Power cleans and snatches are two of the most effective exercises for full body toning and power. These exercises are foundational techniques in olympic lifting, which includes movements like power cleans and snatches that are essential for improving performance in competitive weightlifting. The power clean exercise is a high-intensity, full-body movement used to develop strength and power. By combining power cleans and snatches, you can target your entire body, resulting in increased strength and power. Not only are power cleans and snatches great for building muscle, they also provide a number of other benefits, including improved balance, coordination, and flexibility. In this blog post, we’ll discuss the top 10 benefits of incorporating power cleans and snatches into your workout routine.
The Top 10 Benefits of Clean & Snatches
1.) Power Cleans and Snatches Are Full Body Exercises
Power cleans and snatches are exercises that engage all the major muscles of your body. This full body workout strengthens your arms, shoulders, back, legs, and core, while also improving coordination and balance. It is crucial to engage the correct muscle groups and avoid overusing the upper body during these lifts to ensure proper form and effectiveness. Unlike isolation exercises, power cleans and snatches require you to use all the major muscle groups in a coordinated body movement, making them extremely effective for overall strength development.
The movement pattern of power cleans and snatches requires you to lift a heavy weight quickly and explosively, which challenges both your muscular strength and power. Furthermore, these exercises help to develop coordination and agility, making them great for athletes looking to improve their sports performance. Finally, they also activate your core muscles, helping to strengthen and stabilize your body.
In addition to developing strength and power, power cleans and snatches also have a host of other benefits for your body. These include improved cardiovascular fitness, fat loss, better mental health, injury prevention, and improved sports performance. With so many benefits, it’s no wonder why power cleans and snatches are some of the most popular exercises around.
2.) They Improve Coordination and Balance
Power cleans and snatches are dynamic, full body exercises that can help you build strength, speed, and coordination. These movements require you to use multiple muscles to lift the barbell off the floor and into a standing position, making them an excellent tool for developing coordination and balance. Proper power clean form is crucial in developing coordination and balance, as it involves patience, coordination, and aggression. Not only will they help you become better coordinated with your body, but they will also help you learn how to move more efficiently. When performed correctly, these exercises can help you develop greater body control as you learn to apply more power while still maintaining proper form. With improved coordination and balance, you can become a better athlete, dancer, or just simply have better posture in your daily life.
3.) They Help Develop Explosive Power
Power cleans and snatches are a great way to develop explosive power in the body. Explosive power is the ability to generate maximum force in a short amount of time. The movements involved in performing power cleans and snatches are complex, requiring the use of multiple muscles and joints in order to complete the exercises. When these exercises are performed with proper form and intensity, they provide an incredible stimulus for developing explosive power.
The explosive nature of these exercises not only helps to build strength, but it can also increase muscle activation. This is due to the quick and powerful movements that are required in order to perform them correctly. As you increase your speed and explosiveness, your muscles will be working harder in order to complete the exercise. This helps to increase muscle activation, leading to better results from your workout. Additionally, the high-intensity resistance involved in power cleans and snatches can lead to increased muscle mass, improving overall body composition.
Furthermore, the explosive power gained from power cleans and snatches can also transfer over to other sports. Many athletes benefit from the explosive power generated from these exercises when playing basketball, football, baseball, and other sports. The increase in explosive power leads to faster sprints, higher jumps, and more powerful throws. As such, power cleans and snatches are an excellent way to develop the explosiveness needed to excel in any sport.
4.) They Build Strong Bones and Muscles
Power cleans and snatches are a type of Olympic lifts that require full body coordination. They involve explosively extending the hips, knees and ankles in one simultaneous movement. This complex movement requires the use of nearly every muscle group in the body.
This full body exercise strengthens the muscles and bones by putting them through a powerful contraction. During a power clean or snatch, the barbell is lifted from the floor up to shoulder level or higher. During this movement, all of the muscles in the body, especially the lower body, must work together to move the weight with as much force and speed as possible.
The continuous contracting of the muscles helps build strength and tone throughout the body. Power cleans and snatches also increase bone density which is beneficial for overall health. Increased bone density prevents fractures and other bone-related injuries. In addition, power cleans and snatches can help to reduce the risk of osteoporosis in later life.
5.) They Improve Cardiovascular Fitness
Power cleans and snatches are an excellent way to build cardiovascular fitness and improve overall health. These exercises require a lot of energy, making them a great way to get your heart rate up and burn calories. By doing multiple reps of power cleans and snatches in a row, you can increase your endurance and breathing capacity. This type of exercise also helps to increase blood flow, oxygen delivery, and delivery of nutrients to the muscles. With regular training, you can expect improved aerobic capacity, increased circulation, and better blood pressure. Power cleans and snatches also strengthen your heart muscle, which in turn lowers the risk for heart disease and other illnesses.
6.) They Help Burn Fat
Power cleans and snatches are a great way to get rid of excess body fat. The combination of power movements, such as the power clean and snatch, together with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts, can help you burn fat quickly and effectively.
Variations like the hang power clean can be incorporated into high-intensity workouts to effectively burn fat.
These exercises use large muscle groups simultaneously, which raises your heart rate and metabolic rate. This means you’ll be burning more calories and fat during and after the workout. Additionally, because of the full body nature of these exercises, they can help you target and tone multiple areas of the body at once.
Finally, power cleans and snatches can be done with light weight or with heavy weight depending on your fitness level and goals. This makes them a versatile exercise for anyone looking to burn fat, tone muscles, and increase their strength and power.
