How to Fix Early Arm Bend in Cleans and Snatches
Essential tips to improve your Olympic lifts, specifically focusing on the common issue of early arm bend in cleans and snatches. This problem can significantly impact your lifting efficiency and effectiveness. Let’s dive into how to identify and fix this issue.
Understanding Early Arm Bend
One of the biggest issues we see in the clean and snatch is early arm bend. When you bend your arms too early in these lifts, you prevent yourself from fully utilizing your hips and legs, which are crucial for making the movement explosive and efficient. Simply telling someone to keep their arms straight often doesn't work because we need to understand the root cause of why they're bending their arms in the first place.
Two Main Reasons for Early Arm Bend
Improper Bar Path: The bar might not be hitting the correct spot on your body. For the snatch, the bar should hit the crease of your hip, and for the clean, it should be just below the hip. If your grip is too narrow, you might compensate by bending your arms to get the bar to the right spot. Ensure your grip is wide enough for the snatch and appropriately placed for the clean. For
the snatch, aim for the bar to hit the crease of your hip with a wide grip. For the clean, your grip should be just outside your hips, about a thumb’s distance away.
Lack of Tension in the Shoulder Girdle: Another common reason for early arm bend is the need for lifters to feel tension and control. When the arms are straight, some might not feel as tight or in control, leading them to bend their arms. The real issue here is a lack of engagement in the shoulder girdle, including the chest, shoulders, traps, lats, and shoulder blades.
Fixing the Problem
1. Proper Grip Placement
For the snatch, your grip should be wide enough so that, when standing at the top of a deadlift, the bar sits in the crease of your hip. For the clean, ensure your grip is right outside your hips. This adjustment helps prevent the need to bend your arms to get the bar to the right spot.
2. Engaging the Shoulder Girdle
To fix the tension issue, you need to engage your shoulder girdle properly during the setup of your lift. Here’s how:
Set Up Consistently: Make sure your setup is the same every time you lift. Consistency is key to developing good mechanics.
Engage Your Shoulders: Pull your shoulders back, squeeze your chest, and activate your lats. You should feel tension in your shoulder blades and across your entire shoulder girdle.
Create Full-Body Tension: Ensure that your lower back, hamstrings, and toes are all engaged. Your shoulders should be slightly over the bar, and the bar should have a slight bend due to the tension.
You should feel very tight and almost uncomfortable in your setup. This level of engagement is crucial, especially for Olympic lifts where precision and control are paramount.
Practicing the Setup
When practicing your setup, focus on these key elements:
Consistency: Make sure every rep starts with the same setup.
Tension: Engage your shoulder girdle fully and create tension throughout your body.
Control: Feel in control of the bar from the start, which will help you maintain good mechanics throughout the lift.
Transferring Mechanics to Workouts
By focusing on good mechanics during your strength work and heavy lifts, you'll develop habits that will carry over to your metcons and higher-rep workouts. Once you have consistent, good mechanics, you can add intensity, heavier loads, and speed.
Final Thoughts
Improving your Olympic lifts is about understanding the root cause of issues like early arm bend and addressing them with proper technique and engagement. Remember, the goal is to have good mechanics to prevent injury and improve performance.
If you found this helpful, share it with a friend who might be struggling with their lifts. Check out the show notes for a video breakdown of proper setups and more tips on improving your lifts.
Thanks for listening and adding another tool to your fitness toolbox. Stay healthy and happy lifting!
Cheers, Coach Berek
