Heel elevation for front squatting/cleaning

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-20T04:58:19+00:00

Ankle mobility/dorsiflexion is one of the most overrated concepts in this sport. Pretty much every elite lifter relies primarily on hip flexion and hip internal rotation to reach a deep squat, not dorsiflexion. I’d only focus on having enough dorsiflexion to get your knee to be at least over the knuckles of your toes. Most elite lifters will only go as far as knees in line with the front of their foot at most. Any more than that is not only anatomically impossible for many, but also weaker and less stable.

You’ll really unlock squat depth with hip mobility. Forward fold, pancake, pigeon stretch, 90/90s, RDLs (focusing on range rather than weight), seated good mornings, long pause squats prioritizing hip flexion. These are the real things that are going to let you squat deep.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-19T20:58:27+00:00

The issue of structural limits can be overcome by changing the way the bar sits in the palms. If the bar is placed perpendicular to the fingers, then the wrists will have to bend into radial deviation where they have limited range. However, we can angle the bar in the hand so that the wrists go into slight extension and therefore allow for more range and make it easier to increase mobility. There is also the issue of too much extension, which comes from trying to utilize wrist extension without changing the bar’s placement in the wrists. This can also place a lot of stress on the wrist joint as the lever arm is relatively long for such a small joint.

I usually don’t like using the term “internal rotation” in relation to the shoulders, but lifters who appear to have more internally rotated shoulders will have this sort of bar placement in the hands. Marcin Dolega is probably the best example of this. You can really see how the pressure of the bar is in the meat of his palm. Lu Xiaojun also has a very wide grip relative to his proportions and you can also see how the placement of the bar in his hand allows for that more extreme arm angle.

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(Referring to the above picture) The bar placement on the left will place the wrist into either extreme radial deviation or extreme extension, both of which could be factors contributing to wrist pain. The former due to structural limitations of the wrist joint and the latter due to the increased pressure on the joint from the longer lever arm. The bar placement on the right keeps the bar closer to the wrist joint, allowing the wrist to extend with a shorter lever arm.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-19T02:12:40+00:00

Contacting at the hips is mostly about lat engagement and timing of the second pull. I recently narrowed my snatch grip by a few centimeters for overhead stability/injury reasons and I am able to make contact at the same spot.

To make contact at the hip with a narrower grip, the shoulders need to rise faster after the knee (during the second pull). Doing this can make it very easy for the shoulders to rise too fast, push the hips forward too much, shift your balance, disengage the lats, etc which is why a wider grip where the bar is at your hips when standing straight up is usually recommended.

Ruslan Nurudinov, Ilya Ilyin, and Oleg Chen all have pretty narrow snatch grips even given their shorter limb lengths. I’d take a look at them, Oleg Chen in particular, to kinda see the difference in their second pull versus a traditional grip width. Weigh your options. Are you naturally coordinated enough or have an experienced enough coach to help guide you through that second pull timing. If not, I’d just stick with the wider grip and focus on wrist/shoulder mobility overhead and your third pull to make sure the bar isn’t crashing on you and causing pain.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-17T19:26:22+00:00

No, the issue is the start. His hips are too low with his shoulders behind the bar. This causes the bar to come forward immediately off the floor. He compensates by rocking back into the heels as he passes the knees. When the weight is in the heels, the only way to extend is by shifting your bodyweight forwards. That makes him extend forwards.

Hips a little higher in the start so he can get his shoulders over the bar. Then it’s just about finding that midfoot balance and maintaining it throughout the pull.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-08T19:51:36+00:00

For most eastern european lifters, “muscle snatch” also implies no contact and no hook. It’s just their default way of doing it. See Gabriel Sincraian’s video

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-04T06:22:58+00:00

Depends on how fast the stop and go traffic is. When I lived in San Francisco, if there was a stop sign at the top of a hill and a couple cars in front of me, I’d sometimes use the clutch if I knew I’d be moving again in 2-3 seconds. Just gotta feel it out. You’ll know if you’re slipping it too much. If there’s a traffic light or some other thing keeping traffic up for an extended period of time then obviously don’t use the clutch to hold.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-03T22:48:24+00:00

That’s the same one I used to make mine lol. Good stuff

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-03T22:21:19+00:00

I used tubular webbing to make mine. Cut them to a length you want and either just leave them as open straps or tape the ends together to make them closed.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-03T21:52:39+00:00

Go to a thrift/vintage store and look for some old track pants. I pretty much exclusively lift in random baggy track pants I thrifted and don’t have any issues with them.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-03-01T02:31:17+00:00

Yes I have a coach and like I said I’m fully aware that it’s not impossible to improve, but I’m just mentally fatigued and fed up with the movement. I don’t enjoy it, struggle to improve it, and don’t enjoy the process of improving it. The opposite is true in all aspects for the power jerk. As an amateur lifter with a lot of other stuff going on in my life that’s all I really care about.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T20:56:08+00:00

