A few weeks ago I started rebuilding my fitness at a local gym.
One of my first goals was to start power cleaning again. I quickly discovered
that the months in which I hadn’t been to the gym my fitness had faded. Long
flights plus long illnesses had put cracks in the foundation of my fitness. My
first attempts at power cleaning told me I was lacking stability &
flexibility while much of my endurance and strength was gone. I had pain on the
inside of my right knee, shifted my weight to the left side of my body and had
a difficult time keeping proper upper body posture throughout the exercise. In
other words I had a lot to work on, primarily my alignment needed a serious
tune up. That’s where I started. As I bought my body back into proper
alignment, I focused on proper execution. How hard is it to rebuild a power
clean? Hard, but totally worth it.
Power cleaning is one of the best ways to build total body
strength. It develops flexibility, balance, stability and works multiple muscle
groups all at the same time. Despite the power clean’s versatility, it is not a
widely practiced exercise. It has great benefits but its technical nature makes
it dangerous for the untrained participant. The danger comes from the functional
expertise required to properly execute the movement. Proper form requires
strength and stability from the feet and ankles, to the knees and hips, around
the abdominals and lower back, and finally from the shoulders down to the
wrists. There is a lot to think about and plenty of room for misalignment; adding
weight only adds to the difficulty of the movement. From a personal training
perspective, there are few participants for whom a power clean is an
appropriate exercise. As an athlete, the power clean saves a lot of time and
energy, accomplishing in a few moves what would take much longer working
individual muscles. As a group exercise instructor, I’ve observed the power
clean motion in everything from Tai Chi and Yoga, down to the functional
fitness favorite: burpees. I’ve also seen it performed in classes at light
weights to reduce the risks of injury. What is it about the movement of a power
clean that is so functional, yet dangerous? Alignment. When the body is
properly aligned the movement becomes safe and functional. There are at least
three factors to consider effecting alignment: speed at which the motion is
executed, how much weight is used during execution, and whether or not the
entire motion is executed or repeated.
Before we begin a technical breakdown of alignment, let’s examine
a simple description of the movement. The power clean starts and ends with the
bar on the ground. Walk up to the middle of the bar, and take an even stance. Hands
and feet should be equidistant from the center of the bar. Bend into a
squatting position and grab the bar, palms facing the body. Explode upwards,
rotating the bar up to your shoulders, palms facing up. Catch the bar lightly
in the hands and rest it on your shoulders. Squat to the ground and come back
up. Press the bar off your shoulders and lower it gently back to the ground. Congratulations,
you’ve successfully completed one power clean! The motion is relatively simple.
It has a lift, a catch, a squat and a return to the starting position. Below is
a breakdown of each of the major joints and how to properly align them for a
power clean.
Every functional fitness exercise begins and ends in one
place: the feet. Weight distribution in the feet will make or break any
exercise. Proper form requires pressing 60/40 in the heels and ball of the
foot. I say 60/40 because we want more weight focused downwards than we do
forwards. The feet need to be firmly planted on the ground. We don’t want to
shift weight to the inner arch or to the outer blade of the foot; pressing into
the heel, ball and then toes of the foot will keep our feet in proper
alignment. We want our feet shoulder width apart, feet pointing forward. Our
feet should form parallel lines pointing forward while being perpendicular to
the rest of the body. Your stance should look like a U from a bird’s eye view.
This foundation helps keep the rest of the lower body in alignment, and allows
us to move up the kinetic chain.
Next comes the knees. While executing the squat motion of
the power clean, the knees need to be behind the toes. If we were to hang a
string from our knees, it should never go past our toes. This keeps the knee
from over extending during the squat. Over extended knees are prone to injury.
The knees need to stay in the same vertical plane as the ankles, not turning in
our out. If they turn in, we need to bring our feet in. If they turn out, we
need to widen our stance. When the knees are stacked over the ankles, they are
safe and sound, working all the muscles in the leg in a very satisfying and
proportional way. A proper stance feels powerful and makes squatting easy.
