Starting Strength, 3rd Edition - Mark Rippetoe [112]
Figure 6-1. The power clean is a variation of the squat clean – usually referred to as the “clean” – used in Olympic weightlifting. Bill Starr cleans 435 at the 1969 Nationals.
The term “power” as a qualifier in front of an exercise refers to an abbreviated version of a more complicated movement, the shorter version being harder to perform because the extra technique stuff is there to make it easier to lift more weight. A power snatch is a snatch without a squat or split, the use of which reduces the distance the bar must be pulled. The power jerk is a version of the last part of the clean and jerk, but in the power jerk, the feet do not split. Likewise, the power clean is the version of the clean without a split and without a front squat. The power clean therefore requires more “pull” in that the bar must travel higher as a result of the explosion, without moving the body to drop under the bar. As we’ll see, the term is actually used correctly here as it pertains to the science of movement.
Figure 6-2. The split clean was commonly used prior to the 1960s and is a useful competitive style for some lifters who lack sufficient flexibility to make the squat style advantageous. Rudolf Pflugfelder, Olympic and World Champion, using this style.
Any clean requires the lifter to pull the barbell up fast enough and high enough, by using power generated by the hips and legs, to catch it on the shoulders. After the feet break contact with the floor, force cannot be applied to the bar. This is because the force is generated by the components of the body that are operating between the load in the hands and the ground. When the feet break contact with the floor, the bar is moving up as fast as it is going to. It continues to travel upward due to the inertia it acquires during the active part of the pull. The faster the bar comes up, the higher it will go, because the faster it is moving, the more inertia it possesses. The heavier the weight, the harder this is to do. So the better a lifter is at accelerating the bar, the more inertia he can impart to the bar and the more weight he can clean.
As a corollary, a lifter can clean more weight if he can get better at getting under a bar not pulled as high. This is the purpose served by splitting and squatting: they both shorten the distance the bar has to be pulled by allowing the lifter to jump under the bar in a lower position. Since our purpose is sports conditioning – not cleaning heavy weights per se, but rather generating as much upward explosion as possible – we will use the power version of the lift.
A few authorities have taken the position that the squat clean is the superior version of the lift for most training purposes, arguing that going under the bar – when the front squat is taught as a part of the lift – translates into more foot movement and thus more athletic carryover. On this basis, a better case can be made for using the split clean. And a case can be made for the fact that the squat clean is easier on the knees because the hamstrings and adductors can help absorb the shock of the catch. A novice’s knees are not yet this tender. But be aware that the front squat will interfere with your back squat form if you are learning both movements at the same time. The novice using this method will devote considerable time and energy to the task of unlearning a quadriceps-dominant squat, the result of poor prior instruction or no instruction at all. Incorporating a front squat into the clean will complicate the process without making the clean any more explosive – our primary objective in doing it, anyway.
The front squat and the back squat are radically different exercises, and while competitive Olympic weightlifters must learn and train the front squat, the back squat is far more important to general strength and conditioning. Even when used as a part of the clean, the front squat is best left to intermediate-level lifters to learn after good back squat technique has been nailed down by several months