Clean & Jerk and Back Squat: Criticize me!

[Tom Brown III]

Hello,

Learning progression: Clean & Jerk and Back Squat. Putting it out there for a little advice. The Clean& Jerk from 2 POV’s (sorry about the rack obstruction in the foreground of the first set- aint no Metro Goldwyn Mayer). Bar closer to body? What’s with the funky asymmetrical (weak) jump viewable in the front POV?

I tried the back squat with and without shoe’s; it feels better/more stable without them. Also, I’ve been getting a little knee pain. It was less noticeable without the shoes (time to troll the equipment forum for advice proper training shoes).

Thanks for any advice or comments. I’m having a blast with my sand-filled-PVC training pipe along with the “Olympic Weightlifting for Sports” and “Olympic Weightlifting: A DVD Guide to Learning & Teaching the Olympic Lifts”.

Great references for anyone learning the lifts. The book has excellent focus points for each skill drill that keep you tuned in on body position, etc. The DVD breaks things down into digestible-incremental drills that ultimately progress to the full lift. If you follow along with your PVC pipe it really enhances your learning curve.

Cheers!

[Blair Lowe]

You are another bent arm puller who bends their arms pulling the bar to your thighs instead of moving your torso. I see it a lot at my gym. But I'm not a coach so I usually just watch it and occasionally might tip someone when it gets to me. At the last gym, I did more of it because I was asked to help out more (which is like asking someone with piss poor sight to lead the blind).

Go back to the 2nd pull and don't bend your arms. I used to tell the kids who bent their legs to stop or I'd put a metal stick/spike behind their knees with tape so if they bent them it would stab into their skin. I really think this would be good to tell to some adults but many might object to it. In china or japan they would just use a stick.

Seriously, forget about the 2nd pull for now and focus on the 2nd pull with straight arms. If you start bending your arms, go slower. Work the scarecrow cleans where you start at the top position of a High Pull and get right into the bottom of the clean catch/front squat.

Back foot should be on the ball of the foot with heel up. I have this problem still from my 10 years of straight back leg lunges in gymnastics. I can't remember if it was straight before gymnastics 12 years ago.

[Tom Brown III]

Hi Blair,

For clarification: Did you mean “forget about the 1st pull (paragraph 3) for now and focus on the 2nd pull with straight arms.”? Also, your comment, “back foot should be on ball of the foot” is relative to the split jerk position, right?

Thanks for taking the time to have a look at the video, I really appreciate it. Between your comments and Greg’s advice on my Hang Power Snatch I have a lot to work on.

I’ll check back in a couple of weeks.

Thanks!