Creating Speed With Texas A&M Track and Field Sprinters

May 11, 2010

The Texas A&M Track and Field sprinters perform the Hang Clean to Front Squat to help maintain their speed and power, with coaching by Allen Kinley, director of strength and conditioning for Olympic and team sports.

TRANSCRIPT

Allen Kinley: The clean with the front squat is a combination lift in which we're trying to do two lifts with one exercise in essence; clean and then we go straight into a front squat. So we're getting power movement along with a straight movement in the same lift.

Several reasons for that: the economy of time of trying to do two lifts at once and also having diverse types of exercises to keep the program from becoming monotonous because if you do the same types of lifts on a daily basis week after week, month after month they become very monotonous. So some of the most common mistakes in making the clean foot placement, again you want to have a vertical jump stance.

A lot of beginners will get too wide of a foot stance to start with so you need more of a narrower stance to start with. You need to have a very flat back as you begin this position. Your back, your neck, your head, should all be in alignment. The front squat, probably number one is getting a good grip position. Elbows have to be pointed outward always.

Once the elbows point downward then the bars going to come off the rack you've created with your shoulders and you're going to lose the weight. Second common mistake on the front squat would be the rounding of the back. Again the posture is very critical. Keeping the back and the mid-section in good alignment is very important and often you'll see beginners rounding they're back verses keeping that posture maintained. They were doing sets of three today and then they did some sets of two.

For more with Texas A&M track and field, check out Track and Field In-Season Training With Texas A&M