CROSSFIT CORNER – The Dumbbell Clean: For Speed, Balance and Coordination
As adults our busy lives leave us limited time to train. Coordination, speed and balance usually take a back seat to more traditional strength exercises. CrossFit encourages athletes to address all areas of fitness through a variety of movements. The dumbbell clean is an excellent way to address weaknesses in explosiveness, balance and coordination. The dumbbell clean requires only two dumbbells and a little bit of practice.
Coaching Points
1. From the starting position, lower down into a squat, keeping your back flat and your weight on your heels. As you descend, let your arms hang straight down from the shoulder as you squat, until the dumbbells almost touch or lightly touch the floor at the outside of your feet, with your arms passing to the outside of your shins.
2. From the bottom of your squat, explode upward, pressing forcefully through your legs to come to vertical. As your upper body rises, fully extend while shrugging your shoulders and keeping your arms straight. Bend your elbows and ‘snatch’ the dumbbells up to shoulder level by dragging them up the front sides of your body and catching them at shoulder level, with your hands facing inward.
3. Keeping the weights at your shoulder, lower yourself once again into a deep squat, again being careful to keep your back flat and your shoulders no further forward than your knees. From the squat, push explosively back to standing.
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Greg Ryan is the owner of CrossFit Durham. He is an avid ultra-distance runner and discovered the benefits of CrossFit while training for ultra-endurance events. He recently completed the Grindstone 100 miler by incorporating CrossFit methods into his training program. He can be contacted at (919) 314-7655 or greg@crossfitdurham.com.
