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Exercise library · Full body

Power clean

Explosive lift for the whole body with a barbell.

How to do it

1 of 5

Bar over midfoot

  1. Starting position

    Stand hip-width with the bar over mid-foot, bend your knees and grip just outside your legs with a straight back.

  2. The movement

    Pull the bar from the floor, extend your hips and knees fast, catch it on your shoulders in a shallow squat, then stand.

Most common mistake

Don't pull early with your arms, push through the floor first, then drive your elbows forward under the bar.

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Muscle group
Full body
Equipment
Barbell
Where
Gym
Logged as
Weight × reps

Muscles worked

The power clean is an explosive pull that uses your whole body. Your quads, glutes and hamstrings do most of the work as your hips, knees and ankles straighten at once. Your back muscles hold your spine steady from the floor, your traps continue the pull and your lats keep the bar close. In the catch, your legs absorb the load while your upper back and abs support the bar. "Power" means catching above a parallel squat rather than in a deep one. The lift mainly trains speed and power, which is why athletes use it so often.

Common mistakes

  • You yank the bar off the floor. Your hips shoot up first and your back does the pulling. Lift smoothly to your knees with the same back angle, then speed up.
  • The bar drifts away from your body. It flies forward and you have to jump after it. Push the bar in towards you with straight arms so it brushes your thighs.
  • You catch with straight legs. Your back and wrists take the impact. Meet the bar with bent knees and your whole foot on the floor.

Variations and alternatives

  • The hang clean starts above the knees and teaches the explosive part before you pull from the floor.
  • The clean and jerk adds a jerk overhead.
  • The deadlift trains the pull from the floor slowly and heavily, building the strength the power clean then makes fast.

Sets and reps

Keep the reps low so each one is as fast as the first: 3 to 6 sets of 1 to 3 reps, with at least two to three minutes' rest. Once the bar slows, the set is over. Put the lift early in your session, straight after your warm-up. The guide to sets and reps gives the wider picture.

Learn the technique with an empty bar, ideally with a coach, adding weight only once every rep looks the same. Go up in small jumps; that is progressive overload in a lift where technique sets the limit. If you miss, push the bar forward and step back instead of fighting it, which needs bumper plates. If you feel pain in your back or wrists, not just fatigue, stop the lift and have a doctor or physiotherapist examine it.

Also called

  • clean

Swap for

Taken, or missing the equipment? The same movement with something else.

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