Thursday 17, July 2014

Skill:

could it be ring work - YES

Strength:

Bench press
3-3-3 warm up
5-5-5-3-1+ 75/85/95%

Stabilizer:

3x12 hanging leg raise

Metcon:

5x

2 mins
Hang cleans

1 min rest

Max weight 60/50kg
Recommended 50/40kg

Hang Clean For Total Body Power

by Eric Bach   06/25/14

Here's what you need to know...

•  The clean is the top dog in resistance programs for improving performance as it requires triple extension of the hips, knees, and ankles in a coordinated, explosive pattern – a movement that simulates the triple extension in both sprinting and jumping.

•  Hang cleans will get you absolutely jacked. They not only stimulate your forearms and traps, but nearly 200 muscles in the body so that you get a huge anabolic surge and training effect.

•  Intelligently planned cleans get you absolutely shredded. Cleans, especially when performed with a full front squat or low catch, are metabolically demanding. The explosive nature and muscle recruitment requirements will leave you absolutely floored when done with proper technique and short rest.

Without question, power cleans are a phenomenal tool in your pursuit of high performance strength and muscle. The problem is, they can be difficult to learn. Most cleans are downright atrocious. You see things like starfish legs, excessive knee valgus, and a gross lack of coordination, none of which have a place in the weight room. Hang cleans, however, are a great, doable, alternative. Here's what the most advanced version (with the added front squat) looks like:

Why the Hang Clean and Not the Power Clean?

Few lifts develop total body power and explosiveness like the hang clean. I prefer it to the power clean because of its quicker teaching time and the elimination of most mobility restrictions when pulling from the floor. Classic exercises like deadlifts are best for developing pure strength, but for explosiveness and gains in athletic performance, cleans bridge the gap between strength and speed better than any other weight room exercise.
The hang clean requires movement from the wrist, elbow, shoulder, ankle, knee, and hip joints, making it a total body exercise. This makes the clean a better bang for your buck deal than just about any other exercise. The corresponding muscles that cross each of those joints must work in cooperation to accelerate a heavy resistance, stabilize the spine, and explosively transfer power. No resistance exercise requires the biomechanical and coordinative demands of the clean. As a result, this unique exercise blends sudden strength, power, and coordination to build a high performance, show-and-go body.

For Building Athleticism

The clean requires triple extension of the hips, knees, and ankles in a coordinated, explosive pattern – a movement that simulates the triple extension in both sprinting and jumping. If you stumble on a sport that isn't improved through more powerful triple extension, coordination, and being able to absorb and transfer force, let me know. Until then, the Olympic lifts are a vital training tool for athletic performance.
When applied correctly with submaximal resistance (40-75% 1RM), hang cleans are a great tool for training speed-strength and strength-speed. Except for competitors in Olympic lifting and athletes being max tested in the clean, training with submaximal loads provides an awesome training stimulus without compromising technique. Unlike squats and deadlifts, cleans aren't an exercise you're able to "blast through" when fatigued because they have a high neurological demand. Freshness and optimal technique are imperative for maximal training effect, brute intensity, and strength.

Try this:
For maximum strength: 90-95% of 1RM for 2-3 sets x 1-2 reps and 2-5 minutes recovery.
For greater strength-speed: 70-85% of 1RM for 4-6 sets x 2-4 reps with 2-3 minutes recovery.
For greater speed-strength: 50-65% of 1RM 4-6 sets x 2-4 reps with 1-2 minutes recovery.

For Building Muscle

Hang cleans will get you absolutely jacked. They not only stimulate your forearms and traps, but nearly 200 muscles in the body so that you get a huge anabolic surge and training effect. Nearly every muscle fiber is engaged and firing to maximize explosiveness, stabilize the core for transfer of load, and to execute the clean correctly.
This ultra-efficient exercise ignites the central nervous system (CNS) to recruit more muscle fibers, challenge fast-twitch muscle fibers, and potentiate the nervous system to allow the use of greater training loads on subsequent exercises. Take a look at any experienced Olympic lifter and you find a jacked posterior chain with thick glutes, spinal erectors, yoked traps, and meat hooks for forearms. Whether you want yoked traps to fill out T-shirts or powerful hip extension for a faster pull and stronger lockout, hang cleans will develop a truly impressive physique.

Try this: 
4x6, 5x5, and 6x4 at 65-85% of 1RM with 1-2 minutes recovery are all awesome hypertrophy protocols.

For Getting Ripped

I'm not a fan of "cleaning" the snot out of people until projectile vomiting ensues and a highly technical exercise becomes a sloppy conditioning tool. There's an inverse relationship between lifting intensity (%1RM) and volume, and increasing both simultaneously is a recipe for injury and faulty movement patterns, not high performance. That said, intelligently planned cleans get you absolutely shredded. Cleans, especially when performed with a full front squat or low catch, are metabolically demanding. The explosive nature and muscle recruitment requirements will leave you absolutely floored when done with proper technique and short rest.

Try this: 
5x5 with 60% of 1RM with 60 seconds of rest or less.
5x5 cleans with 75% of 1RM with 90-120 seconds of rest.

Technique is still key, but don't be afraid to push the tempo. Cleans will leave the most seasoned lifters and athletes heaving, hawing, and pushing the red-line of metabolic demand.

To read the rest of the article and more...

http://www.t-nation.com/training/hang-clean-for-total-body-power