Ask 10 different strength and conditioning "experts" their opinion on the use of Olympic Movements for power development in athletes, and most likely you would get 10 different answers. In addition, if you were to ask those that believed Olympic Lifts were beneficial, they might disagree on what types of lifts should be used. When dealing with a.) young athletes b.) multiple sport athletes c.) those with little or no training background, I have found that the Hang Clean is an invaluable tool to help develop power.
Below is an article that goes more in depth on the Hang Clean and its benefits.
Developing Power Using the Hang Clean
Olympic lifts are often a lightning
rod for discussion when it comes to how to best develop power. There are those that feel that the return is
not worth the investment required in regards to teaching time and risk of
injury. There are those that feel
anything other than Olympic lifts is a waste of time and nothing compares to
the power development developed from these movements. From my experience in training athletes I
have found that Olympic lifts are a big piece of the puzzle. They are not the puzzle, and gains in power
can be made without them. However, there
is too much data too completely disregard the benefit of Olympic lifts. In addition there is plenty of empirical
evidence that favors the side that believes Olympic lifts can aid in athletic
development.
When
testing Olympic athletes, Olympic lifters will always have some of the highest
vertical jumps of all the athletes. In
addition Olympic throwers always perform Olympic movements in their weight
training. Athletes will benefit from
lifts such as the hang clean due to the triple extensions that occurs when
applying force into the ground. The
speed of the bar is hard to mimic with other movements. The benefit of rate of force development
will aid in acceleration, linear speed (increase in stride length), vertical
jumping abilities and change of direction.
There is also the balance and body control component being developed
when catching the weight during Olympic lifts.
This portion of the lift helps athletes in decelerating and coordinating
upper and lower body movements.
Like any lift, when taught properly
and performed with good technique, there is no dangerous lifts – just dangerous
technique. When first teaching athletes
how to perform Olympic movements we begin with a PVC pipe.
Reps are performed in the 6 and under range so that the
lifter can maintain both bar speed and great technique. **rep ranges for power
development** If one were able to use a
device such as a Tendo unit to measure the speed of the bar on a lift, I can’t
imagine that the 5oth rep would produce anywhere near the power that the 3rd-6th
rep did during that set.
When performing Olympic lifts in your workout it is best to
perform them first in your workouts, due to the amount of power and technical
demands. Exceptions can be made when
doing partial movements such as a hang clean pull or a DB Clean (as seen in the
Tier System Example).
Teaching Progression:
1.
Hang Clean Pull
2.
Hang Clean High Pull
3.
Hang Clean
The Hang Clean Pull
This is just the “Jump & Shrug
portion of the lift”. It gets many of
the benefits of the full Olympic lift and also eliminates some of the
concerns. The main emphasis of the hang
clean pull is the triple extension (extension of the ankle knee and hip) and a
shrug. An Added benefit is once the pull
is complete, the weight can be dropped.
Therefore the negative or eccentric portion of the lift is removed. We often use more pulls than full cleans
during in season training season when the athlete’s priority is to be ready for
game time.
When teaching the hang clean pull
and triple extension we have the athlete visualize trying to get into a ride at
an amusement park. This gives the visual
cue of getting as tall as they can by getting on their toes (fully extending at
the ankle, knee and hip) while having good posture and getting chest and chin
up as well.
Teaching the Set up:
1.
Feet Shoulder width
2.
Should be able to wiggle your toes
3.
Neutral spine position (eyes ahead)
4.
Elbows to the side
5.
Thumbs in sides of thigh for grip width
6.
Wrist slightly curled
7.
Arms loose – hanging like ropes
8.
Slide the bar to right above the knee cap)
9.
Shoulders over the bar
10.
Jump & shrug
Teaching The Pull
1.
Jump – extended forcefully at the ankle knee and
hip (triple extension)
2.
Shrug – forcefully shrug at the completion of
jump
The Hang Clean High Pull
Once you have mastered the Hang
Clean Pull it is time to advance to the Hang Clean High Pull. The movement begins the same as the Hang
Clean Pull, now we add the movement of the arms. Once you have completed triple extension and
a shrug your elbows will travel up and to the side. Imagine there is a sheet of glass directly
behind you. Do not break the glass with
your elbow going back. This helps you
visualize the vertical plane that the bar and your body should travel. A good coaching cue is that the “elbows
don’t bend until the hips extend”. The
bar should travel to chest height.
