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powerclean - drop the weight from the top or lower it

haz

Member
i wanted to hear thoughts on either dropping the weight (bumper plates) or lowering the weight with your body in a sorta romanian deadlift.
which is better?

with dropping the weight you are saving energy that can be used to do another clean or heavier weights

with the lowering approach you get an extra exercise with the RD but then may not have enough energy to do another rep,
or you may have no problem with cleaning 100kg but lowering it puts your body in a dangerous position if not done correctly.

i suppose it depends on your goal, if you goal for powercleaning is to improve your powerclean numbers then you should drop it, but if your powercleaning for general strength and explosiveness then i think you should lower it.
 
If you work out at a commercial gym, you may not even be allowed to drop any weight at all, although they're all bumper plates.

I got told off by a PT for dropping a 1RM deadlift from 10cm high (after I locked it out and was guiding it down - just couldn't hold it all the way to the bottom). He said I'd break the floor (it's a reinforced floor on the ground level).

If I drop a PC, they'll probably kick me out of the gym citing some safety BS.

The extra workout by lowering the weight isn't much though.
 

Did u tell them to go **** them selves i would of loved to. Someone tried to tell me off for no shoes squatting once. They havnt looked at me twice since.


I drop but sort of still hold so it is smei guided if that makes sense but then again im not doing big weight 70kg woopdy doo.

If i was doing 1rm i would drop they can lick my balls
 
haz said:
i wanted to hear thoughts on either dropping the weight (bumper plates) or lowering the weight with your body in a sorta romanian deadlift.
which is better?
Click to expand...

My comment is not about which is better but what you are after instead. To keep on the safe side and maintain power, I'd give you the choice of lowering or dropping anything 80% and lower. Above 80% of 1RM and your power and the execution of the lift may suffer, placing you at risk of an injury.

Your fitness level plays a part here also, but I thought I'd keep it as brief as possible and to the point.

PS: Whilst writing my comment above I was thinking of 5 rep sets, otherwise, you can lower at 100% of 1RM if 1 rep sets was all you're doing. Let your fitness level and your form dictate your decision.

Also, when lowering, I would not lower "Romanian" style but normal Olympic weightlifting style. In other words no stiff legged movements here...let your quads and glutes, not your hammies lower and control the load back into position. And I thought I was keeping it brief!


Fadi.
 
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for myself. i always drop the weight now from up top when im above 80kg. when used to be at commercial gym id just go from shoulders to knees then drop at knees.
now above 80kg just drop it as the gym i go to now is all for dropping weights
 
I usually lower it to the top of my legs and kinda catch it, then lower it dead lift style

dropping it would make doing sets very noisy, and very awkward, to get a good flow.
 
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brendon said:
for myself. i always drop the weight now from up top when im above 80kg. when used to be at commercial gym id just go from shoulders to knees then drop at knees.
now above 80kg just drop it as the gym i go to now is all for dropping weights
Click to expand...

seconded..
 
With any deadlift Type movement there is a temptation to slacken your form and reach for the floor. That is, you want to round over a little more rather than bend at the hips and knees to get to the floor. This is in my opinion why the lowering part of the deadlift causes trouble much more often that the raising.

So, the only way to go, for me, is letting deadlifts (including TBDL) drop hard, rather than resisting them on the way down. No matter how careful you are, sooner or later, the odds catch up with you the other way. Usually sooner.

Any eccentric work is covered when squatting.
 
i would love to just 'drop' the weight from my shoulders (if i had done a clean) or from the top position of a snatch or jerk, but alas i don't have that luxury.

When i lower the weights, i raise it as gently as possible (to avoid injury) while rotating the elbows (i think that's the right expression) so that i don't suddenly put a lot of weight on my quads (since i don't want to bruise or break them), then once again gradually lower the weight to the ground.

i think Greg wrote about it in his book mate
 
I drop it when I'm training in a gym that allows it.

But everyone should be able to control and safely lower your powerclean weight without any issues.
 
thanks for your replies.

i realise that many of you don't have the option to drop the weight.

i just think its an interesting thing the think about, the movement changes.
 
I just realised one main reason why my gym doesn't allow dropping weights. It's because they also allow Idiots to train there - the type that put their Ipods on and have no ****ing sense of their surrounding.

I was going to drop a powerclean on Sunday when this guy just walked straight in front of me, iPod on, without even looking.

A few weeks ago, some chick joking around with her BF nearly ran into my back while I was pulling a 1RM deadlift up.

Having said that, maybe I should drop the weights on them to do our gene pool a favour.


Hi Fadi,

Could you elaborate on this? I think I'm lowering it right when the weight is down to my quads, but not too sure.

Also, I find it harder to get the weight from shoulder level to quad level. At higher weights, I'm afraid that it will create a sudden, strong jerky drop that pulls on my shoulders and elbows, which I feel isn't a good thing! Last session, when I was doing close to 1RM, I just walked back to the rack with the weight on my shoulders. It takes more work afterwards to get the weight back on the ground though. :/
 
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on heavy sets i drop the weight however my hands stay on the bar to guide it so it is still under some control. if i am doing powerleans with light weight as more of a cardio work out i will lower the bar to the ground.
 
Dancelot said:
I was going to drop a powerclean on Sunday when this guy just walked straight in front of me, iPod on, without even looking.

A few weeks ago, some chick joking around with her BF nearly ran into my back while I was pulling a 1RM deadlift up.
Click to expand...

That would seriously piss me off. Were you angry?
Im angry just reading that.

You know when people are fartarsing around and doing what you listed in the gym while you are training, has a detrimental affect on your performance. When everyone is lifting with max effort, grunts and all, then I find I put more effort into my own training.

Thats why hardcore gyms exist, so all the people who are passionate about results instead of showing off their trophy girlfriend can get together and use each other's energy
 
Hell yeah, I was very much pissed off!

Yes the environment where you train at has a big impact on your performance. It's hard to concentrate and perform at your best when you're surrounded by mediocrity & people who are afraid of sweating & working hard.

There's a powerlifting gym right next door to my current one, but it's only open 3 nights a week that conflict with my part time job, and it's not always open. :/

I'm looking around for a new gym now, where people are actually serious about training.
 
That's only 10 minutes walk from my house!

I'm gonna check it out as the website doesn't show much.

Thanks!

Does anyone here train there?
 
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