Barbell Clean

Starting position

1. Stand at the bar with feet hip-width apart and the bar over your mid-foot.
2. Squat down and take an overhand grip slightly wider than your shoulders, arms straight just outside your knees.
3. Hips above your knees, shoulders slightly in front of the bar, back flat, chest up, eyes forward.

Execution

1. Inhale and hold your breath. Lift the bar off the floor smoothly by pushing through your legs; your back keeps its angle and the bar stays close to your shins.
2. Once the bar passes your knees, drive your hips and knees to full extension, rising onto your toes, and shrug upward — arms still straight.
3. Immediately pull yourself under the bar: whip your elbows forward so the bar lands on your front delts and collarbones, with a slight knee bend to absorb it.
4. Stand up and exhale. Lower the bar to your thighs first, then to the floor with a flat back.

Common mistakes

• Pulling with the arms instead of the legs and hips — bending the elbows early overloads them and the biceps.
• Rounded back off the floor — dangerous stress on the lower back.
• Bar drifting away from the body — it swings forward and is hard to catch.
• Catching on the wrists with low elbows — the bar presses into your hands instead of resting on your shoulders.

Beginner tips

• This is a technical lift: ideally learn it with a coach.
• Practise the parts with a dowel or the empty bar, then with light plates of full diameter.
• Use bumper plates and a lifting platform if your gym has them.

Alternatives

• Barbell Deadlift — strength base for lifting off the floor without the explosive phase
• Barbell Shrugs — strengthen the traps for the pull phase