Power Clean

Technique

How to perform Power Clean

1. Stand with the barbell over the midfoot and take a grip just outside the legs.
2. Set the hips and knees for the floor start, brace the torso and keep the arms extended.
3. Drive through the whole foot to lift the bar close to the legs, keeping the torso angle approximately steady until the bar clears the knees.
4. Continue driving with the legs and hips to accelerate the bar upward while keeping it close.
5. As extension finishes, pull yourself underneath and rotate the elbows quickly around the bar.
6. Receive it across the fronts of the shoulders in a partial squat, stopping above thigh-parallel rather than insisting on one exact quarter-squat depth.
7. Stand to finish, then control the bar back through the thighs to the floor.
8. Reset the floor position before the next repetition; no overhead press follows.

Programming relevance

Muscles involved

Primary targets: Gluteus Maximus, Vastus Lateralis, Vastus Medialis, Trapezius.