How to Miss, Part I

How to Miss Cleans and Front Squats

As you start out learning the Olympic lifts, you will want to start out light. An important early skill to learn is how to safely miss an attempted lift. Missing attempts and getting rid of the bar safely is part of the sport. It’s not a matter of if you will miss a lift it’s a matter of when you will miss a lift. Learning how to miss safely early on will give you the confidence you need to progress and will also increase your enjoyment of the activity because you will know what to do automatically if a lift gets misplaced and needs to be dropped. 

It is an axiom in military circles that individuals revert to training in crisis situations so it is important to have practiced missing until your reactions are automatic. Once you have mastered missing, if a lift is out of  position you will be able to instantly and instinctively make the correct moves to safely get rid of the bar. Of course, the object of weightlifting is to make the lift not miss it. So while you want the ability to miss to be reflexive, you don't want missing lifts to become a habit!

The top picture depicts the athlete in the deep front squat or squat clean receiving position.To get rid of the bar from this position, rapidly and forcefully push the bar away from the body while hopping back away from the bar as shown in the bottom picture. The downward momentum of the bar combined with the straightening of the arms will assist pushing the body back and out of the way.Keep the elbows away from the knees!

You must perform this maneuver like you mean it. You must also strive to develop a “business as usual” attitude to a miss. It is  perfectly OK if you end up on the seat of your pants...it happens...just don’t try to miss at half speed...the bar drops very fast. Make your move and get out of the way!

NOTE: Anytime you are in the  deep front squat position keep the elbows high and away from the knees. If an elbow strikes a knee while front squatting or cleaning it can cause a severe wrist injury.