The power clean is one of the most common exercises used by athletes and coaches in an attempt to build explosiveness. In sports performance facilities and high school weight rooms athletes are often asked to perform this exercise.
If you’re a collegiate athlete, it’s likely your coach recently gave you a workout book with designated summer workouts. From what I’ve seen, various styles of cleans are a favorite among college strength coaches.
So, in the spirit of cleaning season, here are a few notes on how to make your power cleans more effective this summer. Learn to utilize the power clean to create explosive power!
But wait, what is power? What is explosiveness?
The equation for power is: power=work/time.
Basically, how much are you doing, and how fast are you doing it? Keep in mind the “how fast are you doing it?” is extremely important!
The Mistake You Are Making
When trying to create explosive athletes, most athletes and coaches using the power clean are doing a great job with the first part of the equation. The how much are you doing is something closely monitored.
However, the second part of the equation, the how fast are you doing it, is often overlooked.
You should all be getting an image in your head of a high school athlete in a cut off “property of…” t-shirt, a backwards hat and big squishy Zig Tech shoes doing a “power” clean where he’s got as much weight on the bar as he can handle.
Yup, this guy nailed the front part of the equation, the how much are you doing part!
As for the second part of the equation, the how fast are you doing it part, my guess is that the bar was probably moving very slowly.
When using the power clean to train for power, keep in the mind that the weight on the bar is not more important than the speed of the bar. If you want to do a really slow power clean, save yourself the terrible looking rack position, do a deadlift and carry on my man.
Your Takeaway
When you get your workout packets or you’re training for your fall season this summer, make sure you keep the power in the power clean!
Using a weight that is closer to 70% of your one rep max, that you can move at a much greater speed, will be significantly more effective at creating that explosiveness you’re looking to use to jump higher, run faster and change direction quicker next season.