Properly aligned knees make it easy to properly align hips. Misalignment
in our hips will cause tension and discomfort in either our low back or
abdominals. Correcting proper hip position is simple. Stand as tall as you can,
puff out your chest and suck your abs in slightly. Then cross your arms, posing
like everyone’s favorite kitchen cleaner celebrity: Mr. Clean. Maintain that
posture, then sit on an imaginary chair. From a technical standpoint, the hips
need to maintain their balance during a squat. They shouldn’t tip forward,
causing an exaggerated curve in the spine, nor should they be tucked too far
in, straightening the spine, disengaging the abs and limiting your ability to
breathe deeply. Core muscles should be compressing inwards. Imagine wearing a
corset, or that your abs are fingers grabbing hold of a bottle. This keeps the
spine safe, engages the abs and lower back while squatting, and by itself
almost brings the rest of the upper body into proper alignment.
For the rest of the upper body to be in alignment, we need
to consider shoulder position. Shoulders need to be back and trapezoids need to
be relaxed. To attain this position, lift your arms horizontally, forming a T
with your upper body. Make sure your arms form a straight line, palms facing
down. Pinch your shoulder blades together, slightly extending the chest, then
drop your arms to your sides maintaining your alignment. This gives your chest
room to expand while performing the exercise and it will strengthen the
shoulders and upper back.
Finally, we need to consider the arms. When grabbing the bar
arms need to be shoulder width apart. When exploding up/lifting the bar from
the ground to the shoulders, the wrists will bend at about ninety degrees. The
weight of the bar will move from your palms to the underside of your knuckles
and the first digits of your fingers. To attain this position the elbows will
bend during the lift until they are up and out, slightly less than ninety
degrees to the body. The wrists will directly over the deltoids. Any grip wider
than the deltoid compromises the shoulder, elbows and wrists. Any closer to
each other will make holding the bar much more difficult and very uncomfortable.
My suggestion to utilizing these alignment cues is simple.
Focus on one thing at a time, and start from the ground up. Don’t try and do
everything at once. Remember, proper alignment is an art form. It makes motions
smooth, requires less energy, builds more strength and leaves a lasting feeling
of goodness. Within the above descriptions is room to find what works best for
you. The fundamentals of the exercise remain the same, but each person has to
figure out how to move for themselves. Once alignment has been established, the
exercise opens up and allows participants to challenge themselves. Alignment
has to be established first. It’s the foundation for growth.
If you don’t feel comfortable giving the power clean a go
just yet, you can do other exercises to build a foundation. To build a great foundation
I suggest squatting, deadlifting and hang cleaning. I would start with a solid
squat and work until you have full range of motion. This means you can squat
below ninety degrees and come back up without trouble. A solid squat evenly
distributes weight through the legs; it doesn’t favor one side over the other.
There shouldn’t be any pain in knees: the interior, exterior, backside or front
side. Knee pain means the feet are out of alignment. As the squat forms the
core of a power clean, you need to be comfortable squatting before moving on to
the next exercise. Deadlifting is next. The deadlift is the start of the power
clean. It’s a very simple motion. By bending at the knees, pick the weighted
bar up and set it back down. Like I said, simple. It too should be completed
without any pain, especially in the lower back. To avoid pain in the low back,
bend at the knees, keeping the shoulders aligned and maintaining proper core
and hip position. When you press up, don’t let your abs cave in. Stay tall and
let your legs do the work. Finally, I would work a hang clean. A hang clean
practices the ‘clean’ motion. While holding a bar and slightly bending your
knees, powerfully straighten your legs while pulling up on the bar. The bar
will move up towards your shoulders. Rotate your wrists and bring the bar above
your palms, bending at the elbow. As you catch the bar to rest it on your
shoulders, you should bend at the knees again. Bending your knees helps you
catch the weight and is essential to heavier cleans. Once you’ve caught the
bar, stand up. Then you can press the
bar off your shoulders and return to your starting position. Cleaning is the
most technical part of power clean and takes the most practice. Once you get
used to catching the bar on your shoulders with bent knees you’re ready to power
clean.
