Strength Training · Olympic Weightlifting · Functional Fitness
Clean and Jerk
The clean and jerk moves a barbell from the floor to your shoulders, then overhead using leg drive. It trains full-body strength, explosive power, and coordination.
Higher injury risk. Read the safety notes before adding weight.
- Advanced
- Compound
- Higher injury risk
- Rest 3 min
How to do it
- Grip the bar just outside your legs with it over midfoot, hips above knees, chest up, and back neutral.
- Lift the bar close past your knees with straight arms, accelerating upward through forceful hip and knee extension.
- Pull yourself beneath the bar into a squat, receiving it across the fronts of your shoulders.
- Stand fully upright with the bar supported on your shoulders.
- Dip a few inches by bending your knees with your torso vertical.
- Drive through your legs into a split stance beneath the bar, with your arms locked overhead.
- Bring your feet into line beneath the stabilized bar using short steps.
- Return the bar to the platform from a balanced overhead finish.
Form cues
- Brace before each phase.
- Keep elbows high in the clean catch.
- Keep the jerk dip smooth.
- Recover your front foot backward first.
Common mistakes
- Curling the bar earlyLet your legs finish the upward drive before bending your elbows to move under the bar.
- Bar crashing onto your shouldersMeet the bar at its rising height rather than dropping into a squat ahead of it.
- Driving the jerk forwardKeep your weight centered over your whole foot during the dip rather than tipping onto your toes.
- Landing on a tightropePlace your split feet about hip-width apart from side to side for a stable base.
Safety
A missed catch or unstable overhead position can cause the bar to strike you or pull you off balance. Excessive load or fatigue can strain your back, shoulders, or wrists during either phase.
- Learn both phases and safe missed-lift exits under qualified supervision before adding substantial weight.
- Secure the plates with collars on a clear lifting platform with adequate overhead space.
- Release a missed lift away from your body rather than trying to save it; never catch a bouncing bar.
- Only drop bumper-loaded bars where dropping is permitted, with the landing area clear of other people.
If you cannot squat with the bar comfortably supported on your shoulders or hold it overhead without pain, use unloaded drills and seek physiotherapist guidance.
Muscles worked
Primary muscles
Secondary muscles
Equipment
- Barbell Collar
- Bumper Plate
- Change Plate (optional)
- Knee Sleeves (optional)
- Lifting Belt (optional)
- Olympic Weightlifting Barbell
- Weightlifting Platform
- Wrist Wraps (optional)
Sets and reps
- Sets
- 3–5
- Target
- 1–3 reps
- Rest
- 3 min
Use a load that keeps every repetition fast and precise rather than working to failure.