Are you looking to take your strength and fitness to the next level? If so, power training should be a key part of your workout routine. The power clean, along with other explosive exercises like the hang power clean and power snatch, is an essential compound movement for developing power, strength, and coordination.

By mastering the proper form, you’ll unlock the full potential of these exercises, helping you lift heavier, run faster, and perform better in any sport or activity. In this guide, we’ll dive into the top 7 reasons why everyone should be incorporating power cleans into their routine!

What is the Power Clean?

The power clean is a compound Olympic-style lift used in weightlifting. To execute it, the lifter moves a barbell from the ground to a racked position across the shoulders with speed and force so that at the end of movement, the bar rests on the front of the shoulders with the lifter standing up straight with feet parallel. The power clean is a variation of the clean and jerk, one of the lifts in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. The power clean is often used by athletes from other sports, such as athletics, to develop power and speed.

How to Perform the Power Clean

Mastering the power clean requires understanding its key phases, each contributing to maximum power output. Follow these steps to ensure proper form and technique.

1. Starting Position: Begin with the loaded barbell on the ground. Stand with feet hip-width apart, bar close to your shins, and your hands gripping the bar just outside your knees. Your chest should be up, with your back flat and arms straight.
2. First Pull: In the first pull, drive through your heels to lift the bar off the ground, keeping your arms straight and maintaining a steady bar path. Focus on extending your legs without pulling with your arms.
3. Second Pull: As the bar passes your knees, move into the power position, driving your hips forward before performing a triple extension (fully extending your hips, knees, and ankles). This is the phase where most of your power output is generated, propelling the bar upward with speed.
4. Third Pull: After the second pull, as the bar reaches its peak, quickly drop into the catch position by bending your knees and catching the bar in a front squat position. This requires good timing and coordination to land in the proper position.
5. Finish: Complete the lift by standing tall, ensuring the bar is racked across your shoulders, your elbows high, and your body fully extended.

You Might Like: How To Learn Olympic Lifting (For Beginners)

7 Reasons Why You Should Power Clean

The power clean is more than just a strength-building exercise—it’s a full-body movement with a wide range of benefits. Here are 7 reasons to add power cleans to your routine, from building muscle to enhancing athletic performance.

1. Power Cleans Boost Muscle Development

When it comes to muscle, size and strength are the two main factors that determine how well your body can handle heavy weights. Power cleans help you develop both of these. They are one of the most popular weightlifting exercises for building strength because they activate large muscle groups in the entire body from multiple angles. Though technically a leg exercise, power cleans build much more than your quads. They develop muscles in the lower body like the calves, glutes, and hamstrings, as well as the muscles of the upper back and core.

2. Power Cleans Build Functional Strength

The power clean improves functional strength and fitness for daily life, as the ability to lift a heavy weight from the ground to shoulder height in one swift movement can come in extremely useful and even potentially necessary for some people! Additionally, as power cleans also target fast twitch muscle fibres, they build power that can help you run faster, jump higher and lift heavier in whatever sport or activity you love to do.

3. Power Cleans Burn Body Fat

A power clean is extremely effective for burning calories and body fat as it is a high-intensity exercise that engages the entire body. Used with lighter weights and higher reps, the power clean is effective for burning body fat and dropping calories to help you achieve that lean and muscle-defined look.

4. Power Cleans Improve Explosive Power

If you are looking for a weight lifting exercise that improves explosiveness quickly, then the power clean is for you. The power clean builds explosiveness, as the lifter must accelerate the bar from the floor to the hip, and then drop underneath the bar at speed in order to receive the bar on the shoulders. This develops the ability to produce force at a high velocity. As this intensive movement builds your overall power and strength, this will also lead to explosive potential.

Read More: How To Learn To Lift Weights The Right Way

5. Power Cleans Assist Athletes

Improved explosiveness developed by the power clean can help athletes in any fast paced sports that include running or jumping. This could include athletics, rugby, basketball, cricket and many more! The potential benefits of power cleans to athletic performance are endless, which is why many athletes choose to utilise this compound exercise. 

6. Power Cleans Improve Coordination

Since a power clean is a full body movement performed at speed, it requires good inter-muscular coordination to execute well. The process of learning this lift will therefore improve your coordination, even if it feels difficult at first.

In the power clean, you must drive the bar off the floor using leg and back strength. Then, as the bar is coming up under its own momentum, you quickly drop under it and whip the elbows round to receive the bar. This change of direction requires good inter-muscular coordination. You must also engage your core at the right moment to ensure that you receive the bar with a braced torso and flat back.

7. Power Cleans Provide a Full Body Workout

A power clean is a compound exercise, meaning it uses multiple muscle groups and joints simultaneously for maximum benefits. This Olympic-style lift requires the coordination of every muscle group in the body and, over time, the power clean adds to muscle density, functional strength and flexibility, with an emphasis on the legs, back and core. 

Looking for Expert Strength Training Classes in London?

Whether it’s to assist your athletic journey, build muscle or burn off the calories, this lift is a great, but complex one. We always recommend working with an expert strength trainer when working with complex movements and heavy weights like those in a power clean. 

At Strength Ambassadors, we are experts in building functional and targeted strength, whatever that means for you. Work with an expert with one of our Strength Gym Memberships or try one of our Strength Training Classes for a more focused workout. 

Work On Your Power Clean Today with an Expert Strength Training Class at Strength Ambassadors!

 

Power Clean FAQs

How often should I incorporate power cleans into my workout routine?

It depends on your fitness goals and experience level. For beginners, 2 times a week is a good starting point to develop technique, as more frequent practice will help with learning. More experienced lifters aiming for strength and power gains may perform power cleans 1 or 2 times a week, as part of a range of strength and power exercises.

Do I need to master the clean before doing power cleans?

Not necessarily. While both exercises are similar, the power clean is a slightly easier variation because you don’t drop into a full squat to catch the bar. Learning the power clean first can help you develop strength and coordination before progressing to the full clean.

What’s the difference between a hang power clean and a power clean?

In a hang power clean, you start with the barbell off the ground, typically at the thighs or knees, rather than from the floor. This focuses more on the second pull and explosiveness, while the traditional power clean works through all the phases, including the first pull from the ground.