Meanwhile at Norwood Weightlifting …
Vasiliy Polovnikov does 200kg Muscle Cleans (clean without hip contact) + Push Press with 200kg.
You don’t see this variation too often, do you? Maybe someone from Norwood can ask him about it (when he uses it / why).
Reader Sieg commented:
I call this variations of both snatch and clean “muscle squat” variations. I saw German athletes doing stuff like this in the gym, mostly with snatch, where train… The exercise is done in order to activate the proper and full-force pull pattern with upper body throught the whole lift. I saw some people who just stopped using their upper body properly with time (I had the problem too), for them the exercise is pure gold.
And Yasha Kahn wrote in to say that:
I’m not sure if this is the right name for the exercise either.
In Russian the term for muscle clean (or muscle snatch) is prat’azhka where the hip doesn’t touch the bar. There are 2 variations – one with catching it at the bottom, the other is without re-bending of the knee.
When doing a full clean or snatch, the hip may be used so much that the rest of the pull is ignored or under-performed (long first pull, traps, shoulders, arms).
The purpose of this exercise is to fully engage everything that is supposed to be working in the clean/snatch. Then when everything which is supposed to be working does, and the hip explosion is added back in – the lifter will use everything as needed in the clean or snatch.
Update: Read Vasiliy’s interview on ATG.
i’m not sure muscle clean is the right term for this exercise. typical muscle clean or snatch would not allow for rebending of the knees to pull yourself under the bar after hip extension– definitely a strange exercise. he’s cutting his hip extension short then pulling under, i wonder why.
I call this variations of both snatch and clean “muscle squat” variations. I saw German athletes doing stuff like this in the gym, mostly with snatch, where i train. Gotta ask what it is called in German. The exercise is done in order to activate the proper and full-force pull pattern with upper body throught the whole lift. I saw some people who just stopped using their upper body properly with time(i had the problem too), for them the exercise is pure gold.
Thanks for the info Sieg.
It also helps to training going under the barbell quickly and racking the barbell,.
As a german athlete this is very interesting. Are you sure they are doing the “no touch thing” with purpose? This exercise is not part of the german weightlifting programming (aka Trainingsmittelkatalog) and I have never seen it before. Would like to know if the guys you saw performing it have a name for it.
I’m not sure if this is the right name for the exercise either. In Russian the term for muscle clean (or muscle snatch) is prat’azhka where the hip doesn’t touch the bar. There are 2 variations – one with catching it at the bottom, the other is without re-bending of the knee.
When doing a full clean or snatch, the hip may be used so much that the rest of the pull is ignored or under-performed (long first pull, traps, shoulders, arms). The purpose of this exercise is to fully engage everything that is supposed to be working in the clean/snatch. Then when everything which is supposed to be working does, and the hip explosion is added back in – the lifter will use everything as needed in the clean or snatch.
Yes, modified muscle squat clean…
In Germany the exercise in the video does not exist/is not performed and therefore has no name. A muscle snatch or a muscle clean are a snatch/clean without any rebend in the knees. It emphazises trap/shoulder/arm pull and a complete extension of the body before getting under the bar. The muscle snatch is the more common of the two exercises. Another interesting fact is that there’s a debate whetcher this exercise is of any use. Is is argued that weights are too light to train hip extension and that it leads to kind of a “pause” before getting under the bar when doing real snatches. I’d say it depends on the athletes weaknesses (as with pretty much anything). A good coach will see if it can be useful or not.
Some coaches and weightlifters use the “muscle” variations (catching and/or snatching with slight to no knee bend) to help with technique problems (or improve strength) in the third pull phase. Muscle variations simply isolate the third pull phase helping those lifters who may have lazy or weak turnovers and finishes. I imagine that Vasiliy is using this variation for strength building purposes for his turnover and press phase.
Jon North likes to call this pulling method, with minimal body contact, the “Superman Pull.” Before 1962 lifters were NOT allowed to touch the bar to the thigh or hip so everyone was pulling exactly this way.
No, this isn’t the superman pull at all. That is the term Jon uses for the way HE lifts, most notably in the snatch. Someone’s given you some wrong info or you’re confused.
Maybe I am confused but Jon mentions it in this video regarding his style of Muscle Snatching with no bar contact… anyway, the point is that lifters before 1962 all pulled this way. Respects.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apS3Jx0hmnA
I think Jon is just saying there that he still uses his superman pull style when muscle snatching but he just can’t make body contact with the bar when muscle snatching for some reason. He teaches the “superman pull” at his seminars and uses it to describe the unique way he pulls in general regardless of whether he’s doing muscle or normal snatches (where he definitely makes body contact with the bar.)
I meant that Vasiliy’s pulling style in the video is similar to Jon North’s adopted Superman Pull when he Muscle Snatches… Jon doesn’t touch the bar on the thigh or hip.