Avoid Crashing - Turn Your Cleans into Front Squats
If this is what your cleans feel like, pay attention.
Make your clean as similar to a front squat as possible—the quicker you rack the bar, the more of a squat down with it, meaning less impact, more control, and a much easier recovery.
The fix for crashing is to never allow a gap between the bar and your body in the first place.
The motion of the pull under should be identical in every clean you do, no matter the weight—the only thing that changes is how deep of a squat you’re in while doing it.
Put the appropriate force into the pull for the weight—don’t pull 70% like 100%.
Keep the bar close all the way through the pull.
Pull the bar back into your shoulders before bringing your elbows around it.
And lift your chest up into the bar as you finish the turnover.
Even your heaviest cleans will still have a brief squat down if you don’t just throw the bar and fall down to catch it as it drops. Any amount of eccentric squat with the bar on the shoulders is better than just letting it pile-drive you in the bottom.
If this seems like too many things to fix, focus on the idea of the turnover always being the same. The motion of your upper body and bar never changes—it just happens at different heights. When you understand that, and you put it into practice, you will naturally avoid crashing for the most part (the exception being if you’re not consistently executing the fundaments, e.g. being balanced and not letting the bar bounce forward).
Make your clean as similar to a front squat as possible—the quicker you rack the bar, the more of a squat down with it, meaning less impact, more control, and a much easier recovery.
The fix for crashing is to never allow a gap between the bar and your body in the first place.
The motion of the pull under should be identical in every clean you do, no matter the weight—the only thing that changes is how deep of a squat you’re in while doing it.
Put the appropriate force into the pull for the weight—don’t pull 70% like 100%.
Keep the bar close all the way through the pull.
Pull the bar back into your shoulders before bringing your elbows around it.
And lift your chest up into the bar as you finish the turnover.
Even your heaviest cleans will still have a brief squat down if you don’t just throw the bar and fall down to catch it as it drops. Any amount of eccentric squat with the bar on the shoulders is better than just letting it pile-drive you in the bottom.
If this seems like too many things to fix, focus on the idea of the turnover always being the same. The motion of your upper body and bar never changes—it just happens at different heights. When you understand that, and you put it into practice, you will naturally avoid crashing for the most part (the exception being if you’re not consistently executing the fundaments, e.g. being balanced and not letting the bar bounce forward).
