For Weightlifting Geeks
For those of you who enjoyed the January 5 post, here is the full lift by Jake Johnson, from two views. What do you notice about the lifter's starting position? Where is the barbell in relation to his foot? What happens as the barbell comes off the floor?
P.S. See Jon, he receives the bar below parallel. That's what you have to do to lift weights greater than double-bodyweight.
Comments
1) The bar starts out over his metatarsals ... as it should
2) He nicely pulls the bar towards his body during the first pull (partly achieved because his shoulders are over the bar at the beginning and of #1))
1) The bar starts out over his metatarsals... too far forward.
2) As a result of 1, his bar path isn't as vertical as it could be, which means force was wasted on lateral movement.
But, I have no idea how one would turn over and catch a clean/snatch with not even a little horizontal movement.
If the point was to have no horizontal travel maybe we need to lift in a smith machine:
Kinetic Comparison of Free Weight and Machine Power Cleans.
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 22(6):1785-1789, November 2008.
Bonnie
He obviously has strong legs and rises quite easily in the front squat portion.
His push jerk is strong as his shoulder rack stays put through his dip with his legs and instant change in direction at the bottom of the dip to drive the barbell up as he instantly jumps down again to ensure his arms are locked and feet together for a successful lift. Overall, a very powerful movement.
As always, the video from the Iron Maven is top notch.
Do you have actual evidence supporting your claim that starting the bar over the metatarsals is vastly superior in every case, or is the only thing you have an attempt to bully someone into silence with an argumentum ad populum?
The answer to the claim that "everyone does it my way, therefore my way is better" is the same one your mother probably gave you as a child "if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?"
anonymous #1,
You've provided even less support for your contrary position than Aimee did for her outburst in response to you. In fact, some of it is entirely irrelevant. For example, if I want to run as far as possible in one direction but there's a wall that way, does going around it waste effort on lateral movement?
How much energy do you believe is required for the bar to move from its starting position over the metatarsal-phalangeal joints to its farthest position back during the first and second pulls? Your concern over this movement very clearly demonstrates your inexperience and resulting lack of understanding of this movement. If positioned such, the bar will quite naturally - that is, with no real effort on the part of the lifter - sweep back after leaving the platform. That being the case, to argue that this is "inefficient" makes no sense.
Further, efficiency should not be the goal - effectiveness should - and those two things are not synonymous.
It's important to understand that the body isn't positioned according to this placement of the bar; the bar is positioned to allow a more effective position of the body. This position improves the ability of the lifter in a number of ways, including allowing better final hip extension speed and maximal torso rigidity to transfer power from legs to bar.
It's by no means some silly, haphazard tradition - it's conventional because it has been demonstrated effective.