The clean and press is a two-part

weight training Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing the strength, size of skeletal muscles and maintenance of strength.Keogh, Justin W, and Paul W Winwood. “Report for: The Epidemiology of Injuries Across the Weight-Traini ...

exercise whereby a loaded

barbell A barbell is a piece of exercise equipment used in weight training, bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman, consisting of a long bar, usually with weights attached at each end. Barbells range in length from to above , alth ...

is lifted from the floor to the shoulders (the clean) and pushed overhead (the press). The lift was a component of the sport of

Olympic weightlifting Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...

from 1928 to 1972, but was removed due to difficulties in judging proper technique.

Movement

Clean phase

In the clean movement, 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,

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

s and then

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular join ...

s. 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 Squatting is a versatile posture where the weight of the body is on the feet but the knees and hips are bent. In contrast, sitting involves taking the weight of the body, at least in part, on the buttocks against the ground or a horizontal object. ...

position and spinning the hands around the bar so the

elbows The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the media ...

are extended in front. At the same time, the arms are brought up with the elbows extended in front of the chest so the bar may now lie across or "rest" across the palms, the front of the

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

deltoid muscle The deltoid muscle is the muscle forming the rounded contour of the human shoulder. It is also known as the 'common shoulder muscle', particularly in other animals such as the domestic cat. Anatomically, the deltoid muscle appears to be made up o ...

s, and the

clavicle The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the rig ...

s. At this point the lifter should be in a

full squat Squatting is a versatile posture where the weight of the body is on the feet but the knees and hips are bent. In contrast, sitting involves taking the weight of the body, at least in part, on the buttocks against the ground or a horizontal object. ...

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.

Press phase

Once the bar is on the anterior deltoids, the lifter proceeds to the

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

, pushing the bar overhead and locking it out with completely extended arms. Jerking movements, bending of the legs, excessive backward leaning, or displacement of the feet are prohibited.

Removal from the Olympics

By the 1950s, lax enforcement of the rules in international competition had allowed the press phase of the lift, by rule an upright, rigid body movement performed by the shoulders and arms, to evolve into a "layback" movement that utilized the larger muscles of the legs, hips, and torso, enabling the lifter to "cheat" to lift more weight. Historian John D. Fair wrote: "The rules had been clear about maintaining a vertical position and disallowing bending of the legs since the 1930s, but much depended on how these movements were interpreted and the political dispositions of officials and juries." After World War II, the situation was compounded by

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

tensions: in 1956, Bob Hoffman, coach of the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team, accused international judges of pro-Soviet, anti-American bias, disqualifying legal American presses and allowing rule-breaking Soviet ones. Fair, however, while acknowledging the Soviet role in the erosion of press form, wrote that "the twin trends of loose pressing and lax officiating were well in place" before the Soviets entered international competition. The

International Weightlifting Federation The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), headquartered in Lausanne, is the international governing body for the sport of Olympic weightlifting. The IWF was founded in 1905, and has 192 Member Federations. The IWF President is Mohammed H ...

resolved the situation by removing the clean and press from the Olympic weightlifting program after the 1972 games in Munich.

References

External links