How to do the Power Clean, step by step
- Stand with your feet hip-width, bar over midfoot, grip just outside your legs.
- Lift the bar under control with a neutral back until it passes your knees.
- Explosively extend your hips, knees, and ankles.
- Drop under the bar briefly and whip your elbows forward fast.
- Catch the bar on your shoulders, hips above knee height.
- Stand all the way up.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Leaning back at extensionextend straight up, don't fall backward
- Catch too lowif you have to catch that low, the weight is too heavy for a power clean
- Bar crashes onto your shouldersturn your elbows over faster and meet the bar
- Bar swings away from your bodykeep the bar tight
How to scale the Power Clean
If you can't do the movement cleanly yet or the workout is too heavy, use one of these variations:
- Hang Power Clean
- Power Clean with an empty bar
- Dumbbell Power Clean
Also known as
P clean
Benchmarks with Power Clean
- Wittman7 RFT: 15 KB Swings 24 kg, 15 Power Cleans 42.5 kg, 15 Box Jumps 61 cm
- Holleyman30 RFT: 5 Wall Balls 9 kg, 3 HSPU, 1 Power Clean 102.5 kg
- Santiago7 RFT: 18 DB Hang Squat Cleans (2 × 15 kg), 18 Pull-ups, 10 Power Cleans 60 kg, 10 HSPU
- Open 11.520 min AMRAP: 5 Power Cleans 65 kg, 10 Toes-to-Bar, 15 Wall Balls 9 kg
These descriptions are general guidance and don't replace a coach. Have someone at your box show you new movements, and stop if anything hurts.