How to Clean Powerfully

One of my favorite lifts is the power clean. It helps in explosiveness and body control. It doesn't just work your legs but your core as well. There is just one problem.

It's a lift that's tough to get right. There can be a lot of ways to do it wrong and a lot of ways to hurt yourself if it's done wrong.

To be honest, when it comes to this lift (and many others) I'm still working on my form; critiquing every detail to ensure that I'm not going to hurt myself doing this, and to attain as much work as I can from this lift.

That said, here's an easy and practical look at how to perform the power clean. I hope this is helpful in your endeavorer to get stronger and be safe in the process.

Let me know if you have any additional tips.

Top photo from www.crossfitdaytona.com
http://www.crossfitdaytona.com/my_weblog/2009/03/index.html

The Thomas Jones Arm Workout: A Test of Patience

This past week my friend Kent got me to start the Thomas Jones arm workout with him.

For those who've never heard of Thomas Jones:currently he is a star runningback for the Kansas City Chiefs, and being the guy carrying the ball he has to have strong arms to keep it safe from the defensive lineman and linebackers. He has developed some of the most impressive arms I've ever seen, and seeing that his arm workout is available, I thought, "Yeah, why not?"

I started the first phase of the six phase program with Kent the other day, and the it was the toughest arm workout that I have ever done!

My arms were toast when we were done and it only took us 20-25 minutes.

The first phase of this workout is to isolate and develop the brachialis, the muscle underneath the bicep. Many body builder/ weight lifters forget about this muscle and I'm thinking I fall into that category.

Although my arms were thrashed, I couldn't really see the pump like I normally do after an arm workout. My "unseen" muscles were the muscles that took the beating. I could barely pick up a 30 lb. dumbbell that day!

After that workout, I thought, "Boy, my arms are beat and I can't even see any pump. This is lame. I don't wanna go through this killer six week long program. This is going to take too long, just to get big arms."

Then I corrected myself. I wasn't having a patient, positive attitude about this. I had to make a change.

My previous post was about taking patience in acquiring strength and muscle and I was despairing about the time it was going to take to go through this program!

That first day of the Thomas Jones workout taught me to walk my talk and practice patience.

For more on Thomas Jones and his massive arms: http://stacktv.stack.com/video.aspx?videoID=686946529001_373

Sources for Thomas Jones photos: http://dontmesswithtexans.com/tag/duane-brown/
http://www.operationsports.com/forums/pro-football/208464-yearly-thomas-jones-pic.html

Ya Gotta Start Somewhere

Even as a beginner, you can study the correct form of lifting from people who know what they're doing. You won't be able to do as much as them at first.

That's okay. There's no shame in getting down the fundamentals before you proceed to more difficult lifts and heavier weight.

You're not doing yourself any good by trying to be ambitious and lift a bunch of weight before you've learned how to do the lighter weight the right way. That's how you mess up your back or tear a muscle. Then you've gotten no where. Train hard but train smart.

Learn to be patient. Results come with patience.