Only recently finding out power cleans are an "essential lift" and the reasoning makes sense - developing "explosive" or sudden, high power muscle movements. I'd like to develop my sprint power/technique, so this is appealing.
However, I really doubt my gym would be ok with me doing power cleans in a rack spot, which are the only barbell spots in the gym. Additionally, it looks scary; I've injured myself working out before and it's a major concern because it will kill my consistency, which will also kill my motivation (I'm actually just starting to consistently workout again after I injured myself the last time, a whole year afterwards).
So what are good alternatives? Anyone have good experiences with these alternatives? I've heard db squat jumps aren't too bad, anyone use these in their routine?
Kettlebell clean and press might be what you’re looking for. You do it with substantially less weight, relying on higher reps and the ballistic movement of the exercise to bring the challenge. If you want that extra quad movement in there, you could make it a clean and push press. Gyms that aren’t ok with Olympic lifting often still are ok with kettlebells.
If you haven’t used bells before, I’d recommend doing them one arm at a time to get the technique down (which is a lot of fun, there’s a martial arts like “move your are around the kettlebell, not the kettlebell around your arm” type satisfaction to it) and then move on to two.