Steve Pan came up with the phrase "Gregception", so he gets the credit for that. This came about because Greg wrote an article titled "Improving the Clean through a Better Turnover”. I was especially interested in this article because my clean turnover ranges from really good to crazy bad. My clean grip is fairly wide. I like it there because I have a short torso and I want to get it as close to my hips as possible. It's anyone's guess really as to where my grip ends up when I receive the clean. It has become more consistent lately, but it’s something that I am always conscious of and always working on.

I read the article and as usual it was very clear and concise. This is not a short article. Greg goes into every detail of every movement of the clean turnover. While you’re reading it, you can visualize every little thing he mentions. If you’ve ever done a nice clean, you know exactly what he’s talking about. You know what it feels like to rack the bar perfectly onto your shoulders, just as you would for a front squat. And when you do it, you know it, because it feels like butter. It’s smooth and easy.

I read the article again on a Saturday morning before going to train. I finished with snatching and moved on to clean and jerks. I was thinking about what Greg wrote. I was warming up and I was feeling pretty good. I put some weight on the bar and was cleaning, and Greg looked at me with his face that says “that looks pretty good” and I looked back at him because I was thinking that it felt pretty damn good. My turnover was awesome. I said to him “I read your article on improving the clean through a better turnover, and I think that’s why my clean is looking so good today. It’s magic!” Steve heard me say this and he yelled “GREGCEPTION”, and everyone cracked up laughing.

All joking aside, it really is Gregception. Hopefully you’ve seen the film Inception, otherwise this is not so funny to you. My point is that an idea can influence your lifts. Especially if that idea is very clearly explained; and done so by someone who can write very well and understands absolutely what he is talking about. This can also work by watching video of good lifters. I even avoid watching new lifters because I can get a bad idea in my mind as well. Greg shared a couple videos of some guys from Ecuador a couple months back. There is a 69kg guy in the video whose snatch changed my life. His lifts aren’t perfect, but I paid attention to the good parts, and it helped me a lot. His jerk is also really great and it solidified for me the idea of straight down and straight up during the jerk. For me, reading articles on the lifts and then watching video of good examples that correlate with the article works best. I need to understand the concept before I can see it, and then once both of those are in place, I can more easily incorporate it into my lifts.

The point of this article is to explain that there are more tools in your toolbox to improving your snatch and your clean and jerk than just doing the lifts themselves. Reading great articles on the lifts and watching videos of great lifters can make a big difference. Read the articles more than once and watch the videos repeatedly, you’ll get something different out of it each time. Go get Gregcepted today.