never really done them before.

Don't be. I didn't use them for 20 years.