Feb 13, 2012

I love the 3 rep hang clean for conditioning purposes. 3 reps of any type of clean movement will be very physically challenging. Explosiveness, strength, technique, and mental fortitude are all put to the test by high repetition cleans. The hang clean in particular is a great way to build explosiveness in the near standing position (one which is common to many sports).

Even those of you who are more endurance oriented than the average weightlifter (eg. those of you who take the stairs not the elevator) will find a 3 rep hang clean to be quite a conditioning challenge. Hang cleans done in one right after the other tend to send people straight to the ground, sucking for air. Go try it for yourself if you don’t believe me.

Jan 30, 2012

Many people find that they need some extra helping in keeping their wrists stable and safe while they are lifting. There are two ways to do this, tape and a pre-made wrap. Tape is the old school method, one which I prefer, because it allows me to custom fit my wrap to the support/comfort level that I want.

The second way to support your wrists is to use a pre-made wrap. These come in all shapes and sizes. Usually a lighter weight, thinner, wrap is preferred for Olympic weightlifting. The heavier and wider wraps are often used for bench pressing.

The reason for this difference is the level of flexibility required for these movements. The Olympic lifts require quite a bit of wrist flexibility and therefore a thicker wrap would limit a lifters ability to complete the lifts. The bench press requires almost no wrist flexibility and therefore it is best for a lifter to have a very sturdy and inflexible wrap to provide the most support possible.

My personal preference for tape stems from my need to have a wrap that is quite flexible and provides some, relatively little, support. If I were a powerlifter I would probably use a much thicker wrap for bench pressing.

Both tape and wraps are pretty inexpensive. If you chose the tape route, you should probably buy a large “trainers” box of tape as that will give you the best price/roll. Wraps should be chosen based on their size and the level of support that they offer. I can’t personally recommend any brand in particular, stick to the major weightlifting or powerlifting brands and you should be fine.

One final point about tape, don’t use Kinesio (or similar style) tape, to tape your wrists! Kinesio tape is great at what it does, but you don’t need a stretch type tape to effectively tape wrists. I stick with a standard ½ inch type of tape that is more than enough to get the job done. Save your money and use your Kinesio tape where you really need it.

The lifter sets up in the same fashion as a clean, but the bar is caught before the lifter descends below a parallel squat. The lifter stands to complete the lift. This lift is the most common weightlifting movement used outside of the sport of weightlifting. It is used to develop power in all types of athletes

See Clean
Often Abbreviated PC

The second lift contested in a weightlifting meet. The lifter performs a clean, followed by a jerk.

See Clean, See Jerk
Often abbreviated CJ, C&J, Cln+jrk

Jan 27, 2012

Technique, is your style the best? That is the question every athlete asks themselves. Unfortunately the answer to that question ends up being an undoubtable yes. If I just described you, stop and think about your train of thought. Is your technique really the best? Better than all those international athletes that do something different? I bet not. I bet the difference between a top competitor and a merely good athletes is that the top competitor has mastered his/her style. So long as the technique does not introduce massive inefficiency, the best technique is the one most practiced.

Find a technical style, find a coach, and practice as hard as you can until you master that style. The more time you spend talking about how great your style is, the less time you spend training.