What are ya'lls thoughts on the benefits of the Power Clean for football. Anybody not do it?

Probably the most important lift that we do.

Interesting forum here discussing the pros and cons of Power Clean.

http://www.wannabebig.com/forums/showth ... nd-footbal

Most are for Power Cleans, but a few have some interesting takes on it.

I'm relatively new to the coaching and weight training. I have been involved with the Bigger, Faster, Stronger program the last 3 years. This program includes the power clean as a primary lift along with dead lift, 2 squat variations, and 2 bench variations. The results have been great to witness.

It has always struck this "ole farmer" with how similar the power clean is to the motion that is used when stacking square bales. These days idoit cubes are gone and now 1 ton round/square bales are the norm. Tractors do the work -- not high school boys. However, I played against a couple of guys who hand stacked 5,000 square bales a summer and these boys were extremely powerful.

I always introduce the Power Clean to new kids with the example of stacking square bales.

agreed

It is probably the most important lift you can do. My experience with it though is it takes time to teach properly, and there are actually a lot of coaches that teach it improperly. Dead lift falls in this category as well.

Hang cleans sometimes can be good optional lifts.

I'd also add squats to that list. It's actually frustrating just how many coaches know nothing about proper form.

We do the hang cleans. They are safer and we have had great results. They really build hip flexors and in turn explosion and acceleration. It helps in all sports-especially in football and track.

Hang cleans are kinda like rack pulls. Neither of them teach you how lift real weight. Rack cleans are meant only as a supplement to actual cleans. Just like rack pulls are meant as a supplement to actual pulling from the floor.

God, I need to get a training certification. Ignorance is more rampant than AIDS.

Thanks for the info-

My experience is, the better we are at power clean, the better we are at tackling. We do a lot of olympic lifts and we power-lift, but pc is the one that carries over to football the best. JMO We would like to have 12 to 15 kids that can PC over 200lbs every year.

Mark my words. Over the next couple of years, Oly lifts will be the new black.

I choose not to do hang clean simply because I believe the power clean is the better lift. But I have always had the philosophy that other lifts need to be supplemented when doing the main Olympic lifts. When we are doing power cleans, I make the boys do exercises that will help their cleans. We do dead lifts (be careful because if not done properly they can really hurt their lower backs) as it helps in the initial pull. Box jumps or other types of plyometrics will assist in the explosion phase of the lift, and then the final phase of the lift in the finished position, we focus on front squats. You can also super set with your power cleans with what I call med ball squat toss. Have your athlete hold a med ball in both hands, squat, then toss (explode, feet leaving the ground) the ball in the air as high as he can to another partner. The partner will catch the ball as he is coming down butt below the knees and toss the ball back to the partner. You'd be surprised how well this helps.

Here would be an example of one of our WWODs as I call them (Warrior workout of the day)

Front Squat @ 60% of 1RM 4 x 6, 8, 8, 6
Med Ball Squat Toss 3 x 10
Dead lift @ 80% of 1RM 4 x 6, 6, 5, 4
Box Jumps 3 x 14, 12, 10
Power Clean @ 80% of 1RM 4 x 3, 4, 4, 2-3
Leg Extension 3 x 10
Leg Curl 3 x 10
Dumbbell Calf Raise 3 x 30 (10 inside, 10 straight, 10 outside)

This WWOD would be on one of our heavy days front squat is lighter because of safety issues with the lift.

But there are a 1000 different philosophies on what to do in the weight room. This is just mine. Seems like a lot, but believe it or not, this can be done in 45 minutes. And if not, who cares? Running out of time in the weight room and not getting everything done is 10x better than having your boys done early and jacking around.