As we’ve looked at the motion itself, alignment issues and a
few exercises that will help us build up to the power clean, we can now look at
our three area of focus: speed, weight, and motion execution. A proper power
clean is a quick deadlift, clean, catch, squat, and then putting the weight
down to start again. High speed repetitions with light weights is considered
safe, as is slow speed with light-to-no weights. Form should be consistent no
matter what speed a power clean is executed. If the entire motion can’t be
executed by keeping form, it’s not safe and weight will need to be reduced. Be
mindful that heavier weights encourage proper form, but too heavy a weight breaks
form down. Only do what you can do properly. Picking the right amount of weight
is up to you. Proper training at light weights corrects form and strengthens
weak muscles in the kinetic chain. Consider, a slow light weight power clean
can be exhausting. By slowly building up to heavier weights, the speed and
number of the power clean repetitions can be increased. This reveals the strength
of your body’s alignment during the exercise. If your alignment isn’t stable,
don’t increase the weight. Keep training with light weights at varying speeds.
As we’ve considered speed and weight, we need to talk about
motion execution. The power clean utilizes almost every area of the body; there
are bound to be weak points in your power clean. To target those areas, do
partial reps. Partial reps practice one aspect of the lift. Example: squat for
foot, knee and hip position; deadlift for back and shoulder position; bent over
row for strengthening shoulders, arms and lower back; hang clean, for the last
bit of explosion and catching the bar. Sometimes you’ll need to focus on one
aspect of your execution before you can move forward. By strengthening the
weakest parts of your lift you’ll advance much faster than just practicing the
entire power clean motion. It’s just like preparing your body for the power
clean. You’ll need to go back to basics to help yourself advance.
There will always be a temptation to use heavier weights and
compromise your weakest muscle group. Don’t do it! Take the time to develop and
strengthen those muscles. Be patient with your body as it adapts to new exercises.
Consider how quickly or slowly you’re performing the exercise, how much weight
are you using and whether or not you need to focus on one muscle group for a
while before pressing forward. A little bit of intentional development pays
dividends in the end. The dividend we’re looking for? A strong and stable power
clean with proper alignment and precise execution. It takes a lot of work to
develop a power clean, but being able to properly execute the lift will keep
you safe, and will help you strengthen your entire body in one exercise.
I love the power clean because it’s challenging. It requires
flexibility, power, strength, endurance and stability. It’s a relatively simple
exercise with great benefits, so long as it’s executed properly. When I think
of exercises that test the fitness of the participant, the power clean comes
first to my mind. Watching someone power clean tells me a lot about their
fitness, what their goals are, what kind of shape they are in, and how well
they’ve aligned their body. When I consider the spiritual life, we may not have
a power clean type exercise, but focusing on our alignment and execution pays
dividends just as it does with the power clean.
Too often the spiritual life shrouds itself in mystery. How
do I improve my attitude? How do I get more satisfaction out of work, life, my
relationships and my vacations? Like the power clean, there are many components
that make up a great spiritual life, but until we get our foundations right we
will struggle to grow.
What is the foundation of a great spiritual life?
My first answer would be practice.
If we never practice the beliefs that guide us through life,
then our beliefs are weak. Weak beliefs stem from three areas: either there is
not enough to practice, we never practice or the practice requirements are too
difficult to utilize on a daily basis. A spiritual practice that is vague and
leaves no impact on the practitioner isn’t worth doing. It’s a sign that the
foundations of that spiritual path might lead to nowhere. Just as our physical
practices have goals, so should our spiritual practices. Goals should be established
by both practitioner and inherent within the path. These goals should have a
tangible impact on devotees. We should be able to look back and see tangible
differences in ourselves. These differences should be for our benefit and the
benefit of our communities. Any spiritual path that does not balance the
individual and the communal is fundamentally flawed. The self and the other
should both be considered valuable.
