The truth is that Power Cleans are an extremely useful football exercise…one that can build slabs of muscle on your legs, back and traps and can also help build tremendous explosiveness.
The most common complaint is that they are too hard to teach.
I have to agree with the Olympic Lifting critics here. For many coaches, especially those with small budgets, who are primarily football coaches and strength coaches second, the act of teaching even the Power Clean can become daunting. Frankly, over the years I’ve seen players who, despite the best coaching efforts, just are too nonathletic to pull off a clean. Now, they usually aren’t good football players either, so take that into account.
If a coach has done any of the Olympic lifts, or taken a USAW course, then have at it.
However, this really only applies to those players who are looking to build their clean to the point where they want to compete in Olympic Lifting.
Doing a clean is actually simple. As I said, if a player can’t grasp this, he’s probably not a very good athlete.
Grab the bar, deadlift it to the knees then jump and pull. Catch it when it gets to shoulder height.
It’s really that easy.
Here are some common problems with the Power Clean and how to fix them so you can build maximum explosive strength for football.
Technique Flaws - The Power Clean (PC) isn’t as complex as the full Olympic Clean, but there is still a good deal of technique to it. When you get up to heavy weights (90%+ of your max) even a slight form error could cost you the lift. Simply concentrate on Deadlifting then Jumping with the bar.
Lack of Strength Off the Floor- You’ve got to be able to squeeze the bar off the floor and explode. If you are too slow or too weak coming off the floor, you will miss the lift because you won’t be able to generate enough force once the bar passes the knee.
Exercises like Deadlifts, Snatch Grip Deadlifts, Romanian Deadlifts and Box Squats will help with this.
Not Strong Enough - If you just aren’t strong enough in a key area, say, the hamstrings, you will not hit the big weights. It’s the old weakest link theory. If one muscle group is falling behind, it will prevent you from lifting max weights. As for technique…you should have a coach help you with form. If no coach is available, videotape yourself and compare it to videos of Olympic lifters.
Write down one or two flaws and concentrate on them on your next lift. If you are lacking strength either off the floor or in a specific muscle group, strengthen it!
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