power clean

Power clean is a great exercise for hip explosion. But you need to be very careful because if done wrong, they can be very harmful for a baseball player. It really takes someone that knows what they are doing to teach them correctly. When I first started working for the Univ of Nebraska, it took me over 6 months before they would let me supervise the power clean area.

There are two things that are somewhat negative about the clean. One is that throwing athletes usually don't want to build their traps up too much. It can put your shoulder in a bad position. The other is the stress it puts on your wrist during the catching phase of the exercise.

I'm not trying to scare you away from cleans because I really like them but you might want to put them in the early offseason part of your workout and stay away from them during the inseason.

Mike Griffin
No Excuse Baseball
http://www.noexcusesbaseball.com

Kerry Rosenboom has not been on this site in awhile. But if you look far enough back you should find an old post in which he states that his pitchers at Wichita State do not do any sort of Olympic lifts because of the potential for injury if done improperly.

I love to power clean. when done correctly it is very good exercise.

Cleans are an olympic lift. As such , most people who use them in their training generally use a low rep protocol.

If you keep the reps up around 20, you'll not only keep them safer, you'll get one hell of a conditioning workout!

20 reps is way too many for any olympic lift. These lifts must be done with very good technique or you will get hurt. If you do 20 reps, you will be way too tired for good technique and are at a huge risk of injury. If the weight is light enough that you can do 20 times, it isn't enough to really build any power either. I wouldn't go more than 5 or 6 on the olympic lifts.

Mike Griffin
http://www.noexcusesbaseball.com

There is no way you should rep at 20+ in power clean. It should be 3 sets of 6 or 6-5-4 set. As a catcher, I love this explosive exercise and perfected it over last winter. I maxed at 275lbs. last year as a Junior and plan to hit 300 this winter. It helps the core, the main area needed for powerful hitting.

By the way...I was on the Husker Power program during last summer. It really helped, figured you would know something about that huh, Mike G?

Which program were you on? Did you buy it from them?

Mike Griffin
http://www.noexcusesbaseball.com

MIKE G, what are you thoughts about a hang clean for baseball players.

what is power clean?

Our school had it, I guess it was the football power workout. My football coach says the football and baseball husker power workouts are the same...i didn't believe him. Maybe you could tell me different?

The Husker Power baseball and football workouts have been very similar in the past. They are making some changes now due to personel changes. I don't think they rack their cleans anymore. They do squat jumps or clean jumps instead. They are very focused on scapular stabilization also. Their belief is that strength training makes you a better athlete. The baseball coaches take that extra athleticism and make you a better baseball player. I think in many ways both programs will be similar but usually baseball programs need to be more concerned with shoulder stability.

As far as my thoughts on cleans, I think they are a great lift hip explosion. But are they great for baseball players? I have some concerns with the catching part of the clean. Some people never have any problem with it but some do. So is it worth the potential problems? I tend to stay away from them. I would opt for clean jumps, squat jumps, or maybe DB Snatch instead. A lot of big time baseball schools still do them. Its been 2 seasons since I remember talking to them about it but I think some schools like Rice and Florida St. were using cleans. There were more schools but I can't remember many of them. I know of several all-americans at Nebraska that were doing cleans so it doesn't look like it hurt them.

I know when I write programs for players, I rarely put cleans in the program because most people don't know how to do them. If you don't have an expert to teach them, I would definitely avoid them. The chances for injury increase dramatically.

Basically, I'd say that cleans are great for somethings but you just have to consider the cost to benefit ratio. Is the risk of problems worth the benefits?

I hope this helps some even though I'm not giving a definitive answer.

Mike Griffin
No Excuses Baseball
http://www.noexcusesbaseball.com

Mike G,
I am needing a offseason workout, considering I don't agree with my coach on the Husker Power schedule. I love the Husker Power workout, considering I put on a good 20lbs of muscle mass in 2 months. It really boosted my core lifts and secondary lifts. What I am concerned about is the baseball aspect of the workout. I don't feel that it helped me considerably on the baseball field. I have visited your site and know you know what you are talking about. If you would be able to make a workout for me, 3 times a week to bring out the best in my catching and pure baseball ability, I would appreciate it tremendously. It would help me with my coach as well. I am a experienced lifter so I could do almost any lift. Thanks again!

Glad to see that some of you have visited http://www.hatchdome.com There are several videos that demonstrate and explain all of the olympic lifts. I know a few of you are concerned about proper technique and whether or not cleans are safe. Olympic lifts are like any other exercise - they can be dangerous if done incorrectly. Technique should never be sacrificed for weight.

Jessica Rikard, LMT
Assistant Coach
Gayle Hatch Weightlifting

There has been a little controversy about the intentions of another coach and myself posting about our website I referred to earlier. The site is free, you don't even have to register. Our forum is much like this one, lots of registered athletes, coaches, athletic trainers. The site promotes strength and speed training for all athletes, as well as the sport of weightlifting. Our primary focus: the athlete.

Jessica Rikard, LMT
Assistant Coach
Gayle Hatch Weightlifting

There are many respected strength coaches that are adament that cleans,snatches,power cleans and other olympic weightlifting moves will ruin your shoulders - that they are too hard on the rotator cuff. These comments are directed at atheletes other than baseball players! Now mix the two sports. There are many ways to improve baseball skills and strength without having to do olympic lifts or variants thereof and risk injury.
Tim Robertson

I use the Olympic Lifts with all of my baseball players.

Of course i am there to teach and supervise, but I feel the benefits far, far outweigh the risks.

In addition to building an explosive posterior chain the hang snatch is a great scapular muscle builder.

I perform all O-lifts from the hang for baseball players and do deadlifts on their own.

I typically use a 40-65% load done very explosively for low reps (2-4). Bar speed and hamstring, posterior chain recruitment is key