Tababta- upside down and backwards… and the powerclean vs the squat clean

Today in my classes there was much inquiry and discussion as to which is more difficult, a power clean or a squat clean? My personal thoughts are that I can do way more reps of power cleans in metcons because my legs get so burned out when I squat clean repetitively. That being said, we maybe able to clean more weight in a one rep max situation with the squat clean because we are only pulling the bar as high as the finish( a little above the hip crease) and then pulling our entire bodies under the bar. The arms do not bend in the squat clean until your hips are receding and you are whipping your elbows around, under and in front of the bar. The pull in the power clean takes way more “umph” and the arms do a lot of the work to lengthen that pull past your hip and almost up to your rack. This takes a lot of power(hence the name) and strength.

Rod Harrison physically proved this point when he was able to squat clean a one rep max that he was unable to power clean. He said that he felt like his body was telling him to get under the bar and so he did and he accomplished a new squat clean PR.

I found an interesting comment on the power clean vs the squat clean on the crossfit.com discussion board… a good place to look for different opinions about things related to CrossFit that you may have a quandry about.

Power Clean vs. Squat Clean by Ryan Whitney posted 10-30-08

I know that this might not make me very many friends, but here goes…I think that the squat clean is inferior to the power clean in developing explosive strength for athletes trying to increase their GPP. My reasons are for thinking this are as follows:

1) The power clean moves the weight a further distance than the squat clean, thus making it a more powerful exercise.

2) The squat clean potentially allows the athlete to clean more weight. But this is not because the athlete is necessarily more powerful. It is because the athlete has developed the skill necessary to get under the bar while the bar is still relatively close to the ground. Lock out is a fuction of leg strength, not explosive power. This type of strength could be better developed by just doing front squats. The squat clean makes the athlete better at doing the squat clean, whereas the power clean makes the athlete more powerful and explosive.

3) I think that the power clean is more “fuctional.” I know that has become somewhat of a bad word, but in my line of work (soldier) I regulary have to move heavy, bulky objects from the ground to a location over my head. This is never accomplished by dropping into a full squat position but instead by “cleaning” the object to the “rack” position and then push pressing the object overhead.

I personally always substitute power cleans for squat cleans in the CF WOD’s. Please write and let me know what you think about this subject.