It is entirely the fault of a practitioner if they never
practice what they believe. It’s an instructor’s duty to preach something
practicable, but it’s the practitioner’s responsibility for making it happen.
If an instructor isn’t preaching something practicable, that’s the fault of the
instructor, and they should be held accountable. That system of accountability
should also be inherent within the spiritual path. Both instructor and
practitioner should be held accountable. What do I mean? Spiritual practices
are not just moral codes, they are physical demonstrations and ways of life
that make the world a healthier place. It is one thing to sing the praises of a
moral and upright God, but if that God does none of the moral and upright
things he’s lauded for, and has no expectations that his followers will do
likewise, then that God is a fake and a liar. That God would be a false god,
and that god isn’t worth practicing. Practitioners should be wary of the God
they serve, if that god doesn’t do anything in the world and doesn’t expect
them to practice because he hasn’t shown them how, then that might just be an
instructor preaching his own values for his own glory. Such a person should not
be followed.
Some spiritual paths load practitioners down with
unnecessary rules, to the point that practitioners are afraid of doing anything
lest they incur the wrath of their God. I don’t practice fitness out of fear, I
practice it out of love. I genuinely love what I do! The same should be true of
spiritual paths, practitioners should be encouraged through love, not through
fear and they should be able to take up practicable things without fear of
being crushed by their God. A God who rules by fear alone is not worth
following. If I wouldn’t want to be employed by such a person, why would I
worship him? If I wouldn’t want to work for an employer who was constantly
telling me I wasn’t good enough and giving me more than I could handle, why
would I worship a God who does the same? Why would I want to direct my life by
those values?
Following a spiritual path should have easy usable
standards. They should be obvious, practicable, demonstrated and we should be
held accountable. We should be encouraged and motivated by love, not fear.
My second answer would be following an inclusive, but
decisive God.
There are many religions that are exclusive. You must do x,y
and z actions in order to accrue favor with your god who will then determine
whether or not you were good enough. Whether or not your deeds were good enough
will be determined later; you have no way of knowing now. This is a spiritual
path based on control. You will do what I say or else you won’t make it to
bliss. Just as there is a right and wrong way to power clean, we know when we’re
living a great spiritual life. It’s not a secret. We know when we know, because
we’ve been told when we’ll know and that standard is attainable. By everyone.
The opposite of an exclusive god is a totally inclusive one.
This god takes everyone in and has no standards of living. This god has decided
that everyone is currently living as they should and we don’t need to change or
practice anything. This god is often put together in the image of peace and
acceptance, but has no accountability for his followers. This god would say
that everyone is currently power cleaning and doing it correctly, when we can
visibly see that some people are not power cleaning at all. Its lukewarm
garbage that’s supposed to make us feel good by glazing over the things we need
to correct. This kind of god is attractive, but promises no change. Because
nothing needs to change. One need only look at a few world governments to know
that change is necessary.
Let’s consider my answer. It means following a God that
seeks to bring everyone in, has standards and practices that are plainly
observable with simple but impacting results. Like a power clean. This kind of
God points out that there are wrong ways of living, but encourages us towards
the right by his example. He recognizes that not everyone will choose to follow
him, and thus there are those who will be left out. He encourages his
practitioners to right practices, even though they make mistakes.
What does all of this mean? Why is a demonstrable God
important?
Every moral code is based on something. Those codes were
devised by someone. Those codes could be devised by men, or by men who create
false gods, or by a very real God who knows what is right because he is right.
The test at the end of the day is whether or not the moral codes are livable
and practicable, impacting the individual and the community in a healthy way.
In my studies of spiritual paths, every path claims to
promote health. Every path claims to be right. How then, do we know whether or
not a path IS right? Anyone can claim truth, but real truth is evident; it’s
not something hidden away in secret, when we see it in action its plain to see
and we know it is right. Just like the power clean. We know when someone is
doing it right, we also know when someone is doing it wrong. We can feel the
difference between a good healthy power clean and one out of alignment that isn’t
properly executed. Isn’t it true that no one practices spiritual paths rightly?
