Clean | Juggernaut Training Systems

Best Exercises to Improve Your Clean

Chad Wesley Smith — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 00:02:08 +0000

Max Aita shares his favorite movements to address different weak points and improve the Clean.

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4 Tips to Improve Your Front Squat

Chad Wesley Smith — Thu, 20 May 2021 13:21:30 +0000

Max Aita brings you 4 Tips To Improve Your Front Squat. Use these simple but effective tips to improve the this lift to help you in Weightlifting, CrossFit and general strength training.

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5 Tips To Improve Your Clean

Chad Wesley Smith — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 14:18:19 +0000

Coach Max Aita and Team Juggernaut bring your 5 Tips To Improve Your Clean. Use these simple but effective tips to improve at one of the most powerful lifts in all of strength training.

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How To Warmup for the Clean

Chad Wesley Smith — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 17:47:23 +0000

Try out these drills to better warmup before your next Clean workout.

An effective Clean warmup should increase core temperature, increase blood flow to the necessary muscle groups and reinforce the motor patterns of the Clean. Here is a sample Clean warmup:

Clean Grip RDL

-Hold Barbell with Regular Clean grip

-Feet Between Hip and Shoulder Width Apart

-Brace the Torso and Depress the Scapula

-Maintain Lat Engagement Throughout Movement

-Hinge at hip with controlled eccentric stopping below knee, shins remain perpendicular throughout Movement

-Maintain neutral spine for Entire movement

-5 to 10 reps

Elbows-In Goblet Squat Press

–Feet shoulder width apart

-Knees and toes tracking together

-Hold a plate or KB 6-12” in front of you

-With upper back neutral pull elbows together press up overhead to limit of ROM

-Use tempo, pausing, stretching to gain more ROM

-6-8 reps

Front Rack Stretch

–Use full grip if possible, wedge stick under tricep

-Keep wrist rigid and neutral

-Use opposite hand to apply pressure to tricep

-Keep torso neutral, no hyperextension

-Use tempo, pausing, holds to gain more ROM

-Incorporate between sets of Front Squats, Cleans, Jerks

-8-10 reps, 20-30 second stretches

Muscle Clean

-Hold Barbell with Clean grip

-Feet Between Hip and Shoulder Width Apart

-Start from Power Position, Soft knees, Shoulders Above Barbell

-Initiate drive through legs to full extension

-Continue elbow drive upward ONLY Rotate arms around bar into front rack

-Shoulders remain above barbell throughout pull

-Elbows pointed forward, full grip on bar

-4-6 reps

Front Squat

-Bar in front rack

-Feet Between Hip and Shoulder Width, toes pointed with knees

-Elbows pointed forward/up

-Initiate Squat from hips/knees together

-Knees track with toes

-Shoulders pushing into bar lats engaged

-Maintain a neutral spine, chest up

-5-10 reps

Clean from Power Position

-Hold Barbell with Clean grip

-Feet Between Hip and Shoulder Width Apart

-Start from power position, soft knees, shoulders above bar

-Drive through legs to full extension

-Elbows drive UP pulling body under, hips move DOWN into Squat

-Rotate arms around bar into front rack

-Keep shoulders actively pushing into bar

-5 reps

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How To Have Your Best Weightlifting Meet

Chad Wesley Smith — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 22:38:24 +0000

Team Juggernaut is the best Weightlifting team in the Country. Max Aita is here to help you have your best meet possible with tutorials on how to handle Tapering, Weight Cuts, Meet Day Nutrition, Warmups and Attempt Selection.

Designing an effective taper is a balancing act between decaying fatigue and maintaining fitness to ensure that you can put forth your best performance on the platform, where it counts. Max Aita discusses the considerations he makes when tapering Team Juggernaut athletes.

Effective weight cutting can make or break your meet performance. Max discusses how Team Juggernaut approaches their weight cutting and meet day nutrition protocols.

You’ve trained hard, you cut weight and now you’re in the backroom ready to get on the empty bar. Max Aita gives you his strategies to warm up and make sure you’re timing properly relative to when you’ll take your opener.

Picking the right attempts can be the difference between winning a meet and losing, Max Aita weighs in with Team Juggernaut’s attempt selection strategy.

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Improving the Clean

Chad Wesley Smith — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 20:00:41 +0000

The Clean is one of the most effective tools to develop speed & power in any athlete and is critical to success for Weightlifters.

