Clean from Blocks

Execution

1. Push the floor to lift the bar off the blocks, keeping the back angle fixed and the arms straight until it clears your knees.
2. Explode by extending the hips, knees and ankles together like a jump to accelerate the bar upward.
3. Shrug, pull with the arms quickly and whip the elbows around and up to get under the bar.
4. Catch the bar racked on your shoulders in a front squat position, elbows up, riding it down to full depth to absorb the load.
5. Exhale, drive through your heels to stand tall, then return the bar to the blocks for the next rep.

Quick cues

• The block just replaces the floor, still push hard.
• Finish extending the hips before pulling with the arms.
• Whip the elbows around fast.
• Meet the bar low, not standing tall.
• Set the bar back on the blocks gently, don't drop it.

Common faults

• Fault: Yanking hard off the blocks instead of a controlled push off the floor

  Fix: Drop the load and drill the lift-off from the blocks slowly on its own before adding the explosive extension.

• Fault: The bar bouncing on the blocks, losing a stable starting position

  Fix: Set the bar down slowly and fully reset position before each rep instead of stringing them together.

• Fault: Catching the bar too high, not riding it down into a deep enough squat

  Fix: Drill the catch on its own with a very light frankenstein squat to build the feel of riding it down deep.

• Fault: Trying to muscle through an off-balance, badly caught rep

  Fix: Push the bar away to the front and step back the moment it feels off; there is no rack here, so never grind to hold a bad catch on your shoulders.