This morning we did a “Pause Clean” progression, which meant as you start your clean, you pause in position 2 (barbell at the knees) for a full 1 second count before you proceed to ‘explode’. I have to say, this was one of the best working techniques to get me to thinking about exploding to full extension with my hips and shrugging with my shoulders. I’m not saying I was able to actually do that every time, but at least I was thinking about it.
We did 30 of them EMOTM and I was able to load up pretty well. I was able to hit several at 135 pounds, and even got a few in at 145, which is my clean PR that I just set last week. Since things were going well enough, I decided to take a couple shots at 155. Not even close. I think I have the physical ability to pull it off, but my brain said “OH SHIT” as soon as I went to explode with the hips, and my brain then sent an impulse out to my hands… “LET GO NOW”. I took 2 attempts, and same result. 2 fails.
I’m a little pissed I didn’t get 155 up, but I’m hoping I can use that to convince myself to jump under it next time.
And then there’s this guy, showing us all how its done… fast elbows and all!
4,449 thoughts on “I Can’t Clean 155”