Strength Training · Functional Fitness
Axle Clean and Press
The axle clean and press moves a thick, nonrotating bar from the floor to your shoulders and overhead. It trains grip, explosive leg drive, and overhead strength.
Higher injury risk. Read the safety notes before adding weight.
- Advanced
- Compound
- Higher injury risk
- Rest 3 min
How to do it
- Grip the axle just outside your legs with both palms facing you, feet hip-width apart, hips lowered, and shoulders slightly ahead of it.
- Lift the axle past your knees with your chest and hips rising together.
- Drive the axle upward from your upper thighs through powerful hip and knee extension.
- Catch the axle across the fronts of your shoulders in a shallow squat, rotating your elbows forward underneath it.
- Stand fully upright with the axle supported at your shoulders.
- Press the axle overhead to straight arms without using leg drive.
- Lower the axle to your shoulders under control.
- Return the axle to the floor via your thighs, bending your hips and knees as it descends.
Form cues
- Keep the axle close.
- Brace before the pull and press.
- Keep your ribs over your pelvis.
- Finish with the axle over midfoot.
Common mistakes
- Curling the cleanKeep your arms long until your legs finish driving, rather than trying to lift the axle with your biceps.
- Crashing onto the shouldersMove underneath the rising axle early enough to receive it smoothly instead of letting it fall onto you.
- Pressing around your faceMove your chin back slightly so the axle can travel upward without a large forward arc.
Safety
The thick grip can fail during the clean or lowering, causing the axle to drop. Heavy loads, awkward catches, or excessive back arching can strain your wrists, shoulders, or lower back.
- Practice with a light axle before adding weight; its fixed shaft does not turn like an Olympic bar.
- Secure plates with collars before each set.
- Do not use lifting straps for the clean, because they can prevent you from releasing a failed lift.
- Use a clear lifting area with an approved drop surface, and establish how to release a failed lift without trying to catch it.
If you cannot comfortably support the axle at your shoulders or overhead, use a lighter version and seek advice for persistent wrist, shoulder, or back pain.
Muscles worked
Primary muscles
Secondary muscles
Equipment
- Axle Barbell
- Barbell Collar (optional)
- Weight Plate (optional)
Sets and reps
- Sets
- 3–4
- Target
- 2–4 reps
- Rest
- 3 min
This version uses a double-overhand power clean and strict press, with each repetition starting from the floor.