While the clean and press is a noble undertaking, I don't know if I'd call it a great bang/buck ratio. (Geez, that sounds dirty.) Pretty high-skill undertaking to do it healthily, heavy, and in volume. For the average new EMT who wants to know how to get "in shape" for the job, deads are the best start... and gosh, maybe some kind of farmer's walk if I could pick an ideal number two. Lifting and carrying are what this job is about.
Right, but anterior core stability is just as importand as working the posterior chain. This becomes evident when you're at the foot of the stair chair going downstairs, doing any head-to-toe pt lift from cot to bed or chair to cot, really whenever you're moving or holding a load from mid-thigh upwards. You'll feel you anterior core fire when coming out of the hole on a front squat, particularly with double kettlebells. That's the same feeling I want when stabilizing my core for a challenging pt lift. My point is that you need both the posterior chain and the anterior core to be strong if you want to keep your back healthy and move patients effectively.
If I'm lifting someone from the floor on a backboard, or perhaps from a compromising position like inside a bathtub or between the bed and the wall, I want my anterior core to keep my spine in peoper alignment. Deadlifts work this to an extent, but I feel front squats, elbows forward, work this much more intensely.
Whenever I lift a pt from the floor, the start looks more like the bottom position of a goblet squat, just with my arms extended downwards. Deficit deadlifts could work somewhat, but many patient lifts from the floor can and should begin with a much deeper squat than you would do with a conventional deadlift. Basically, you need an olympic wieghtlifter's mobility to get into a "third world squat," and the force to be able to control a load from that position. You may not be lifting from a full butt-to-heels squat, but it's desireable to have that capacity in reserve should your mechanics falter during a lift. You don't want to compensate for a lack of mobility there by hinging more at the hips and controlling the load much farther out. The lumbars don't like that.
Anyway, if the lifter can't do cleans, then just take a bar from the rack and do front squat/press combos, or front squat/press/back squat/press combo.
