Dew It Fitness – Clean and Jerk Clinic

Introduction –

The Olympic lifts are undoubtedly some of the most difficult and complicated movements you will perform in the gym. We created this blog post as a resource for you. It is meant to help you understand and improve the principles of the clean, snatch, and jerk. Whether you’ve been performing Olympic lifts for a month or a decade, practicing the basics will be your greatest opportunity for improving your lifts.  The videos and descriptions include techniques, explanations, progressions, and demonstrations for you to review. Enjoy : )

Part 1: Clean Technique Demonstration

Allison kicks off the clinic with a clean demonstration: one from the hang and one from the floor.

Part 2: Clean Progression

Allison demonstrates the clean progression taught during the clinic: Clean tracer, clean jump, clean from the hang, and clean from the floor.  Pay attention to the varying speeds of each movement in the progression as well as her body positioning. This is your go-to video for learning and practicing the basics. Sharpen that blade!!

Part 3: Creating Upward Force

Megan demonstrates the snatch progression (tracer, from the hang, from the floor). Following the demo, Coach Dick explains how to create upward force needed for Olympic movements. Also covered is the first pull, movement speed, and body positioning.

Part 4: Olympic Mobility

Coach Dick quickly covers a useful mobility exercise to improve the bottom of your clean, snatch, and overhead squat. In this video, he  makes the distinction between the Olympic squat and the power-lifting squat. The mobility exercise shown is intended to help the Olympic squat specifically.

Part 5: Olympic Squat vs Power-Lifting Squat

Ron Penders asks, “should the front and back squat be the same movement?” Coach Dick explains that it all depends on your goal. What he’s really asking is, what is the difference between the Olympic and power-lifting squat? Let me elaborate: Generally, the Olympic squat emphasizes your quads and trunk stabilizers (your core), while the power-lifting squat emphasizes your glutes, hamstrings, and hip adductors. The Olympic squat is more functional, meaning the way your body is meant to move. On the flip side, you can usually squat more weight with the power-lifting technique. We also get a bonus tip about preventing glute atrophy or flat booty syndrome!

Part 6: Transitioning From Hang Cleans to Floor Cleans

Once you become comfortable performing cleans from the hang (knee level), you can begin transitioning to the floor. How do you do that? Coach Dick explains in the video below. Pay attention to the change in speed as Allison transitions from the first to the second pull.

Part 7: Perfecting the First Pull / Starting Position

In this video, Coach Dick and Jamie cover the first pull. They specifically address common mistakes, rushing the pull from the floor, positioning of the back, speed of the first and second pulls,  getting your feet under the bar, and the starting position from the floor. The video concludes with a demonstration of the techniques listed above which you can use to improve your Olympic lifts.

Conclusion –

So there you have it, highlights from the clean and jerk clinic. There is a ton of good info in these videos! Please use these drills, techniques, and progressions as a resource to improve your lifts. Remember, the basics are the most important. Keep working on them and you will improve. I’m sure you have questions. Please leave them in the comments section along with any thoughts or experiences you would like to share. We are each others greatest resource, lets get a discussion going!