CrossFit Oakland

Oooh this is great. I'm really looking forward to working on a lot of the stuff you listed, since I'm so painful underdeveloped in this area.

Very cool.

Looking forward to working on these at the new place. I used to be able to do the pull to inverted twenty years ago - everything else is going to be new.

I'm confused about your comment about "don't learn to power clean before learning squat cleans" - most of the Oly progressions I've seen put the power clean before the squat clean. Like here:
(Power Clean @ #10 and Squat Clean @ #12)
http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=06-059-training

I think you should offer an Oly lifting class at 7p on Mondays ...

Carlo,

The problem with learning the power versions of the clean and snatch first is that you undermine any efforts at getting under the bar--fast!

It's far better to work the clean from the top down and de-emphasize the pull from the floor, which is far less important than the act of pulling yourself under the bar.

Rather than just take my word for it, though, let me give you Gary Valentine's take on it. Gary is the 2003 World Masters Champion, able to clean and jerk 347 pounds and snatch 264 pounds at age 47.

[begin article]

Learning the Squat Clean by Gary Valentine

1. First, and most importantly, practice front squatting. I mean perfect form, elbows up, heels down, butt to heels, pause at bottom front squats.

THIS IS THE POSITION YOU WANT TO JUMP TO QUICKLY, SO YOU MUST MAKE IT VERY STRONG, AUTOMATIC, AND CONFIDENT.

Forget the weights you've done in the past in this movement, unless they’ve been done exactly as above. Film yourself, be critical. The better form you build at this stage, the more you will lift over the years, and the less chance of injury you will have.

Many think a squat clean is a high pull with arms then sag under when the weights get heavy. Wrong. Too slow. Body speed is what it's all about. And the courage to get off the ground and fly under huge weights and stand. This is where the real big weights come. Full body synchrony and highest power outputs.

2. Then, with empty bar, Clean from Full extension.

Stand with bar in clean grip, arms straight, shoulders shrugged, bar touching upper thigh, standing up on balls of feet. Stop here. THIS IS THE START POSITION for this drill. You must understand and believe that the bar is higher off the ground at this point than it is in the bottom position of your front squat.

Your task is to drop down as fast as possible from this full extension to the front squat, just lifting feet into squat position, whipping elbows under, almost racing the bar down, don't pull it up. Just race it down whipping elbows under.

Do not curl it - very difficult from this position anyway, that’s the point. Arms should not bend first at elbows, which is what will probably happen to someone whose power cleaned a lot. So it's crucial to learn the timing of this, because this is the position you're trying to achieve from the floor. Arms must be straight, big explosive shrug with full extension of body.

3. Then, go to Hang Squat Clean from Mid Thigh. Feet flat, slight bend in knees, arms straight, low back arched, bent at waist slightly to have upper body over bar. Same position you would hit if you bent your knees to vertical jump. (You can add weight here soon, but do some with empty bar). From here, push platform down (emphasizes legs), and blast THROUGH Full Extension Position, into fast front squat as before. Feet should be lifted off platform slightly, into squat width.

4. Then progress to hang below knee, and to bar from floor. Do not yank bar from floor, hold back tight and explode when bar gets over knees.

VITAL is maintaining low back arch throughout.

Do not move to next progression, until fully mastering feel of the previous, especially the front squat. If arms are used too much during pull, rack position will be difficult and wrists will hurt. This is not as much a flexibility problem as simply flexing the arms too much, in effect putting the brakes on and preventing elbows from whipping under quickly.

This is all very different timing than what most beginners do in a power clean, which is why I don't teach the power clean. It's very easy to learn any time after learning the squat clean, just use lighter weight and push it all the way up with the legs. As soon as they start standing there pulling it up with back and arm swing, they can't get off the ground and throw the body under, the timing is all off. Stand up, jump down. Very simple. :-) Any questions?

PS: Same for snatch, only empty bar may be too heavy from Full Extension, so broomstick or 15 kg bar if available.

[end article]

And here's an excerpt from a talk Gary gave on learning the Olympic lifts:

(Source: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=527120)

[begin excerpt]

"How to Teach the Olympic Lifts" Gary Valentine, MA, CSCS

Admittedly, I wasn't planning on attending this presentation, as I've been around the Olympic lifts for a few years now. Then I saw the name Gary Valentine as the presenter and changed my plans to catch an earful of what the 2003 World Masters Weightlifting Champion had to say.

