Clean and press: Difference between revisions

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The clean and press is a weight training exercise, and was part of the sport of weightlifting in the Olympics until 1972, when it was removed due to difficulties in judging proper technique. The clean and press technique consists of the two main movements of which it is named.

After taking a big breath and setting the back, the lifter jumps the bar up through triple extension (in very quick succession) of the hips, knees and then ankles. When the legs have driven the bar as high as possible, the lifter pulls under the bar by violently shrugging (contracting) the trapezius muscles of the upper back ("traps") dropping into a deep squat position and spinning the hands around the bar so the elbows are extended in front.^[1][2]

At the same time, as the arms are brought up with the elbows extended in front of the chest so the bar may now lay across or "rest" across the palms, the front of the shoulder or deltoid muscles, and the clavicles. At this point the lifter should be in a full squat position, with his buttocks on or very close to the heels, sitting erect with the bar resting comfortably across the deltoids and fingers. By keeping a rigid torso and maintaining a deep breath hold the bar bends over the lifter's clavicle.^[3][1][2]

The improvement in construction of modern weightlifting bars has greatly increased this springing action compared with bars used in the first half of the twentieth century. This springing action is used to rebound from the full bottom squat position. This is commonly known as a front squat.

Once the bar is on the anterior deltoids, the lifter proceeds to pressing the weight overhead. Eventually the technique was to stand erect, then dip in the knees ever slightly and then spring up with your legs and back, pressing upwards hard. From there, the lifter would drop back into a layback position to receive the weight past the sticking point. Finally, the lifter would stand erect with the weight locked out at arms' length overhead. All of this is done within a matter of a couple seconds. During the Olympics, many lifters lie back while pressing, that is said only because there were a few lifters who did not lean back to receive the weight overhead. Of course, that is because that stricter form of pressing could not get as much weight as the far looser style of pressing employed by the champions, which allowed for much more weight to be pressed.

• Olympic Press Techniques: The Way They Did It Before 1972
• The Tragic History of the Military Press in Olympic and World Championship Competition, 1928-1972, John Fair (Department of History and Geography, Georgia College & State University), Journal of Sport History, Fall 2001 vol 28 No3, pp 345–374