[800prince]

800prince on April 27, 2005 at 7:39 am #10772

Mike, others

I recently learned to do a squat clean, however I can only do it from a hang. Whenever I attempt to clean from the floor I either, power clean it or miss the lift. I usually don’t catch a Hang Sq. Clean in a full squat, but probably around parallel and ride it down. I just can’t do this with the heavier weights I pull from the floor. If I lower (in pounds, not literally lower the weight while lifting) the weight I will just catch it in a power position. Adding a front squat for the sake of doing a front squat is no fun, and it’s a power clean+FS is not the same lift, by any means.

This is very frustrating for me because I love the feel of dropping down to rock bottom and coming back up. I also feel that there are a lot of benefits compared to the power version, like better in the full squat position SSC, the quick drop under (feels similar to the eccentric of dynamic squats) and the full ROM front squat at the end (which feels like a front squat with chains or bands, the load feels lighter at the bottom because of the quick drop-under and SSC, but the weight catches up with you near completion of the lift.

[frit17]

frit17 on April 27, 2005 at 7:50 pm #44781

Prince,

Dont worry you are doing the squat clean the right way. You should never drop so fast that the weight falls on you at the bottom. You want to meet the bar in the middle(parallel) and depending on the amount of weight on the bar will either ride you down and use the extreme stretch-reflex at the bottom or you will be able to pop right out of the hole(from parallel) with the weight. Even top lifter do it this way, it just looks like that are dropping all the way because they are so fast and the extreme weight they are using always pushes them right down.

[Mike Young]

Mike Young on April 27, 2005 at 8:22 pm #44782

Frit is right. Most will catch the weight higher and it just rides them down. Also, it should be noted that if you’re trying to do it as it’s done in a competition style clean, the depth of the squat you receive the bar at is dependent on the load. The heavier the load, the lower you can explosively pull it. The lower you can explosively pull it the more you need to drop to get under it.

Also, one thing that OLs do is actually pull themselves under the bar. That is even while they are dropping they are still pulling on the bar. This speeds up their drop, momentarily stalls the bard, and helps them get under it.

ELITETRACK Founder

[800prince]

800prince on April 28, 2005 at 3:07 am #44783

Thanks for the help. Today I was able to do squat cleans off low-blocks, at a pretty decent weight. I’ll stick to this, until I feel comfortable enough to try it off the floor.

Also should I adjust my squatting volume or intensity when doing squat versions, instead of power version? Recently I’ve been doing low-volume, heavy back squats like 3×2 @90%. The squats felt easier than I suspected they would under the circumstances.

[tg]

tg on April 28, 2005 at 9:47 am #44784

It isn’t the best idea to be doing squats in that rep range/weight week after week. I really love squat workouts like you are describing but after several weeks you aren’t going to see a lot of benefit and maybe even start to go backwards. atleast that is what always happens to me and the guys i train with. Throwing in a week or two of something like 5×5 with moderate weight (65-70%) and no belt/gear can be a refreshing challenge that doesn’t kill you. (so if you are a 450 squatter use something like 315)

Or maybe the squat cleans could be a substitute for dynamic squats (?) and you could do west side style max effort lifts on another day.

play around with this and let us know. I’d like to see how things pan out.