If his knowledge doesn't impress you, then a 347-pound clean and jerk and a 264-pound snatch at age 47 ought to get your attention. Plus, he had an attractive female understudy of his demonstrating the lifts, so that swayed me to some extent. Is there anything cooler than seeing a woman move some big weights and act like she loves it? If she'd been wearing a Red Sox hat and told me she liked beef jerky, I probably would've proposed to her right there.

Anyway, here are some key points I took away from Valentine's lecture:

1. He dislikes belts and never uses them in his training. Likewise, he's seen a shift away from them in the sport in general. Belts just seem to get in the way, and in training they compromise the amount of work that your core musculature actually has to do.

2. Very rarely will an athlete be able to pick up the Olympic lifts via the whole learning method (i.e. watch it and do it). In the vast majority of cases, people need part learning via the top-down or bottom-up progressions. Slow speeds and positional reinforcement are very important (this parallels what Caterisano stated regarding teaching simple movements before complete lifts). Still photos of critical positions, videos and live demonstrations all have their place in the teaching progression.

3. The top-down progression is as follows:

RDL> Jump Shrug > Clean from Full Extension > Hang Clean from Mid-thigh > Hang Clean from Below the Knee > Clean from Floor

And the bottom-up:

Start position > First pull (floor to knees) > Transition/Scoop (knees to mid-thigh) > Second Pull (mid thigh to full extension)

4. For the jerk component, worry about the dip (knee bend only; keep the torso erect), drive, split (front foot forward, back knee flexed, on the ball of the back foot), and recover (bring the front leg back partway and then the back leg forward to put them in line).

5. One of the main reasons that most ordinary gym rats can't do the O-lifts properly is because their shoulder flexibility is exceptionally poor due to excessive bench pressing. Until they achieve a shoulder rotation score of 9-14", they aren't ready for the lifts.

This test involves grasping a broomstick at arm's length and rotating the shoulders so as to allow the broomstick pass overhead and touch just above your glutes without the arm bending. If you need an ultra-wide grip (outside 14") to complete the movement, you need some shoulder flexibility work before you can start hitting the O-lifts hard. Or you can just take up chess.

6. Regardless of bar position (back, front, overhead), all squatting should emphasize having the heels down, lower back arched, and chest inflated and up.

7. It was nice to hear Valentine speak out against the myth that squatting with the knees beyond the toes is dangerous. In a study at the University of Memphis, Fry recently demonstrated just how ridiculous this myth is. In fact, while restricting forward movement of the knees may minimize knee stress, it can inappropriately transfer force to the lumbar spine in individuals with poor flexibility and strength. The lesson to be learned is that you can't base exercise technique recommendations on single-joint analysis; you have to consider all of the joints involved (in this case, the intervertebral segments, hips and ankles).

8. The overhead squat is an outstanding assessment tool. If you have a strength or flexibility weakness, it'll show through when you try this exercise.

9. Regarding training frequency, Valentine stated that he hadn't trained more than three days in a week — or on consecutive days — for approximately twenty years. Moreover, he claims that two weekly sessions are better than four, and one is better than five. Considering some Eastern European protocols have you regularly training six times per week with multiple sessions, I guess you can say that one man's trash is another man's treasure!

10. Most newbies can learn the complete Olympic lifts in three to four sessions. However, those who've previously learned to do the lifts the wrong way take considerably longer, as they have to "unlearn" bad habits first.

11. Starting with the power clean right off the bat is a bad mistake, as lifters tend to use too much arms and not enough lower body and upper traps.

12. Valentine quoted his mentor, the late Joe Mills, as saying, "Any weight that you can get past your belly button with some momentum, you can clean." Hey, there's hope for guys like me with good deadlifts and loads of room for improvement on my clean!

Overall, it was a nice blend of new information and refresher material. Plus, it was very cool to hear Gary discuss the history of Olympic lifting and his decades of experience in the sport.

[end excerpt]

Nice article. Again, keep the reading coming.

Very interesting article Mike. I'll have to amend my training with that in mind, as my clean (and therefore my C&J) is pitiful, at least for someone of my strength and experience.

I found the piece on less frequent training interesting. I am going to be experimenting with some modification of the WODs over the next year. I'm not exactly sure how to go about it, as I want some benchmarks for the "regular" 3-on 1-off protocol. I am wondering if 1-on 1-off done at absolute max intensity might yield better results for some of us. CrossFit has already mostly eliminated overtraining and injury for me, but I can't resist playing with it!

Check out homegirl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq014ztTBbk