Charles Poliquin’s Blog – Five Valuable Strength Lessons From Mark Rippetoe:
“Lesson #3: Think of the Power Clean As a Jump
Rippetoe says it’s best to think of the power clean as a jump. He teaches the power clean from the top down. He will start by having the athlete rest the barbell on their mid-thighs with their knees slightly bent, with their shoulders in front of the bar and their elbows straight. From this starting position, and without bending their elbows, he will have them jump by extending their knees and hips so that they leave the ground. After this first step, he will have the athlete rack the bar and then learn how to lift the weight from the floor. This progression enables athletes to master the basic technique of the power clean quickly and helps prevent the common technical error of arm-pulling the bar”
Ask yourself 2 questions about coaches. 1. Who have they learned from? 2. Who have they been involved in coaching? Mark Rippetoe falls short in honestly answering these questions.. He has produced on one nor can he back his views with empirical scientific data. For more on how inadequate he is read Bud Charniga’s review of his first book on sportivnypress.com under the misinformation engineering column.
Uh, he learned from Bill Starr dummy. And regarding who he’s taught, Rippetoe himself acknowledges he’s focused on training novice athletes, but he has taken thousands of those from weak to strong in less than a year, increasing their lifts by hundreds of lbs. Just look at the training logs on the startingstrength.com msg boards.
WORST advice EVER on olympic weightlifting. One of the many wrong advices (as well as Jon Norht’s “hit and catch”) that make most americans lifters as some of the world’s most technically-dreadful. Jumping may be an effect, but it may not be encouraged as a cause; what must be encouraged is the pull, feet displacement, and pulling fast under the bar and catching it without losing thigtness in your back.
But then again, this jumping misadvice comes from the same guy who brought you “olympic lifters should do low bar squats”.
1. This description of exercise is used for people who have (mostly) no experience and is easy to understand (even I was able to learn it, alone without coach).
2. Those people are mostly average Joes, no wonder he didn´t produce any champion- he helps average talented people to get stronger.
3. That said there are some older guys coached by him who placed nicely in weightlifting competitions.
Watch some of the videos of him coaching power clean, how´s the technique wrong? I really wonder. Don´t forget it´s powerclean, not clean. It´s because it´s technically easier to teach newbies and has the same effect for them.