Team Juggernaut Head Weightlifting Coach Max Aita goes step by step through the most important aspects of Clean Technique in our Clean Pillar Series

Improve your clean technique and your communication with your athletes/training partners with these cues from Max Aita.

One of the most challenging aspects of beginning to learn the Clean & Jerk is the ability to hold the bar in a proper front rack. In this tutorial, Dr. Quinn Henoch with some assistance from Juggernaut Weightlifter Kristi Brewer (World and American Masters Record Holder in the Snatch and Clean & Jerk) shows you some simple steps to improve this position.

Standing up big weights in the Clean will require great leg strength and the Front Squat will be the most important tool for that.

Where should you contact the bar in the clean, the hip or the thigh? Max Aita discusses the differences in each and why one may work better for you.

Is the bar crashing down on your shoulders in the clean, making it very hard to stand up and prepare for the jerk? Max Aita has some solutions for you.

Elbows contacting the knees during the catch of a clean can be very dangerous to a lifter, as well as being illegal. Here is how to fix this problem…

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5 Tips for a Better Clean

Chad Wesley Smith — Mon, 04 May 2020 14:13:53 +0000

Focus on these 5 aspects of your clean technique for better performance and results.

Setting up properly in the start position is critical to success in the rest of the lift.

#1-Foot Position

By placing the feet under the hips you maximize the ability to generate an effective explosion at the top of the pull. As well as prevent the knees from push against the arms and getting in the way of the pull from the ground. Bodyweight should stay mid-foot during the start position to ensure balance and proper use of the legs.

#2-Bar Position

The barbell needs to start just above the balls of the feet to ensure that you can generate the proper power from the ground with your legs AND allow for the bar to travel inward towards your body as you initiate the lift.

#3-Shoulder Position

From the side view if we draw a line from the lifters shoulders to the ground that line should fall somewhere between the knee and the barbell and land over the ball of the foot. Lining up the position of the shoulder will automatically place the hips in the right position to start the pull.

Creating an ideal bar path in the pull will not only improve your clean but the easier the pull is the easier the recovery from the clean will be, and that will translate into more successes in the jerk.

#1-Start of the Pull

Because the lifter is set up properly they are able to utilize their legs to initiate the start of the movement from the floor. This use of the legs at the start prepares you to properly position yourself for the explosion at the top of the pull by allowing you to move the knees back and distribute the forces of the pull to the low back and hips/hamstrings.

#2-Knees Moving Back

If #1 is done properly the knees should have moved back as a byproduct of the legs extending. Your shins should be approximately perpendicular to the floor when the bar is in front of the knee cap.

#3-Back Angle

If you use the legs properly from the start the back angle should remain relatively constant. Once the bar reaches the knees the shoulders should move slightly forward to compensate for the bar traveling backward as a result of the knees moving back and the bar sweeping toward you.

In order to maximize your power in the explosion you need to move properly through the transition and into the power position. Timing, position and tempo all play into this and here’s how.

#1-The Readjustment

Once the barbell has passed the knees and the legs have become fully extended your knees will readjust and shift under the barbell as a byproduct of the hips extending.

#2-The Power Position

As you continue to extend the hips your torso will move into a more vertical position as the barbell reaches your hips. Your bodyweight will remain mid-foot as the bar reaches the hip. This power position is the most advantageous position to generate an enormous power from.

#3-The Explosion

If #1 and #2 have been successfully executed you can now maximize your explosion via a forceful and violent extension of the legs, and hips. This action should be very powerful and if executed properly will direct the barbell in a vertical trajectory. Too much emphasis on the use of the hips rather than the legs will result in the bar landing forward in the front rack.

The better your turnover and rack the more efficient your recovery will be in the clean. Here are the key points to make the most of your clean turnover.

#1-Active Upper Body

Your arms and upper back should actively be pulling against the bar as you squat down during the turnover. This action of pulling against the bar will keep the bar close to you and maintain a feel for where the barbel is in relation to your body.

#2-Active Feet

Lifting the feet off the platform will directly improve speed under the barbell as it allows you to move your hips downward faster.

#3-Move the Hips Down

Focusing on moving your hips down into the squat position to catch the bar will position you in the strongest and most stable place to receive the barbell. Focus on the hips will prevent you from the habit of dropping your chest to move under the bar as well.

