The Clean - Part 2

Learning the clean - A Barebones Guide

Firstly - this guide alone won't teach you how to Clean. But it might provide a handy check-list of ques you've already forgotten.

Learning the movements correctly (in person), with a qualified coach, will progress your weightlifting exponentially quicker than an online session with an Olympian or 15 hours worth of HKG training hall videos. Although these are really cool.

As a beginner, your local BWL registered club will be your first point of call. And if you can't make it to one of these - you're never far from a CrossFit box nowadays.

Also if you haven't already, make sure you have checked out part 1 of our Clean guide.

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The Setup

• Take your grip on the bar, (anything you can comfortably front rack with good connection)
• Place your hips low, around the height of your knees or slightly higher, setting the back tight and chest ‘proud’. Your arms should be extended straight down.
• Build tension in the hips, keeping your knees out and back tight, with the lats actively bracing you against the bar (elbows as far down and ‘back’ as possible, arms relaxed).
• Take a big breath and set your core and lower back/hips, expecting to fight the weight as it pulls you towards the floor. Ideally you will maintain your position as this will translate to a more successful first pull and ultimately a better clean.

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The First Pull

• Keeping your hips low, back tight, and weight through the mid foot, push against the floor.
• In this phase you want to keep your bum down and your chest up, maintaining the same angle in your torso, with the bar travelling as close to your (centre of gravity) as possible.
• The weight on the bar will want to pull you forward. Keep driving against the floor with your legs, keeping the knees out and chest ‘through’ the bar to maintain back tightness.
• Ease the knees back and allow the bar to sweep towards your body as you keep pushing. Remember to continue maintaining your posture and torso angle.
• The first pull ends around knee-height, where the knees are directly above the heels, and you have to start focusing on brining the chest up and using your hips more aggressively.

The Second Pull

• From the position of the knees over the heels, keep your hips low and begin extending them - opening up and bringing your torso more upright
• Focus on standing up tall - not leaning back- or you’ll bump the bar forwards. The movement is sweeping the bar back, as close to your body as possible, with active lats, not just leaning back!
• Similarly, you also don't want to 'push' your hips through. As Klokov once said, that movement is for sex, not for weightlifting.
• Keep your weight in the mid foot and focus on using the legs and hips together to drive yourself directly up, bringing the bar to contact your thighs.
• Extend your hips up through the bar (not forwards) - Think of jumping as high as you can - and complete the lower body drive as completely and aggressively as possible.

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The Turnover or "Third Pull"

• As you finish extending from the lower body, continue pulling with your upper body: Traps, upper back and arms work together actively turn the bar over by pulling the bar up as closely to the chest as possible.
• As your upper body completes the pull, the bar will be reaching its maximum height, which seems like a good time for you to get under it.
• To do this 'turnover', lift your feet from the floor as briefly as possible and plant them in a squat stance. Allow your pull against the bar to bring you downwards.
• Instead of just dropping and praying, think of this as an active pull that takes you under the bar in a faster yet more controlled manner.
• As always keep the bar close and rotate your elbows through to bring the bar into a strong position on your shoulders.

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Catching and Standing

• Focus on keeping the chest and shoulders strong and upright close to the bar, fixing it to your shoulders in a strong front rack position.
• Your hips should be dropping towards or just behind your feet, so that you create a stable base ready to receive the bar.
• Essentially this is (just above) your bottom position in a front squat, if you struggle with mobility, this will be a key position you want to work on as it will hugely benefit your clean.
• Use your front rack and core/hip tension to absorb the force of the bar - catching somewhere around the parallel position (or higher for a power clean)
• Keep your back tight and elbows up! This is often one of the first points of failure and ends up with the bar back on the floor and you slightly embarrassed.
• Actively drive up against the bar as you catch, decelerating the bar rather than getting buried by it. Once again focus on the same posture and balance as in a front squat - bar tight to the body, back tight, mid-foot pressure - and get out of the bottom position as soon as you find it!

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That’s a lot to take in. And the takeaway is.. you won’t learn to Clean by reading this article. Also, all of this is purely theoretical and we haven't even touched on the fact that a lot of these movements will take a lot of raw strength, positional strength, mobility and coordination.

So don't be disheartened when certain aspects seems difficult, by working with your coach, practicing consistently and often.. You’ll be performing every movement we’ve outlined above, without even thinking about it.

Remember - Weightlifting movements like the Clean are fast explosive movements. If you have time to think about doing something. You’re moving too slow. Learn the movements first, correctly, and in stages. As you become more familiar and more advanced with the clean, we recommend you focus on just one key thought at a time, rather than trying to change 5 things at once.

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There's plenty of opportunities to F**k up - And since we're experts in exactly that. We'll cover these in Part 3.