EVALUATION OF THE POWER CLEAN AS A SPRINT SPECIFIC EXERCISE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of the hips in the power clean as a sprint specific training exercise. Hip kinetics in the power clean were compared to those of accelerating sprints over 5 m and rolling sprints from a 15 m approach. Four male games players performed four series of the three exercises. Synchronised Kistler™ force plate and CODA™ 3D tracking data, combined with customised body segment inertia parameters were used as input for an inverse dynamic analysis to quantify the muscle moments, power and work at the hips. Peak hip kinetics were considerably greater in the power clean than in either of the sprinting exercises (moments and powers ≥40% and work 80%). When plotted against hip joint angle, the kinetic profiles revealed additional relationships with the power clean being more closely associated with the accelerating sprint than the rolling sprint.