Today in our weightlifting classes we spent a lot of time focusing on the clean. They did a lot of reps and a lot of work surrounding the clean not only to knock off some of the lactic acid in their legs from the 7/13’s but also to focus on proper movement so that we could build on that for the future. What I’ve found in working with these high school kids is that 99% of their technical inefficiencies in the clean come down to two problems.
Problem number one is footwork. I can’t tell you the number of athletes who, when their footwork was correct, corrected all other parts of their clean. I saw so many athletes with slow elbows or a lack of balance when they land in the squat or a poor squat or a lack of aggression at the top of the second pull. When I asked those athletes to make sure to move their feet 2 inches and make a noise with their feet when they landed, almost every time they were both more aggressive and faster with their elbows and their feet. On top of those immediate results, I saw many athletes because of the fast elbows and faster feet, landed in a much more upright position with a balanced and stable base. There are a lot of weightlifting coaches out there that would say that 99% of all missed lifts were a problem beginning at the feet. I can attest to that truth and the classes today. Footwork is (no pun intended) the foundation for proper movement down the road. Focusing on it early creates a good set up for worrying about the smaller technical areas of both the snatch and clean.
The second reason many of the athletes today found themselves struggling with the clean had zero to do with technique and everything to do with mindset. The Olympic lifts are violent lifts. They require a sense of recklessness when attacking the barbell. Sure everything is controlled and the lifts are are a matter of mind over matter but there has to be a moment in time during the lift in which you attack the bar with a sense of fury. Many of the lifters who struggled with the clean today struggled because they were timid in their approach to the bar or they lacked the confidence to believe that with all of their effort they could achieve the task in front of them. Mindset is a huge roadblock or a huge advantage in the Olympic lifts. Approaching the bar with the mindset that you can’t do something or your body isn’t ready for that much weight or that the bar is too heavy or with any sort of mental inhibitions will likely end in failure. That failure only contributes to the poor mindset down the road. Furthermore, there has to be an approach to the bar at which you believe that nothing can stop you from making the lift. On set five, on rep number five you have to approach the bar with fury. That fury will translate the power and that power translate to success. Mindset is as important if not more important than footwork.
Conquering both of those roadblocks during the workout can lead to some of the most successful sessions and an even better understanding and feeling for the lifts. Get your mind right and focus on your feet.