I started a new weekly lifting plan with a focus on power variations of OLs. But Im having troubles with powercleans. I can get the weight up but it feels very awkward trying to catch it. I tend to get scared of the bar crushing my collar bone that I try to cushion it with my hands. Im suprised I didnt break my wrist yet (It hurt though ). This may be the sole reason I feel more comfortable with snatches than cleans. Can anyone whos good at cleans give me some pointers on the catch portion of the clean?
I'd play around with your grip width. You want to shoot your elbows forward more, and catch the bar across the delts, rather than the collarbone. Exrx shows a girl performing a nice, deep clean, and shooting her elbows waaaaayyyyy forward. You might also want to check out "From The Ground Up" by Dan John.
I will second that, it's one of the key aspects to doing a heavy clean apparently. It can hurt sometimes, but that just makes you want to do it right more
Along with all the great replies so far, you might check if the bar is starting to drift away from the body. Even a subtle amount of forward movement can throw the catch portion off entirely. I've found (for me) I can catch a lot more weight with the "stomp and drop" movement (but this is moving more into a full clean).
Thanks for all the replys. I got nice big bruise on my collarbone right now . It seems to be my wrist flexibilty causing the problem but after doing weeks of front squatting, I dont see my wrist getting any more flexible.
I cant be to much of a help since cleans come pretty natural to me, but I will do my best to add something useful When my older brother was struggling with cleans, a more experienced lifter was nearby and we asked him, and he had us both go through the motion slowly with an empty bar. It really helped my older brother, it allowed the guy who was helping us to help him with his form/motion. Worth a shot i suppose
