Starting Strength

more horizontal as the bar curves back into balance during the first part of the pull, below the knees. A common complication of this position error is that the back angle overshoots equilibrium with the pull, becoming more horizontal than it should. This angle throws the shoulders too far forward and causes the bar to follow the shoulders, again making the bar run forward of the mid-foot balance point. Better lifters can stabilize their back angle before it becomes too horizontal, but they won’t need to if the bar comes off the floor in an efficient vertical path in balance over the mid-foot. The correct starting position facilitates this balanced vertical bar path.

    Figure 6-23. Bar path errors caused by the knees-forward/hips-down start position. (A) The bar goes forward around the knees, usually only at light weights. (B) The bar comes back toward the mid-foot, having been pushed too far forward by the knees. Neither bar path is vertical off the floor. ( M.A. = moment arm )

    You correct both errors (letting the bar move forward or backward) by raising your hips and pulling the bar back into your shins, thus putting the bar in the correct line of pull before it leaves the floor. You might need to think about keeping your weight back on your heels, especially if you are wearing weightlifting shoes with higher heels. Shoes are an important piece of personal equipment, but if they throw you into a forward position before you start the pull, they will create more problems than they solve. Remember to get back off of your toes and onto your mid-foot before you start the pull.
     
    So, one extreme occurs when the knee angle is too closed, the back angle is too vertical, the shoulders are behind the bar, and the hips are too low. The other extreme occurs when the knee angle is too open, the hip angle is too closed, and the back is nearly parallel to the floor. This set of angles (much less commonly observed due to the tendency of most people to start with their hips too low) presents a different problem.

    Figure 6-24. The hips-too-high starting position. Even with the bar in the correct place over the mid-foot, the shoulders will be too far in front of the bar. This position causes the bar to swing away forward to the normal pulling configuration, where the humerus is stable at 90 degrees to the lats, leaving the bar out in front.

Here, the quadriceps muscles of the thighs have essentially been removed from the lift, since their job of extending the knees has already been done before the bar leaves the floor. If the knees extend before the bar moves, the quads contribute nothing to the first part of the lift. Again, a starting position problem contributes to problems higher in the pull. The back is nearly parallel to the floor, and this position places the shoulders out in front of the bar. When the bar leaves the floor, it swings forward to get in position under the scapulas, leaving it forward of the mid-foot. If the pull is rescued from this mistake, then when the bar gets to the jumping position, the knees are still too straight and the back angle too horizontal for the lifter to jump efficiently, because jumping requires a balance between knee extension and hip extension that produces a vertical bar path. If the lifter’s back is too horizontal, then as the hip angle opens, the bar swings away from the body, in a “loop,” a classic error in which the bar goes out instead of up. This is just one way to loop the pull in a clean or snatch. Catching a looped clean requires jumping forward, which obviously kills your pulling efficiency. You can easily correct the problem by adjusting your starting position: lower your hips, squeeze your chest up, and keep the bar against your shins as you pull.

    Figure 6-25. A simple correction for a too-forward starting position (A) is getting your weight back over your mid-foot by shifting the weight back off the forefoot and toes (B).

    The point here is that a vertical bar path off the floor reduces the amount of variation in the bar path higher up in the clean. Using a start position that produces a vertical bar path off the floor every time makes for a more easily reproducible pull at the top, because the bar enters the second pull from a position of balance over the mid-foot every time. The correct starting position reduces errors and allows the lifter to focus on explosion instead of on bar path and technique problems, as well as making the pull more mechanically