Staying over the bar is VITAL in the clean. However, it’s a fine line between staying over the bar and staying too far over the bar, or in some cases not far enough. Here are two reasons why it’s important.
KEEPS YOU BALANCED.
From a sagittal plane it’s highly important to stay balanced. With the proper starting position, as discussed in the last post, staying balanced shouldn’t be much of an issue. However, if through the 1st and 2nd pull the shoulders fall behind the bar too early equal pressure through the whole foot will be lost. The same goes for keeping the shoulders too far in front of the bar, where too much weight will be in front of the centre of mass, causing the weight to be shifted on the balls of the feet, resulting in the clean being forward. If a heavy bar is added to the equation a great deal of complexity comes along with it. The bar should always be positioned in line with the centre of mass, keeping the balance the same even if the bar wasn’t there. However, due to the fact that the bar is relatively heavy compared to one’s body mass, any deviation of the bar away from the centre of mass will have a great impact on one’s balance. THIS is what makes the position of the shoulders during the 1st and 2nd pull so crucial.
GIVES YOU MORE ROOM TO GENERATE FORCE.
The further in front of the bar, thus more room for the upper body and hips have to to generate force into the triple extension. Seems like a solid reason for staying even further way over the bar, however, one can only go thus far over the bar before violating the first reason for staying over the bar. The same goes for staying too far behind the bar, you’ll lose balance through the 1st and 2nd pull. With the optimal position one will be able to take advantage of the room the shoulders have to lean back into to generate maximal force through the triple extension while staying balanced. In addition to that, if the shoulders are in front of the bar and balance is obtained the hips get the same advantage as the shoulder, they have more room for extend into the bar, therefore optimising the triple extension even further.