Clean and Press

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Cleans & Presses

Laree here....A few weeks ago during our roadtrip, somewhere in Kansas I think, I asked Dave if he could only do one exercise ever again what movement he would choose - meaning what exercise did he think was the most effective of all I guess. After a few minutes of gazing out the window at the grassland while he pondered and I waited, he said "barbell cleans and presses."

Well, I had never done cleans and presses before. How could I have missed the most effective movement of all time??? So I started doing them the week we got back, and have done them twice a week for the past 3 weeks.

Guess what? I LOVE 'EM! I really don't see them around our gym too often, so my question to you is, do you all do cleans and presses? Am I the only one in the group that hasn't always done them, or are they a lost love that we need to bring back?

Laree

Laree,

I enthusiastically agree with Dave's assessment of the Clean & Press. I began them as a teenager when I saw an article showing Franco Columbu using it to warm up. I soon learned its value as a muscle builder in itself. I have used it during power-building phases, as well as one period in which I supplemented twenty-rep breathing squats with cleans & presses done in the same style (I did them on two different days of the week). The cleans & presses easily matched the effectiveness of the squats in making me flat-out, vomit-producing, chest-heaving, leg-collapsing sick. Oh, and big. And strong.

The original promise of weight training is to be big and strong. Consistent use of the clean & press delivers this in spades. It also creates a strong heart, a consideration for those of us getting older (anyone out there NOT doing so?).

Those out there who might now be getting very motivated to start doing the clean & press, I would advise perfecting form first. Make it a light move you tack onto your workout, maybe as a warmup. If your form is not perfect, you will invite all the physical woes bad-form squatting, deadlifting, and rowing create in the back, pains that often become more than simple annoyances after you hit forty. A bad back and set of shoulders is a lousy way to end a lifting career.

Steve

To which Guy M. replied:

Cleans and presses are one of the all time great exercises that somehow got pushed out of the limelight. I enjoy doing them every now and then, but rarely see anyone else doing them. As a matter of fact a buddy of mine observed someone in his gym doing them and laughingly asked me if I new what the heck that kid was trying to do. He stopped laughing after I explained all the benefits of the exercise.

And a couple of links from Tom:

I would love to try them but I am not touching a power movement that if I did wrong would be fast way to injury. Now If I had someone who I had total confidence in teaching me I would learn in a minute.

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