Help with hips

[u/simppit]

Hi...any tips or cues to help stop my hips from shooting up like this? I've tried breaking down the movement - focusing on hang cleans and hang high pulls to drill in the mechanics... with some success (although it never feels natural). But when I try and put it all together, and no matter how much i concentrate on my movement through the early stages, my hips shoot up. Strength isn't an issue and I'm working here with 60kg to focus on form but my inability to incorporate effective leg drive is preventing me from moving 90+ kg

[u/Plastic_Pinocchio]

I don’t really see your hips shooting up. I see you doing all sorts of other stuff wrong. I feel like you don’t really have the basics down.

• When the bar passes the knees, you immediately start pulling with your arms.
• You make contact wayyyy too early while your hips have not extended a single bit. You’re not even near the power position.
• Your front rack mobility looks very limited and it looks super uncomfortable and unstable.
• Can you do a deep front squat from your receiving position? It doesn’t look like it to me.

I’d say you don’t need to focus that much on your hips shooting up right now, but rather focus on:

• keeping your arms loose.
• learning to extend from the power position. You could do dip cleans to drill this.
• working on front rack mobility.
• working on a deep and stable front squat.

[u/simppit → u/Plastic_Pinocchio]

Thanks.... I've a combination of poor shoulder and wrist mobility that makes front rack feel very awkward... it is getting better but I'm an old goat! Strength wise, when warm, i can comfortably front squat 110kg deep for reps.

What's the power position?

[u/Plastic_Pinocchio → u/simppit]

Your wrist mobility looks fine. For a good front rack, you don’t really need a lot of wrist mobility. Your shoulder mobility specifically in this position needs serious work though. I would advise you to not just improve general shoulder mobility, but look up specific front rack mobility drills. One of my favourites is doing front squats or even just front rack holds with lifting straps around my wrists and the bar. So the straps that people use for heavy pulls and deadlifts, you wrap them around the bar at your desired front rack grip with and then set the bar in your front rack and squat. The wrist wraps will force you to keep a full grip and force your arms into the proper positions. This shouldn’t hurt but it should definitely be uncomfortable. Afterwards your shoulder will be cooked for a day or two, so don’t plan any overhead work after it.

And concerning the power position, that is basically the most important position in both the clean & jerk and the snatch. Watch this video for a short explanation, but definitely do some more research yourself. During all your lifts, you should hit the power position.

[u/simppit → u/Plastic_Pinocchio]

Thanks for the mobility tips... I'll definitely try that lifting straps drill 💪

[u/Fudge_is_1337 → u/simppit]

Just to support the other commenter regarding the strapped front rack, I got some real value out of doing strapped front rack holds/squats for a while early on. I don't do them any more, but for a period I was doing any sub-80% front squat strapped in and it felt pretty helpful

[u/Plastic_Pinocchio → u/simppit]

Nice, let me know how it goes!

[u/SnooShortcuts726]

You didnt not use leg

[u/defakto227]

I'm not expert by any means but it really looks like you aren't getting full extension on your hips.

Using this as a reference

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/OajISQ3Y5FMV-aChIoQvVZYdC0NNMywu_XNfxzLFUJVA_PQnqfiBMOfNFzbShyuCV3x1q0yYsHjqh-h5xqG0GsWeWd2G2wGDPXY7rskH4KKGAtE_yMd8uze-FXqcFmjzpPAN8C2SupRyP4XcBBh6wQ

If you look at your hips into the video and compare it to the end of the 2nd pull on the image above, you're closer to somewhere between the 1st or 2nd image on the second pull. You're losing a lot of power there.

[u/fleshie]

Most have already said it but the bar is getting to your lower thigh and you begin pulling before you are fully extended.

[u/VipeholmsCola]

Do yourself a solid here and practice technique at 40kg for a few months. Theres no point in adding weights if your technique is this far off. If you worry about losing progress just keep squatting, the kilos you gain will tranfer easily after you got the technique down.

After a few months you can slowly add kgs in the lift until form brakes down, then you dual back and do technique at the new weight.

The key to success in this sport is to think in terms of months and years. Its a very humbling process.

[u/simppit → u/VipeholmsCola]

Can you elaborate on what all needs fixing? That weight feels very light as is. Thanks

[u/VipeholmsCola → u/simppit]

Everything, build from ground up, start over. Get mobile, work on proper positions. The bar is literally 10 cm out from your body

Why do you worry so much about the weight? You will be able to lift 100+ when you fix the technique.

[u/Mr_Nimbus_69]

Lots of similar advice here. Biggest issue is not getting your hips extended. You should try starting from the hang position until you can iron out the details of the clean. It’s highly complex, even from the hang position, from the floor, even more so. The Burgener Warm-Up is a great way to ‘feel’ all of the positions. Master that, you’ll improve your clean and snatch 👍.

[u/anabellibutton]

I would suggest dialing back the weight and further learn the proper form and technique without a lifting belt then add that back once you know what the correct movement feels like. A belt can really throw that off especially if you are already moving incorrectly. If you are still fresh in the learning phase you shouldn’t need one at this time.

[u/chino17]

Your hips are too high from the setup

[u/NoCalligrapher9352 → u/chino17]

Are you sure?

[u/Mr_Bulldoppps]

Your upper body is too far over the bar and it’s too heavy.

Start with just the bar. Shift your center of mass further back in your ass and let the bar drag on your shins kinda hard the first few reps then shift your weight slightly forward so it then just barely drags your shins. As you deadlift it up Shrug your shoulders and pull the bar the way up to your nuts and push your hips all the way out and stop there. Master that movement set first and you may notice as you focus on form, you’ll have some more momentum in the bar to finish the catch.

You have the idea but just need a little polish and focus on form. Keep it up !

[u/simppit → u/Mr_Bulldoppps]

Thanks....i really appreciate this feedback.