THE WORLD'S MOST ATHLETIC EXERCISE 11/20/07
It works every muscle in your body in less than 10 seconds. It improves your speed and coordination. It's like a secret weapon for every athlete on any level.
It's the power clean, a very technical exercise that is well worth learning.
The power clean mimics the same movements used in many sports," says Jay Omer, head strength and conditioning coach for Brigham Young University, formerly of Georgia Tech. But Coach Omer warns that it's essential to get someone to check your technique so you know you are doing it with proper form.
"There's no sense in doing the lift if you don't do it properly," he says.
Before doing power cleans, do a light plyometric warm up with jumps and medicine balls. Then, start with the correct stance: feet flat on the floor, heels hip-width apart. The bar should be lightly touching the shins.
"We use the hook grip, with the thumb around the bar and under the first two fingers," Omer says.
In the beginning position, the arms should be straight with the elbows pointing out. Legs are in a squat, with hips slightly higher than the knees. The back should be flat, but slightly arched, not curved, shoulders slightly in front of the bar. Pull the shoulder blades together. The hard part is pulling the lats inward while keeping the traps (top of shoulder) relaxed.
Coach Omer advises, "The head should be looking straight forward, not up. Your body weight should be from the mid part of your foot, no weight on the toes, or you'll force everything too far forward."
Now for the beginning, the first 'pull.' The knees are moved back as you pull the bar off the floor. Don't straighten the knees, you just want to move them back, out of the way of the bar. The bar should move straight up, not around the knees. As the bar reaches hip level, the hips should move forward and slightly up, as they would in a jump. This accelerates the bar upward. At the same time, the knees flex to come back under the bar again.
Then comes the second 'pull.' Quickly shift your weight to the balls of you feet, and push off the floor. It's a jumping motion without the jump, and it moves the bar upward even faster. As the bar reaches chest level, do a shoulder shrug; the movement of the upper body accelerates the bar.
Until now, your arms have been straight. The bar should be moving upward with such force, it should be almost weightless. At this point, flex the arms and pull the bar up in a very fast upright row move.
Last is the 'catch' phase. Move your body to get under the upward accelerating bar, flex deeply and rack it on your shoulders in a front squat position. Then stand up.
Omer says it's extremely important to keep the back straight and don't resort to the old 'roll it up the belly' technique. "That usually happens when someone is lifting too heavy; they bend backwards instead of using lifting technique to move the bar upward," he says. Bending backward to finish the lift can be dangerous, all the weight centers on the lower back.
The array of complex movements in a power clean are done in less than six seconds! You can see why it's such a valuable exercise, and used by nearly all professional athletes.
Coach Omer suggests keeping two technique tips in mind whenever doing the power clean, "The bar always stays close to the body, and the arms are not used for any of the real lifting."