This is a persuasive lie. It’s a lie because I can rightly practice a power
clean, even if it takes me a while to figure it out. It would be like saying I
will never have proper alignment and I should give up trying, letting my body
practice risky and injurious moves because I will never be able to execute them
rightly. What total garbage! Many people give up on fitness because they don’t
learn how to practice it properly, the same is true of the spiritual life. Too
many people give up, accepting something that’s not entirely right because they
get tired from seeking the truth. Just like I may find a few bad trainers at a
gym, so we also find bad leaders of the spiritual life. This doesn’t mean the
spiritual life isn’t worth living, it means we need to find better trainers
and practice what they preach. If their preaching isn’t practicable keep
moving. There is such a thing as truth and there are people who seek to live by
it.
In Paul’s letter to Timothy he encouraged him, “train
yourself to be godly”. He meant that Timothy had learned what he needed from
Paul, and that he needed to practice those things on his own. Paul wasn’t
perfect, but he based his teaching and his life on Jesus. Paul was convicted of
the errors of his spiritual path when Jesus appeared to him in a vision. Paul
was on his way to imprison and kill followers of Jesus. Jesus not only stopped him,
but Paul became one of the greatest preachers of Jesus teaching; there was
something different about Jesus that Paul had not found in his previous
spiritual path.
Part of that difference came from what Jesus claimed about
himself. He claimed he was God, not that he received his teaching from God. Claiming
to be God is spiritual and physical suicide, especially when a society’s penalty
for claiming to be God is death. Claiming to be a prophet of God is much safer.
Yet if God became a man, to show us how to practice life by demonstrating it himself,
there should be tangible evidence alongside our own ability to recognize
whether or not Jesus was God. The story I’m about to tell comes from the ninth
chapter of John, the fourth book of the New Testament in the Bible.
Jesus is walking along the road, when his disciples point
out a man who has been blind from birth. They want to know: “what moral
failings made this man blind? Was it his or his parents?” Jesus states that
neither is the case, and uses the opportunity to show his disciples that he is
the light of the world. So Jesus spits on the ground, makes some mud, puts it
on the blind man’s eyes and then sends the man to the pool named “Sent”. The
man comes back seeing, much to the amazement of everyone who knows him. People
who casually know him get really confused, it’s not possible for a man born
blind to see (it’s still not medically possible). The teachers of the Law
investigate by asking the man questions: “What day did this healing occur? The
Sabbath!? Preposterous! We know that there are six days for healing, and that God
would not want someone healed on his holy day. Who did this? Jesus? He must be
a sinner, because God doesn’t heal on his holy day.” Some of the teachers
disagreed, they knew that only God could heal such a condition, even though it
conflicted with their spiritual rules.
“Who do you say this Jesus is?” The man replies, “He is a
prophet.” Convinced the man was a fraud, the teachers of the Law questioned his
parents, who refused to make any definitive statements, except that their son
had been born blind and now could see. To seek closure, the teachers of the Law
turned to the man a second time: “Give glory to God, we know this man (Jesus)
is a sinner.” The man responds, “whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know.
One thing I do know. I was blind, but now I see!” This really irritates the
teachers of the Law. They hate the truth of what has physically happened,
because it does not fit within their made up Laws based on Moses teaching. They
get very angry, make a few nasty retorts and then issue this statement, “we
know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where
he comes from.” The man answers, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where
he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to
sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard
of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could
do nothing.” At this point the teachers of the Law get furious and accusatory, “You
were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” Then they throw him out
of their community.
Jesus goes out and finds the man, who has been disowned by
his parents and his community. He asks the man a simple question, “Do you
believe in the Son of Man (meaning the saving/healing one sent from God)? “I do”
responds the man, “but tell me who he is?”
Jesus says, “You’re looking at him.” The man worships Jesus. Then Jesus
says, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and
those who see will become blind.” Some of the teachers of the Law heard this
and ask, “What are we blind too?” Jesus responds, “If you were blind, you would
not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
Touché Jesus, touché.
