Strength Training · Olympic Weightlifting
Muscle Clean
The muscle clean brings a barbell from the floor to your shoulders without dipping under it. It trains powerful leg and hip extension, upper-body pulling, and the clean turnover.
Higher injury risk. Read the safety notes before adding weight.
- Intermediate
- Compound
- Higher injury risk
- Rest 3 min
How to do it
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, the bar over your midfoot.
- Grip the bar just outside your legs with your hips and knees bent, chest above your hips, and shoulders slightly ahead of the bar.
- Lift the bar to just above your knees while keeping your torso angle steady.
- Drive your hips and knees straight to accelerate the bar upward.
- Guide your elbows up and out as the bar rises.
- Rotate your elbows forward under the bar to receive it on the fronts of your shoulders without rebending your knees.
- Lower the bar to your thighs under control.
- Return the bar to the floor by bending your hips and knees.
Form cues
- Brace before the bar leaves the floor.
- Keep your ribs over your pelvis.
- Let your grip relax during turnover.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the bar awayKeep the bar close enough to skim your shirt rather than tracing an arc around you.
- Dipping under the barReduce the weight until you can finish the turnover at full standing height.
- Catching the weight in your handsLet your shoulders support the load rather than holding it up through bent-back wrists.
Safety
A heavy or poorly timed turnover can strain your wrists or shoulders, or cause you to lose control of the bar. Fatigue and rounding your back during the floor pull can also increase back strain.
- Learn the movement with a light training bar before adding weight.
- Secure the plates with collars on a clear lifting platform.
- End the set when the pull slows or the turnover becomes a struggle.
- Practice releasing a missed lift safely before progressing to heavier loads.
If you cannot rest the bar on your shoulders comfortably because of wrist, elbow, or shoulder limitations, use a pulling-only variation and seek guidance from a physiotherapist.
Muscles worked
Primary muscles
Secondary muscles
Equipment
- Barbell Collar
- Bumper Plate
- Knee Sleeves (optional)
- Lifting Belt (optional)
- Olympic Weightlifting Barbell
- Weightlifting Platform
- Wrist Wraps (optional)
Sets and reps
- Sets
- 3–4
- Target
- 3–5 reps
- Rest
- 3 min
Use a light load that lets every repetition stay quick and controlled; this is primarily a technique drill.