Properly racking the bar in the clean can make or break the rest of the lift. Here are the key points to improve your rack in the clean.

#1-Elbows Up During the Front Rack

The bar should be positioned behind the front delts while the elbows are driven up to maintain a tight rack position. If the elbows drop the bar will roll forward.

#2-Foot Placement

Your feet should be outside your hips with the toes and knees tracking in the same plane. For some this may be more turned out for others it may be straight forward the key is that your knee and toes are tracking together.

#3-Torso Posture

The hips should be set back with the torso in a relatively vertical position and the arms locked out completely overhead. This position allows you to remain balanced over the mid foot with the barbell overhead.Jerk start

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Developing Weightlifting Technique

Team Juggernaut — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 19:23:08 +0000

The technique of the Snatch and Clean & Jerk are intricate and complex, when done poorly they’re a mess but when executed well, they’re a symphony of power and coordination. That well executed technique is a combination of three aspects working together harmoniously, Height of the Bar, Trajectory of the Bar/Athlete and the Athlete’s Time to Fixation Under the Bar, this relationship we call, The Weightlifting Technique Triad.

Developing weightlifting technique and assessing where an athlete’s technique falters relies upon understanding the inter-relationship of Bar Height, Bar Trajectory and Time to Fixation of the Bar.

The ability to impart height to the barbell requires a combination of strength in the legs and back, along with balancing tension and speed. Squatting and pulling exercises can help better develop bar height, but pulling the bar high for heights sake, is a sign of inefficiency.

Weightlifting fans are constantly enamored with lifters who appear to be exceptionally fast going under the bar, this is a quality that we call Time to Fixation. Being able to quickly fix oneself under a heavy barbell requires great technique and skill, as well as bravery.

While a strong lifter can pull the bar high and a fast lifter can go under the bar quickly, neither quality will matter if the bar isn’t going in the right place in relation to the lifters body, this is Barbell Trajectory.

The movements of Weightlifting are technically complex, while also requiring great strength, speed and flexibility to execute successful. In our Technique Pillars series, Max Aita will take you step by step through the foundational aspects of effective and efficient technique.

Snatch

Clean

Jerk

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Pillars of Clean Technique

Team Juggernaut — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 19:00:18 +0000

The Clean is a great developer of power in the legs and back, while developing intermuscular coordination for sport. For the Weightlifter, it is important to pull, catch and stand with the bar with confidence to setup a successful subsequent jerk attempt.

A good clean begins with a good start position, Max Aita shows you how to find the right start position for you.

Pulling the bar from the floor, keeping it close and setting your self up for a great explosion phase is the focus of our next Clean Pillar with Max Aita and Alyssa Ritchey.

The explosion from the hips is critical to impart height to the bar while keeping it close to your body for a successful lift.

Turning the bar over with quick elbows and tension throughout the body is critical to a successful clean.

Catching the bar in the right place in your front rack is key to a made lift and the ability to stand the bar up confidently to prepare you for a big jerk.

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Pillars of Front Squat

Team Juggernaut — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 15:19:20 +0000

The Front Squat is a foundational movement to build quad strength, positioning for weightlifting and the ability to recover from heavy cleans before you drive a heavy jerk overhead. Team Juggernaut Head Weightlifting Coach Max Aita is one of the strongest front squatters of all-time with a 272kg/600# PR at 91kg/200# bodyweight and in this series, shares his expertise with you to improve your technique and performance in the Front Squat.

The Front Rack

Holding the bar in the right place is the first key to a successful Front Squat. In this video, Max discusses hand placement on the bar and where on your shoulders the bar should rest.

Are you struggling with the necessary mobility for the Front Rack? Dr. Quinn Henoch is here to help:

Breathing & Bracing

For many lifters, the limiting factor in the Front Squat is the ability to stay upright. The chest tipping forward and hips shooting up and back makes it very easy to keep the bar in place and if you’re standing up a max clean, can sap your energy before the jerk. In this installment, Max discusses how to best breathe and brace to lock in a strong position under heavy weight.

The Setup

Putting your feet in the right position in the Front Squat is important in regards to lifting the most weight, as well as maximizing transfer of training to the Clean.

The Descent

Proper foot pressure, knee position and tempo are all critical to optimizing your descent in the Front Squat.

The Ascent

This is where the magic happens. Max discusses knee position, hip position and movement patterning to maximizing your Front Squat strength.

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