DVRT BLOG: TWO EXERCISES TO IMPROVE YOUR DVRT CLEAN AND PRESS

By Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner

DVRT Master Chief Instructor, Senior RKC, OS Instructor, MFF’s Strongest Film Major

The DVRT Clean and Press is a thing of beauty. This movement is the perfect combination of raw physical prowess and Hawkeye like technique. The clean and press really let’s someone express their strength and movement capabilities. 

It’s also extremely hard. You may be able to do 10x10 with double 24kg kettlebells, but that won’t mean jack with an 80-100 Burly Ultimate Sandbag. Don’t believe me? Try it. 

Now I’ve written a bunch on the DVRT Clean and Press Test, you can tell I am a fan, but you can go back in some of our archives to see some of our “how to dominate” articles. 

Rather, I wanted this article to be about how we can get strong in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training in ways you might not even imagine! After all, sometimes the BEST way to make improvements is not just repeating the same exercises, but finding your real weaknesses. 

Believe it or not, the two DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises I am going to talk about are two drills that are going to make you A LOT better at many different things, even those unrelated to DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training. 

Check this out. 

One great way to make a Ultimate Sandbag clean lighter is to make your clean stronger. Duh. Trust me, there are way too many people that think they clean an Ultimate Sandbag well, that is until you get them under an appropriate sized Ultimate Sandbag. I’ve seen in all the time in kettlebells. Give me someone a 4 or 8 pound kettlebell and they think they are doing swings, give them an 18 or more and things change big time! 

So, what is the answer? Just go heavier? Hope things get better? While that MIGHT help, it isn’t necessarily the BEST answer!

Something that gets a lot of play in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training, but sadly still underrated is the use of single leg pulls like the Ultimate Sandbag Single Leg Deadlfit. Why such a seemingly different exercise for such a power driven exercise? Well, for one, the reason most people can’t develop the RIGHT power for the clean is they don’t have a good stable base and foundation. They have holes in all of their movements and try to hide it during their training. For a little while they can get away with it, but then it catches up with them, pretty big time. The versions of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Single Leg Deadlift can fix a lot of that! 

Learning to hinge on one leg while maintaining hip, trunk and shoulder stability with the same USB you are clean and pressing is going to go a long way in upping your game. Don’t go for speed here. Go painfully slow and steady. Patience Grasshopper (Kung Fu reference for the oldies). Nail single leg deadlifts and just think about how fast your USB will fly when you have both legs at your disposal. 

Next up is the Fist Loaded USB Squat. Sure, you have probably all seen the Front Loaded versions which sadly, still end up being sloppy by many by their lack of attention in the upper body. The Fists Loaded position makes the squat much harder even though the load doesn’t move all that much. Harder to cheat and more stress through the trunk, upper back, and legs makes it a great A exercise for your strength. 

A great way to build the intense amount of trunk stability you need for the Clean and Press it to do Squats with USB on your fists. This will do wondrous things to get your lats fired up and your entire trunk and body engaged. 

Clean to your fists and do nice slow squats keeping the elbows close to your ribs and your back nice and neutral. This move will do two things for you. 1. Your going to get very comfortable with the USB in the press position. 2. If you’re going to for a Push Press (like in the DVRT Test), building strength through the whole squat is going to help you explode when it’s time to drive out of the quarter squat. 

Add this simple combo into one of your program days.

A1. USB Single Leg Deadlift 3x8 per side. 

A2. USB Fist Loaded Squat 3x8 (If you want to make this extra gnarly, make them 1 ¼   Squats. 

Please give these a shot and let me know how they work out for you. 

Thanks for the read!

-Fury

Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner’s superhero headquarters is Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. Fury’s a DVRT Master Chief, Senior RKC, and an Original Strength Instructor. He is available for classes, semi-privates, instructor training and programming at MFF. Check out www.coachfury.com, facebook.com/coachfury IG @iamcoachfury and Twitter @coachfury for more info.