Power Your Way to Victory.

The Power Clean Progression

OLYMPIC-STYLE WEIGHT-lifting has become an integral part of the football strength-training program at Neshaminy H.S.

Olympic lifts involve the major muscle groups; namely the hip extensors, knee extensors, ankle plantar flexors, shoulder abductors, and shoulder girdle elevators. When done on a regular basis, these football-related lifts condition the body as well as enhance the athlete's reactions and explosiveness -- increasing speed, power, and strength by using the ground to generate power.

The mechanics used to execute the power clean are very specific for virtually all athletic movements. The power position with the feet flat, weight on the balls of the feet, shoulders out over the knees, and legs slightly bent is a basic stance for football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, and volleyball.

The power-clean multi-joint exercise is taught to both our freshmen and upperclassmen during the first three weeks of December. We look upon this period as our Preliminary Lifting Phase and teaching session.

Since technique is so essential, we introduce the power-clean exercise through a progression of four lifts.

Our first progression is the full pull. Our athletes start with a light weight that can be lifted with good form. They assume a stance with feet shoulder-width apart, shins slightly touching the bar, and the arms extended straight down from the shoulders.

The knees are flexed about 90 degrees, the back straight, the head up with eyes focused straight ahead, and the weight over the balls of the feet (Photo 1).

We do not want the arms to bend during the pull. We want the athlete to drive with the legs, raising up on the toes as the shoulders are shrugged. Cue: "Pretend to be jumping to the ceiling."

The elbows are kept straight at the sides as the athlete explodes forward with the hips and legs straightening out (Photo 2). He then lowers the bar and repeats the lift.

The second progression is the power pull or high pull. It starts out exactly like the full pull, but finishes with an upright row to the chin.

The bar is moved explosively from the thighs by extending the hip, knee, and ankle joints in a jumping action. At maximum plantar flexion, the athlete will shrug the shoulders, and at maximum shoulder elevation, he will flex and pull with the arms.

The athlete must keep the elbows out and high for as long as possible. Before the bar slows down, he will flex his wrists and continue to pull the bar straight up at least to neck level (Photo 3).

After learning the high pull, the athlete will progress to the hang clean. The lift is started from a dead hang clean position with the same stance and pronated grip as the full pull.

The athlete stands with his feet flat and holds the bar at arms' length at mid-thigh (Photo 4). He then goes up on his toes and shoots the elbows forward, keeping the bar as close to the chest as possible. The feet move out slightly and thc knees bend with the catch of the bar.

If the strength coach is satisfied with the athlete's progress, he can have the athlete put it all together and begin the power clean.

The athlete assumes a shoulder-width stance with his knees inside the arms and feet flat on the floor. He grasps the bar with a pronated grip slightly wider than shoulder-width and squats down in front of the bar with his heels on the floor.

He fully extends his arms, pointing the elbows out to the side, and positions the bar over the toes and slightly touching the shins.

He keeps his shoulders slightly over or ahead of the bar, and establishes a flat back posture by pulling the shoulder blades toward each other, holding the chest up and out and tilting the head up slightly.

The athlete must focus his eyes straight ahead or slightly above horizontal, while keeping the torso tense and the angle of the back constant. He must then lift the bar straight up off the floor with an explosive leg drive, extending the knees, thrusting the hips forward, raising the shoulders and getting up on the toes.

The athlete should shrug the shoulders and, at the bar's peak height, rotate the elbows around and under the bar. He should point the elbows forward as he rolls the bar to the fingertips to keep the bar close to the body.

He should rack the bar across the front of the shoulders and flex the hips and knees to absorb the weight of the bar (Photo 5). At the completion of the lift, the feet should be flat on the floor within a 3-by-2 1/2 ft. square. The torso should be nearly vertical and erect.

The athlete should then lower the bar slowly to arms' length and squat down to set the bar on the floor -- always keeping the head up, back flat, and legs bent to prevent lower back injuries.

Additional exercises can be used in the development of the power-clean technique such as the shoulder shrug, upright row, deadlift, back extension, calf raise, hang snatch, push press, and the box clean.

To add variety to the strength program, the coach can have the athlete use dumbbells to perform these exercises. Junior high athletes may be taught the exercises by using plastic or wood plates and broom handles or lighter five-foot olympic bars.

Advanced athletes are taught various combinations of olympic lifts such as the power clean to the front squat; front squat to a military press; power clean to a push press to a an overhead squat, hang snatch to overhead squat; or behind the-neck press to a back squat.

The athlete must be cautioned to use a weight that he can handle in these difficult combo lifts.

The introduction of olympic-style lifting produced a complete turnaround of our football program and Neshaminy has become a perennial force in the Suburban One League.