Technical Breakdown: The Clean

Hey guys this is a pretty basic breakdown of the clean.  I'm by no means an accomplished lifter or coach, but I have, through my own research and time spent working with weightlifters and weightlifting coaches, developed an understanding of basic technical principles of the clean and how to execute it.  Hopefully this will help you understand the different parts of the clean, and help you to improve your own lifting.  Each phase is broken down with a picture, and at the end of the article there is a full video.  Check it out and I hope it helps!

Phase 1—The Setup

The shoulders should be directly over the bar or slightly behind it.  Hips should be low, at the very least lower than the shoulders.  The back must be tight.  The chest should be up, the eyes should be straight ahead and up.  Feet should be less than shoulder width, with the toes pointed out.  Before you begin pulling, take a deep breath and hold it to brace the back and keep tension.

The Set Up

Phase 2—The First Pull

The first pull consists of the movement that it takes to move the bar from the floor to just below the knee.  It isn’t actually a pull; it’s a set up.  The first pull serves to put your body and the bar into an ideal position for the second pull and finish.  From the floor you must keep tension in the back, which allows you to keep your shoulders higher than your hips.  As you begin to pull the bar from the ground, the bar should be pulled back.  Everything in weightlifting is back.  The lifter’s heels should be firmly planted on the ground, and the weight should be kept back on the heels. 

As the bar is pulled off the ground and back into the lifter, the knees must be pushed back.  Remember, the bar should never come around the knees or legs.  The bar should always be moving back, so in order to make room for the bar, the knees should move back.  The shoulders should go out over the bar during the first pull as well.  THE HIPS MUST STAY BACK.

I will use the word “control” to describe the speed of the first pull.  Some coaches say “slow,” some say “fast,” I believe the best word is control.  If you pull too fast off the floor, you will lose positioning and make the rest of the lift impossible.  Go too slow, and you’ll have no momentum going into the next phase of the lift.  Lift the bar as fast as you can while maintaining proper positioning.  Remember, this is a set up, the first phase of the clean IS NOT EXPLOSIVE.

End of the 1st Pull

Phase 3—The Second Pull

The second pull begins just below the knee and ends when the bar makes contact with the upper thighs with the athletes back vertical and the hips still back.  While the first pull is a controlled movement, the second pull must be faster.  Throughout the clean, the speed of the bar should gradually increase, so that it moves the slowest off the floor, but only when compared to the finish which is the fastest and most explosive part of the clean.

In the second pull, the weight should remain on the heels, and the hips must remain back.  At the beginning, the shoulders should still be out over the bar.  As you accelerate the bar, the bar should be swept into the hips by contracting the lats and pulling the shoulders back.  At the same time, the knees, which were pushed back during the first pull, should still be slightly bent.  As the shoulders are pulled back, the hips should be driven down. 

While the bar is moved faster in the second pull than the first, the second pull is once again a set up for the finish.  At the end of the second pull, the knee should be slightly bent, the spine should be tight and vertical, the bar should be making contact with the top of the thigh, and most importantly…THE HIPS SHOULD BE BACK.

End of the 2nd Pull

Phase 4—The Finish

Everything you’ve done so far is a set up for the finish.  The bar should have accelerated throughout the first two pulls, and as you reach the finish or “third pull” the bar should be moving the fastest and most explosively.  The finish in the clean is one of the fastest and most violent movements in sports.

The finish only occurs once the bar as been pull back into the hips at the end of the second pull.  You must simultaneously extend the hips UP and THROUGH the bar violently.  Notice I didn’t say pull on the bar with your arms.  The finish should be a fast and violent explosion of the hips through the bar. 

At the same time you must move your feet.  This is the only time your weight should leave your heels during the clean.  Moving your feet quickly and precisely will get them in proper position to receive the bar.  You should not move forward or backwards, but slightly out, so that you can catch the bar in a full squat. 

Finally, you must pull yourself under the bar.  YOU DO NO USE YOUR ARMS OR SHOUDLERS TO PULL THE BAR UP.  YOU PULL YOURSELF UNDER THE BAR.

The moment you violently drive the hips through the bar, you should begin pulling your body down and under the bar.

The Finish

Phase 5—The Catch

The catch is fairly simple.  As you pull under the bar you must bring the elbows under the bar then quickly drive them up.  As you drive them up you must establish a solid rack position for the bar to rest on.  The cue for the catch is ELBOWS HIGH, BAR IN THE THROAT.  You cannot try to catch a heavy clean in your hands.  Have the courage to catch the bar in the pocket created as you drive your elbows up between your front delts and neck.  The bar must be caught deep in that pocket, up against the throat.

When receiving the bar, you MUST stay tight.  Your upper back, lower back, abs, etc. all must be tensed.  If you allow any of these links to be loose or weak, your catch position may crumble making it nearly impossible to stand up with the bar or make the bar crush you and miss the lift altogether. 

The only think that should remain relaxed in the catch is the legs.  Relax the legs; allow the bar to drive you deeper into the hole (squat position).  Once you’ve reached the bottom of the squat with the bar in the rack position and your upper body tense, it’s nothing but guts and strength to stand up.

The Catch