The Hang Clean:
The hang clean is the quickest and
easiest to learn due to the starting position.
As opposed to pulling the weight from the floor, the lifter now can initiate
a counter movement, by sliding the bar down.
The Rack
At some point gravity is going to begin to take over
(usually about when the bar gets to about chest level). You will get your body under the bar and
Teaching the Rack:
1.
“Pop and Drop” pop the elbow forward and drop
the butt
2.
During the pull and rack – the bar should stay
close to the body, do not swing it way from you
3.
Knees and hips will bend when receiving the bar
4.
Arm should be parallel or very close to it
5.
You need to slightly relax your grip in order to
get your elbows up
6.
The bar is not being supported by the wrist or
fingers, it is instead resting across the collarbone
7.
Another coaching cue we give is “get tall (the
pull) and then get short (get under the bar)”
8.
The feet should not split or widen to get under
the bar. The shortest distance is always
a straight line, by landing with your feet in the same shoulder width position
or within the width of your shoe you will get under the bar quicker and avoid
placing your knee in a compromising position.
Variations of the Hang Clean
1.
DB Clean
2.
Rack Clean – performed in a rack with
pins or safety bars at height where bar is right above knee cap. The athlete is now forced to get his
shoulders over the bar and makes it harder for those the bend at the elbow to
soon. In addition it is more difficult
to the lack of a counter movement. After
each rep the bar is set stationary again on the pins.
3.
3 Stage Clean This is good to emphasize
the pull portion of the clean and create good technique leading up to a full
hang clean. First perform a Hang Clean
Pull, then a Hang Clean High Pull and finish with a real Hang Clean. That series would represent 1 rep.
How do you go about implementing Olympic lifts into your
workouts?
The Hang Clean and its variations
are best performed at the beginning of a workout. An athlete wants to perform these when they
are fresh, due to the power and technical aspects of the lift. We follow the workout order of
Speed-Power-Strength-Conditioning. So if
an athlete were also doing speed work during that workout; that would take
place first. Next the athlete would
perform power developing movements in the weight room with the use of Hang
Cleans. As far as how to implement into
your weekly program or split, they can fit in many different ways. If you have questions on how to do this feel
free to contact me.
An example of a 6 week program (this is after the
technical aspects of the lift have been mastered)
·
Olympic Barbell Warm up (using Barbell only)
prior to beginning work sets
6 reps of each: RDL, Hang Clean Pull, Hang Clean to Front Squat
|
|
Week 1
|
Week 2
|
Week 3
|
Week 4
|
Week 5
|
Week 6
|
|
|
6-6-6-6
|
6-5-5-6
|
5-4-4-5
|
4-3-3-4
|
3-2-2-3
|
2-1-1-2
|
|
Warm Up
|
BB WU only
|
BB WU only
|
6 at 60%
|
5 at 65%
|
4 at 70%
|
4 at 73%
|
|
Set 1
|
63%
|
68%
|
73%
|
78%
|
80%
|
83%
|
|
Set 2
|
65%
|
70%
|
78%
|
80%
|
83%
|
88%
|
|
Set 3
|
68%
|
75%
|
78%
|
85%
|
88%
|
93%
|
|
Set 4
|
63%
|
68%
|
73%
|
78%
|
80%
|
83%
|
*The last set is
lighter, for 2 reasons
1.) To correct any technique flaws that may have
occurred in the heavier sets
To ensure bar speed,
since fatigue and or technique may slow down bar speed
If you are looking for a new
challenge and to increase your power, begin integrating Hang Cleans into your
workouts. The purpose of this article
was the discussion of the technique and benefits of the hang clean, in no way
does this diminish or ignore the benefits of the Power Clean, Snatch, Jerk and
all of the variations of these lifts.
In the video below there are some examples of both pulls from the floor and hang cleans. Yes, as is the case in any real world scenario - there is some bad,good and great technique seen.
http://youtu.be/UQahBMye5pw
There is much more involved in teaching and performing hang cleans than is listed below. Hopefully this will help get you started
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