Prerequisites

Most coaches say the Snatch is the harder lift to learn, a few including Travis Mash say the Clean is harder and the general public perception seems to be that the Snatch is the scarier lift that is harder to get the head around.

Personally I think they’re both probably pretty equally as hard with their own different set of challenges and if I had to generalise I’d probably say that if you’re fairly mobile you’ll probably find the Snatch harder, and if you struggle with mobility you’ll probably find the Clean the harder movement.

That may sound backwards, but in my experience I rarely have problems getting people into a good overhead position for the Snatch, I often have problems getting people into a good front rack.

This is mostly because being able to hit the overhead position of the Snatch is largely about creating room in the shoulder capsule through correct bracing of the shoulder girdle, which can be learned pretty quickly.

The rack position in the Clean however, is largely determined by existing mobility in the Lats, Rear Delts, Triceps and Thoracic Spine, which if you don’t have an adequate amount to start with, can take time to develop.

Obviously like with the Snatch and the importance of the Overhead Squat, The Front Squat is important to the Clean, but I’ve already written about the Front Squat so won’t be covering it in this article, if you haven’t read it, click the link and go do so. The link is below.

As a side note on the Front Squat while its important in regards to the Clean, I don’t feel its as important as the Overhead Squat is to the Snatch as I personally wouldn't have any problem with teaching an athlete a Power Clean before the full Clean if the Front Squat was the issue.

In contrast I wouldn’t teach the Power Snatch before the Snatch because of the problems it can create with riding the catch down, over pulling and stability down the line and would instead persevere with trying to master the Overhead Squat.

What to expect

Much like in the Snatch Technique Series, I’ll be covering the prerequisites first as there’s a few things you need to be able to do, or knowledge you need to have before you start to learn to clean.

Some of it’s the same as the Snatch or the Front Squat, some of its different. If there’s anything i’ve repeated somewhere else I’ll either link to it or I’ll let you know at the beginning of that section.

What you need

For me there are 3 prerequisites that a weightlifter must have that will enable them to Clean safely and efficiently:

1. A good Front Rack Position

2. The CORRECT Clean Grip

3. Thumbs to hook grip

I’m going to cover all of these as we go through this article, so that when I cover the start position and then the first pull in the next two articles, you all have the prerequisite knowledge to be able to carry out what I talk about safely and effectively.

Rack Position

This is section on the front rack is ripped straight from my Technique Series article on the Front Squat. The link to it is above, at the start of this article, if you want to read about the Front Squat in full. There’s also a handy bit on front rack mobility for those that struggle and need to progress in that area.

The front rack is the position you take with the barbell resting on top of the anterior delts and chest with the elbows high and pushed out.

There’s two ways to get into position… Either you can Clean it, which we’ll not cover here because this article is about the Squat rather than the Clean (I’ll be covering the clean later down the line) or you can take it out the rack, which is what we’ll cover as a step by step.

1. Set the rack to the right height. You shouldn’t have to get on your toes to unrack and rerack it. Its pretty obvious to seasoned athletes, but a lot of beginners do this so thought I’d mention it.

2. Take a grip just outside of the shoulder width, your hands shouldn’t be pinned to your shoulders. If you’re an olympic lifter match your Front Squat grip to your Clean.

3. Next you want to pull yourself under the bar while pushing the elbows up and out and pushing your chest to the ceiling, this should create a ‘shelf’ for the bar and from there you’re ready to unrack it and Squat.

Clean Width Grip

This will largely be the same grip as the Front Squat for most people and I’m sorry if I repeat myself on some things I’ve just discussed above, but there are some extra things to consider that may change your front rack position for the Clean compared to your usual Front Squat.

If this is the case, Id recommend you roll with you Clean grip for Front Squats as it will carry over better and more specifically to the Clean itself.

Much like the Snatch, grip width is important…

Too narrow and you’ll not be able to set up for the start position and pull properly and even if you can get into a position, if the hands are too narrow it can cause you to have a higher chance or rounding and losing the bar forward through internal rotation at the shoulder and bad bracing along with the possibility of trapping your fingers between the bar and your shoulders putting a limit on your overall control of the bar.

Too wide and while you’ll be externally rotated and in a good position to brace, you may be setting yourself up for long term elbow and wrist problems through excessive stress at those joints. It may also make the elbows harder to keep high and the barbell harder to hold in the hand.

With that being said, finding the right grip width is much less cut and dry than in the Snatch with a wider variance in contact points.

Ultimately there are two things I look for:

1. The hands must be outside of shoulder width.

2. The contact point will be somewhere around mid to upper mid thigh dependant on proportions.

Unlike the Snatch I don’t use a drill to find the clean grip and will usually just ask someone to take the grip they’re most comfortable in for their Front Squat, as long as the hands have at least about an inch either side of the shoulders and we’re not falling into the extremes of too wide and external rotation. Much like Mathew is in the picture above.

Once we’re happy with the front rack I’d then get the lifter to stand tall and let the bar hang to wherever it sits between hips and lower thigh. Like the picture to the right.

If its in that golden area of around mid thigh or slightly above, we’d take it from there start learning the clean and adjust as we go.

Finding the correct grip width doesn’t have to be scientific or go off ratio’s. It just has to be simple and based around practicality and common sense.

The Hook Grip

This has been pulled out of my snatch prerequisites as its exactly the same as you’d hook grip for the Snatch. Rather than sending you there with a link I thought it much more useful to pop the whole thing into the actual article.

Obviously i’ve changed some of the wording… like ‘Snatch.’

I’ll keep it short and sweet, but last thing you need to know about before you start to Clean is the hook grip.

The hook grip is an overhand (pronated) grip where the thumb is wrapped around the bar then trapped and pulled round by the index and middle fingers, like the picture shown below.

Its not pleasant until you get used to it, but its a necessity to keep the bar in the hands during the contact and turnover of both the snatch and the clean while also allowing the arms to relax more allowing for long loose arms in the pull (which is important and i’ll talk about it in later articles.)

Believe it or not and although its absolutely standard practice, I have had pushback before on using the hook grip even after I’ve explained why.

What you’ll find in people that refuse to use the hook grip however is lots of early arm bend due to the fact the hands can grip more forcefully with the arm in a bent position. This alone mutes the amount of force you can transfer to the bar killing the ability to generate maximum power if they were even able to get up to a weight that allowed them to snatch something relatively heavy.

On a side note, I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen people not use a hook grip and the bar fly out of their hands during contact… Its usually crossfit athletes left to their own devices that are the culprits.

Whats Next

Thats about it for prerequisites to the Clean, sorry for some of the repeated bits…

I used to work backstage in theatre and television…

And just like I’d always only paint the bits people would be able to see to save time and energy, I also prefer not to do a job twice if it’s already been done.

See you for the next article in the series where we cover the start position of the Clean.

I’ll link it below when its done!

Adam Johnston, 14th September 2020.