If you don’t know, I am a HUGE advocate for the Power Complex instead of cleans for team sport athletes. Do I think there is a place for both. But if I HAD to choose between the two I will pick the Power Complex. Mobility limitations, lack of time to properly teach, and increased load lifted are some of the reasons why I like the Power Complex. If you want more info on the Power Complex click here for more info. The rest of this blog will be talking about a different way to teach the clean, snatch, and the jerk. This teaching progression will be different than the 1*20 method of teaching the Olympic lifts. To read about that 1*20 method of teaching Olympic lifting click here.
Teaching the Clean
MOST of the time, the same people who love the Olympic lifts are also the people who claim no one does them “properly”. They also have progressions with broom sticks, PVC pipes, or empty barbells. If you are an Olympic lifter and compete in Olympic lifting competitions then BY ALL MEANS get PERFECT at the snatch and clean & jerk. However, if you are a team sport athlete that competes in putting a ball in a net, hitting a ball over a fence, etc…you DO NOT need to get perfect at Olympic lifts. You need to be good at them (if your organization programs them) or you need to go somewhere that the head S&C coach uses the power complex.
Do a quick search on all the ways to teach the clean. Check out the ENTIRE course from USAW on the movement. It is a highly technical lift that is difficult to master. Is it a good skill to learn? Sure. Is it the key to athletic success? Not if your job pays you millions to throw a ball into the hands of a catcher 60 feet away. Therefore, spend most of your time doing that thing that pays you millions. Does this means you should not improve horse power, strength, etc…? Nope. It just means there is a better way to train these qualities (Power Complex again).
But if you HAVE to teach athletes how to clean or snatch (because head sport coach makes you, you work in private sector and have to prepare athletes for what will happen when they get to their organization, or some other reason) then you should consider this.
How clusters come in
Credit Tuura and making hypertrophy clusters more popular (click here for a blog on hypertrophy clusters) but this idea is not brand new. Remember Juggernaut said no 5x8 - do 8x5. I forget the name of the coach but I heard instead of 3x10 do 10x3. . Back at Iowa DiMarco introduced me to the concept that clusters don’t only have to be 10-20 seconds. Is it “technically” still a cluster if it is 30-45 seconds? Or is it a new set? Idk - but you get better, stronger, and get testosterone release.
So why have we not talked about this with Olympic lifting before? Maybe because most of the time coaches are already programming sets of 1-5 reps and that seemed good enough. But what if your athletes are struggling with reps 4 and 5 of the set. Sure they can learn from those sloppy reps and learn what they need to fix. But what if there is a better way. Instead of doing 4x5 or a “classic” 5x5 on cleans - what if you did 10x2 or 12x2 with 40 second rest between sets/clusters?
Well this is what I have been doing with an athlete who needs to get better at the clean and snatch. He does them at high school, so he needs to get good at them (he does not need to be Olympic lifting quality - but he should be good at them and perform them well). So, I program them and have been using the cluster method. I have really enjoyed this because I noticed form breaking down after rep 3. Were reps 4 and 5 terrible? No. But I would have to say less words and cue him less once we stopped at 2 reps. So, instead of “strength coaching” a movement (that is what one of my mentors Coach Drew Wilson called it when a S&C coach would over complicate, over communicate, and over coach an athlete resulting in paralysis) I get to give this athlete less to think about, more rest between reps, and he is able to lift more weight during his reps.
If your goal is to be able to do multiple reps in a set - clusters won’t be fore you. If you want athletes to learn the movement and be “fresh’ for each rep, and if you want them to be able to lift the heaviest load for 1 rep - I think you need to start thinking about programming these.
If you are still wondering is there a way to get rid of cleans in the weight room I am here to tell you yes there is. It is the power complex. Click here to find out how I got rid of cleans in the weight room with the football team and still had athletes hitting PRs sprinting, jumping, and lifting.
