racking a clean

[steelcutoats]

How important is it get the elbows up if the bar is already resting up high, on the meaty part of the shoulder?
I have long arms and I am reasonably flexible. If I raise my elbows so that the arms are parallel to the floor, my hands are scratching the back of my neck. So I don't need very high elbows to get the bar to my shoulder. The only way I can get the high elbows position with the bar on the shoulders is to make a very extreme forward rounding of my shoulders and move my head way back, which seems like unnecessary effort.

So, any thoughts: Is it getting the bar to the shoulders, or the high elbows that matter? If I can do the former without the latter, am I okay for the hang clean?

thanks!

[doit]

The point is to keep the chest high up and elbows as high up as you possible can, is to rack the bar on your body (shoulders) rather than having to support it with the arms and the hand.
The load shall rest on the shoulders, the body. Pointing down the elbows will load your palms and wrists with weight.

I see on your log that you are at a 40kg hang clean. At this point you will probably not have problem with keeping the bar on shoulders alone with elbows pointing down, with minimal load on the wrists.
When the bar gets heavy and the load gets heavyer on the wrists/hands, then its a potential risk of injury on your wrists.

So you should receive the bar with elbows up.