Snatch and clean disconnect

[Dave Paton]

I Competed in my 3rd weightlifting meet--bodyweight 81.75 kg-- on Saturday and snatched 80Kg (PR) and C&J 90Kg. The jerk is not problem i can jerk 105. There is obviously a disconnect between the weight I can snatch and weight I can clean. I get buried with the clean and just can't stand up. Everyone tells me "chain yourself to the squat rack". The thing is, I do chain myself to it. I did Hatch's program and Burgener's program over the summer and did make some small gains, but nothing very significant. It's getting very frustrating. Any ideas?

FS best=98
BS best=115

[Gavin Harrison]

Try doing your back and front squats starting at the bottom position, in a power rack, and/or get better at "catching the whip" after receiving the clean.

I don't know much about weightlifting, but it seems like if you're catching a bar at the bottom, you need to be good at lifting it from the bottom without the stretch/loading from the descent.

[jake oleander]

How long have you been squatting? Have you been weightlifting longer than you've been squatting? The 'chain yourself to a squat rack method' doesn't work right away, but after about a year of heavy squats you will see dramatic increases. I'm not sure you will see much gains with the volume of squats typically ascribed to weightlifting cycles (i.e a few to several sets of near max doubles every other workout or so) you need to be squatting heavy with high volume 2-3 times a week AND allowing for recovery. This can be difficult to do while maintaining technique on your o-lifts, so hopefully someone with more weightlifting experience will chime in. Good luck.

[Brian DeGennaro]

Do you have a video of your heavier cleans?

Cleaning 90kg and only FS'ing 98kg is a damn good ratio. You aren't going to clean 100kg until you start to FS over 100kg...fyi.

[Matt Edwards]

I have the same problem Dave. My best clean is 100kg, but my best front squat is only 105kg. Just like Brian said, gotta increase your squats. I've been working hard at increasing my squats and just working on maintaining with the o-lifts for now. Hopefully I'll start seeing the improvement and hopefully you'll be able to progress as well.

[Dave Paton]

Thanks for the tips guys. I guess going heavy and often is a good cure. My frustration stemmed from not improving on the C&J from my previous meet after completing 2 hard squat cycles.

[Brian DeGennaro]

Get your squats up, all will follow.

[jake oleander]

Originally Posted by Dave Paton

Thanks for the tips guys. I guess going heavy and often is a good cure. My frustration stemmed from not improving on the C&J from my previous meet after completing 2 hard squat cycles.

How much weight have you gained doing those 2 cycles?

[Aaron Austin]

That's what I'm thinking, eat more and at least fill out the 85kg class

[jake oleander]

squat cycles are for gaining muscle and strength. if you do a squat cycle and don't eat properly it's almost a waste of time.