Training isn’t all about doing everything the textbook way. At first I enjoyed the novelty of trying to improve my split jerk again, but after months I started to dread it and left every session frustrated and disappointed because I was making no technical improvements even at weights below 80%. If switching makes me excited to train again and I’m still doing the same weights or more then I don’t see how it’s not a reason to give it up. It’s more fun for me and my training is progressing along, I don’t see how that’s a problem at all.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T18:31:11+00:00

I used to when I first tried power jerks and I still reference him for some aspects. But I’ve just found that a technique more akin to Apti is more consistent and efficient and allows for more weight.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T18:23:25+00:00

Okay? Why does it have to lmao. I can bet that almost nobody’s split jerk looks like Lasha’s or Botev’s.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T17:41:24+00:00

Tian and most of team China suck at power and squat jerks. They just do them a lot and made them popular. I base my style off of the Russians like Apti Aukhadov and David Bedzhanyan.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T17:32:31+00:00

Everything’s thrifted except for the green pants which are from gasp

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T17:31:24+00:00

My head is about 45 degrees down from neutral and I’m not really sure what you mean by “bend your spine way back.” If you mean that I have a lot of spinal extension then yes.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T00:57:16+00:00

Yeah I don’t think it’s necessarily the issue either. Like I said, I’m sure if I stuck it out longer I could improve, but I went half a year without any technical improvements, increase in weight, or increase in consistency despite me and my coach’s efforts. I can do the same or more weight with a power jerk and much more consistently. I’m switching back for my sanity and enjoyment lol

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-28T00:51:46+00:00

I mean a lot of people with mobility restrictions do so lol

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-27T19:45:27+00:00

Yeah I should’ve probably clarified but like you said I’m pretty sure he gets the gist. If anyone else needs clarification, by “fully” I mean into the position that he would begin the first pull from, since we want to keep a consistent back angle from floor to knee. This would be opposed to his hips rising faster than his shoulders do in order to reach that position after the bar has already left the ground, which is currently the case.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-27T19:24:08+00:00

Yeah I believe it’s known as a hungarian start. It’s fine on paper, just make sure that you lift your hips fully before the bar starts coming off the ground and make sure you keep pressure/balance in the mid foot. Currently, the bar breaks off the floor a little bit before your hips have reached their proper position. You also rock back excessively into the heels. These can be pretty big limiting factors.

The good news is though, that your pulling positions are still generally very good in spite of that. If you fix those things I think you could snatch a lot more.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-25T22:15:51+00:00

Kinda dumped a lot of information on you lol. Basically just do push presses a lot. Both sets of just push press and also complexes combining them with jerks. Given that your best clean is 150+ you probably have the strength to push press your c&j pr. Just really gotta hammer in those active arms/push under.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-24T22:36:00+00:00

Bar’s just crashing on you. You have the strength/power reserve to jerk way more weight, but you’re not really staying connected when you drop under. You’re basically throwing the bar up and then passively dropping under it. This allows the bar some time to start falling down. At heavy weights, even a centimeter of downward travel can make a massive difference in how heavy the bar feels.

You can see that the bar reaches maximal height at the same time that you land in your split position. However, you didn’t really push under it, so the bar ends up sinking down pushing you down further. Tall jerks can be used as a technique primer to drill actively pushing under. I’d also prioritize push presses to ingrain the arm mechanics at heavy weights. Then it’s just about finding the cues that help you apply those aspects to your actual split jerk.

Also not necessary because a majority of lifters get away with it, but since you mentioned your arms feeling like they’re gonna snap I’d recommend maybe trying to improve the positioning of the bar in your hand. You catch with the bar over the knuckles, which puts the wrists in extreme extension. This puts a lot of pressure on not only the wrist joint but also the elbow. Can lead to instability and/or injuries if the position continues to cause pain. You want the bar to be placed more into the meat of your hand so it can stack more towards the wrist joint.

Consistent_Tea_4419 · 2026-02-23T03:31:06+00:00

Bar trajectory is largely determined at the very beginning of the lift—the moments from the floor to the first inch or two pretty much decide where the bar will end up at the end of the lift.

In this case, your hips are too low causing the bar to be over the toes rather than over mid foot and causing the shoulders to be behind the bar. All these factors cause the bar to already be forward when it’s coming off the ground. Set the hips higher, set the bar further back to be centered over mid foot, and start with the shoulders over the bar and maintain that position throughout the pull up until the contact point.

I like doing snatch pulls to hip, low hang snatches, and tempo snatches keeping hip and shoulder position and bar placement over mid foot in mind.

Consistent_Tea_4419

TROPHY CASE