Technique Day
My brother-in-law and I managed to squeeze in a small hour of lifting. We headed to Dumbarton and worked the Olympic lifts a bit. It was more of a techique round table if you will
“Watch me for triple extension”
“Should I bend my arms here?
…so on…
We both learned a thing or two from each other. My traps are sore today. I found that my primary issues of the moment are
A) Triple Extension, I get the hips and the shoulders but as it gets hard I don’t get the ankles as much
B) The catch, I have been told this before and am aware of it to some degree. I was doing really good at 60K but once we started to go up, I start to slip into my bad habits of catching out front and not letting the bar just lay on my fingers. at 80K I can muscle it in place and then let it slip into the proper position but I’m not actually catching it correctly. At 100K I can almost muscle it in place but that is a hard weight to hold in a reverse curl position.
I think I also have mental block with the 100K weight, it has beat me for a year now. I think that when I pull it, I almos don’t want to finish the lift, I just bail out of habit more than need.
Couple techniques questions for anyone.
A) On the snatch, it seems most people keep their arms straight throughout. I alwasy disagreed with this and saw a Tommy Kono lecture recently where he did too. What do you all think?
B) On the clean, I see a lot of people who hip check it on the way up. I even tried it a little. Typically you read that this is based on girth with seems like ajoke, fat people hit things with their bellies not hips. I think it is wasted energy throwing the bar away from you. What have you all seen/heard?
Vacation is going good. I’m seeing family and eating too much but my weight is holding at 250. Probably the extra walking. I have also found that any salad at any restaraunt is probably food enough for me and I enjoy it. They pile those things so high, it’s as good as any other entree. Today will be tons of walking so that’ll be cool and Ben and I will try to get in in at least a kettlebell workout this week.
The site is running slow now. I tried to clean it up the other day but didn’t have any real progress. I’m getting spammed like crazy. I have almost 4000 spams this month and 14000 since I started it. These seem to come in waves and the wave is definitely cresting.
I haven’t been keeping up with Diggs and stuff on TS, I probably won’t until vacation is over.
I’m not gonna get as much posting in as I should for a few more days, bear with me.
Anvil or Hammer 
on April 26, 2007 on 10:18 am
The site seems to be running fine now. I was getting heavily spammed for 12 hours straight the other day, and it certainly knocks things around a bit.
on April 26, 2007 on 1:13 pm
Mike: Were you doing cleans with the 100k or snatches?
I haven’t had any formal instruction on Olympic Lifts. I’ve done all the lifts, but I know my technique is all over the map. I’m planning to take a workshop in a couple weeks to get some technique training.
on April 26, 2007 on 1:36 pm
“triple extension” i think is just a concept some coaches use to conceptualize extension, but i don’t think extension of the ankles plays a role in getting efficient extension
some example videos: Ilya Ilin with 225k and Chad Vaughn with 190 – they pick up their feet, but don’t get on their toes, they just “leave the ground” so when they pull on the bar, they drop under it as opposed to pulling it up
Jake Johnson, the Junior Nationals gold medalist at 69k, snatched 126 i think, and everyone was talking about how his feet never really left the floor, he stayed on his heels the entire pull… “he understands the lift purely as changing his relationship with the bar” is what one coach said
anyways i’m just saying, don’t worry about the ankles
as for a.) i try to keep the arms straight in the snatch as long as i’m exerting force on the bar… ideally the arms bend only when my feet have left the floor and i’m pulling myself under
b.) i don’t hip check, but i am in contact with the bar up until mid-thigh (when i extend)… i don’t think i could hip check unless my grip were wider. hip checking is more relevant to the snatch
on April 26, 2007 on 4:42 pm
yeah, the site performance is kinda spotty. I’ve had a couple people tell me it never loads, others have never had a problem. For me it comes and goes.
I was working on cleaning 100K. my snatch is more like 60 or 80, I don’t recall my max off the top of my head.
I’m not sure I have enough technique for it to even be all over the map.
on April 26, 2007 on 4:50 pm
I haven’t watched the vids yet but I will.
It seems like hip checking and locked arms on the snatch would contribute to each other but also to a lot of extra forward momentum…still I haven’t exactly moved much weight in this so I’m pulling all the newbie mistakes.
on April 26, 2007 on 6:01 pm
there’s a dynamic in the pull-under for both movements that is largely unaddressed unless you actually train at a club
when the bar makes contact with the hips, the shoulders and upper body should be “out of the way” of the bar… i.e. the hip check occurs immediately after extension, rather than during or before: Ilya Ilin again and Taner Sagir
there will inevitably be a bit of an s-curve to the bar’s trajectory, but keeping the elbows out and pointed up will minimize how far forward the bar will move
on April 26, 2007 on 7:50 pm
Sounds like a productive workout.
Site will be slow to load for me somtimes, but the RSS feeds always work just fine. Enjoy the time with family, you can always use the internet once they’re home.
on April 26, 2007 on 9:37 pm
ah, the S curve thing. We both had heard of it but didn’t really understand it. So much to learn….
thanks scott..:-)
on April 26, 2007 on 11:41 pm
Check out the Iron Maven site – she has (or had) some Dart Fish videos up showing bar path pretty well. And remember that everyone has different leverages and the bar will hit differently for each of us. Some great ones really hit hard with the hips and others hardly at all. Often the taller guys bend their arms in the snatch and short guys don’t have to. Just keep the elbows out and up and it should work itself out. Don’t think too much – just keep pushing your feet into the floor and finish the pull – some people go up on the toes and others stay on the heels – either way – extend fully and then pull yourself under fast.
http://www.ironmaven.blogspot.com/