One picture can tell a Thousand Words:
This is a picture of Nadezhda Evstyukhina from Russia doing a Clean Pull. Notice how she fully extends the lift. She keeps the bar extremely close to the body, not allowing any distance between herself and the bar. Horizontal Displacement of the Bar makes you inefficient. I would like to point out and is many times overlooked is what her Wrists are doing/not doing during this lift. At the top end of the pull, she does not Flex her wrist under her at full extension. This is a key concept that goes missed all the time by athletes and coaches when performing this movement. Athletes have a tendency not to give this exercise the Technical Attention it deserves.
When an athlete Flexes his/her Wrist at the top of a Pull it makes the movement Biomechanically Inefficient. There are several coaches that teach and encourage this method when performing Pulls and it is wrong. If you Flex the Wrist at the top of the movement you will create space between you and the bar. It will then change the trajectory of the bar, causing the bar to go out and away from you. Your Wrist & Forearm Muscles are not as strong as your Traps, Legs, and Back Muscles. Lastly, this method of Flexing the Wrist will take too much time causing a looping and crashing effect on your body, again do to poor mechanics making you inefficient.
Keep the Wrist straight as you pull then when you turn the bar over you will have a shorter range of motion, increased speed, and a more secured Final Position with the bar on your shoulders (Rack Position) allowing for a better Transition into the Jerk. Try this next time and every time you perform this movement. When coaching the sport of Weightlifting the more closer Technically the Assistance Exercises are to the actual Lift the better Transfer those movements will have into the Main Lifts (Snatch and Clean & Jerk).
Coach Joe Micela