7.) They Improve Mental Health
Power cleans and snatches are not just physical exercises, but can also benefit your mental health. Research shows that strength training can help improve your mood, reduce stress and anxiety, and even lower your risk for depression. Power cleans and snatches are high-intensity exercises that require you to focus and concentrate, which can help stimulate the mind and increase mental clarity. This can result in improved cognitive performance, better problem-solving skills, and increased productivity. Furthermore, the endorphins released during exercise can help create a feeling of euphoria and well-being, which can have positive effects on your overall mental health.
8.) They Help Prevent Injuries
Power cleans and snatches are full body exercises that can help you stay injury free. This is because they require your body to move in ways it might not normally do, thereby improving your coordination and balance. The increased muscle strength, stability, and flexibility that these exercises provide helps reduce the risk of injuries by supporting your joints and making them more stable. As a result, you're less likely to strain or sprain a muscle or ligament.
Additionally, power cleans and snatches work your entire body at once which can help to improve posture and stability. When you have good posture, it reduces the stress on your joints, muscles, and ligaments, thus reducing the risk of injury. Also, these exercises help to strengthen the muscles around your joints, making them more resistant to injuries. Finally, by doing these exercises with proper form, you can reduce your chances of suffering an overuse injury.
9.) They Improve Sports Performance
Power cleans and snatches are an excellent way to improve your sports performance. They provide a full-body exercise that helps to build strength, speed, power, and coordination. By utilizing the power clean and snatch technique, athletes can develop explosive strength in their legs and hips which is needed for sprinting and jumping. Additionally, these exercises help improve the coordination of your arms and legs for executing powerful throws or strikes.
The clean and jerk, another Olympic weightlifting movement, is closely related to power cleans. Mastering the techniques of both power cleans and clean and jerk is crucial for avoiding mistakes and injury, and for achieving improved sports performance.
By training with these exercises, you can increase your ability to generate power quickly and efficiently. This will result in improved acceleration, power, and speed during your sports performance. Furthermore, power cleans and snatches can help improve your balance and agility so you can move more effectively on the court or field. All of these benefits combine to make power cleans and snatches an excellent exercise for any athlete looking to improve their sports performance.
10.) They Can Be Done Anywhere
Power cleans and snatches are incredibly versatile exercises that can be performed anywhere, from your living room to a local gym. This means that you don't need to join a gym or buy any expensive equipment in order to benefit from these exercises. All you need is your bodyweight and some basic space.
The great thing about power cleans and snatches is that you can do them anywhere. You don't need access to a gym or even special equipment; all you need is your bodyweight and some basic space. These exercises can be done at home, in the park, on vacation, and even at the office!
This makes them an excellent option for busy people who don't have much time for the gym. You can quickly knock out a few sets of power cleans and snatches whenever you have a free moment, no matter where you are. Plus, since these exercises target multiple muscle groups simultaneously, they are incredibly efficient – you can get a full-body workout in just a few minutes.
So if you're looking for an effective full-body workout that can be done anywhere, look no further than power cleans and snatches!
Power Cleans and Snatches Full-Body Workout
Objective: This workout is designed to build strength, power, and coordination through the incorporation of power cleans and snatches. It targets multiple muscle groups, enhancing both muscular and cardiovascular fitness. Perform this workout 2-3 times per week for optimal results.
Warm-Up (5-10 minutes)
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Dynamic Stretching: Focus on leg swings, arm circles, and hip rotations.
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Light Cardio: 5 minutes of jogging or jump rope to get the blood flowing.
Main Workout
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Power Cleans
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Sets: 4
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Reps: 4-6
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Rest: 90 seconds between sets
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Instructions: Begin with a loaded barbell on the ground. Explosively lift the barbell from the floor to your shoulders in one fluid motion, ensuring proper form by keeping your back straight and engaging your core.
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Snatches
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Sets: 4
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Reps: 4-6
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Rest: 90 seconds between sets
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Instructions: Start with the barbell on the ground. In one explosive movement, lift the barbell from the floor to overhead, fully extending your arms and legs. Focus on using your hips and legs to generate power.
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Clean and Jerk (optional for advanced athletes)
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Sets: 3
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Reps: 3-5
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Rest: 2 minutes between sets
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Instructions: Start with a power clean to bring the barbell to shoulder level, then quickly push the barbell overhead into a jerk. This movement combines power, strength, and coordination.
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Dumbbell Snatch (Single-Arm)
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Sets: 3
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Reps: 8-10 per arm
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Rest: 60 seconds between sets
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Instructions: Use a dumbbell for this variation. Perform a snatch with one arm at a time, focusing on balance and control throughout the movement.
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Hang Power Cleans
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Sets: 3
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Reps: 6-8
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Rest: 60 seconds between sets
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Instructions: Start with the barbell hanging at your thighs. Explosively pull the barbell up to your shoulders, keeping it close to your body, and then catch it in a front rack position.
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Cool-Down (5-10 minutes)
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Static Stretching: Focus on stretching the hamstrings, shoulders, and hip flexors to enhance flexibility and aid in recovery.
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Foam Rolling: Spend a few minutes on your lower back, quads, and calves to reduce muscle tightness and improve circulation.
Conclusion
This power cleans and snatches workout is a comprehensive routine that not only targets your entire body but also helps in developing explosive strength, improving balance, and boosting cardiovascular fitness. Whether you're an athlete looking to enhance performance or someone looking to increase overall strength and conditioning, incorporating these exercises into your workout regimen will provide significant benefits.