What’s that whole
story about? It’s clearly about two things: whether or not Jesus is from God
and whether or not he’s going to follow our rules. As only God would have the
power to heal someone born blind, Jesus is clearly from God. As he did it on a
day that conflicted with man-made rules about God, its clear Jesus doesn’t care
about our rules, even if they are based on someone who heard God. This enough
to say Jesus is a holy man, but it doesn’t prove he’s God incarnate. To reach
that point, we need to look at some of the important images in the story. Jesus
claims to be the light of the world. The first thing God created was light.
Light could only come from God, not from somewhere else. By opening the eyes of
the blind man, letting him see light, Jesus shows he is God. We could stop here, but this isn’t the only
reference Jesus makes to the power of God.
Jesus makes mud out of his spit and the ground. This is
significant, because God formed man out of the ground. This time Jesus is
making a direct reference to having the power of God to create, or in this case,
re-create man. Jesus is showing his redemptive mission; he has come for
everyone, not just those of us who are perfectly together. The blind man sat on
the lowest level of the social ladder, by healing him Jesus shows his concern for
all people, especially those who have nothing they can give back. Jesus isn’t
interested in our material stuff; he’s purely interested us. He wants us to be
whole. By healing the blind man Jesus shows God cares about everyone,
regardless of circumstances; that God has the power to make us whole, even if
we were born imperfect.
Why else would he use dirt? By putting mud on the blind man’s
eyes and sending him to the Pool of Sent, Jesus is giving the man a choice,
allowing him to make a decision. Does the man believe the healer was sent from
God? Does he believe God cares about him and his blindness? Does he believe God
wants him to be whole? By going and washing in the Pool, the man shows he
believes God cares about him, and is ready to act on that belief. He had a
choice. Jesus didn’t force him to do anything, unlike the teachers of the Law.
The teachers of the Law show total blindness to the things
of God. They are blind to God’s ways because they don’t believe in them or
practice them. They practice their own man-made rules, this is the tragic flaw
in many spiritual paths; they are based on man’s ability to reason and make
rules, not God.
Through the healed man, Jesus confronts the teachers of the
Law with their own spiritual blindness. And he openly says they will be held
accountable for their blindness. Jesus says he came into this world for
judgment: opening the eyes of those who know they are blind and letting the spiritual
eyes of those who think they see close. The teacher’s with their man-made rules
could not see God, even though he was demonstrably right in front of them.
What’s the most significant part of this story? Jesus found
the blind man before he healed him, and he found him after he had been rejected
by a spiritual community. Jesus didn’t leave it up to the blind man to be found
in the first place, Jesus came to him. Jesus also didn’t leave the man alone
when he had been rejected. Jesus came to him. The spiritual life can feel like
stumbling around in the dark, but in that darkness Jesus comes and he brings
light, even if we live in a world governed by man-made rules. When other people
look down on us for the work God has done in our lives, Jesus stands by us.
The wonderful thing about living according to the teachings
of Jesus? He keeps coming for us. It not about us being worthy enough or
constructing enough rules to live by, he simple wants us to be whole. He wants
us to be properly aligned and to properly execute his movements. It is a joy to
do so! He wants us to stand up for the broken & blind people in our
communities. He wants us to confront those who have closed their eyes to the
nature of God and are openly abusing others. He wants us to practice truth in
all our movements, so that when we need to stand physically alone, we are
strong enough to do so, unafraid of what the teachers’ of the Laws of this
world say. The healed man discovered this strength. He walked in its light.
My prayer is that we daily take time to let this light shine
upon us and to let it shine from within us. That this light would transform us
and our communities. That those who are blind would see, and that those who
claim to see would be identified as blind. That we would seek truth, not giving
up, even though we find ourselves in deep darkness. That when we are presented
opportunities to stand up for others, we would embrace them, standing firm upon
the truth, having taken up the responsibility to train and discipline ourselves
in its ways.
