Strength Training · Olympic Weightlifting
No-Contact Clean
The no-contact clean is a clean performed without brushing or bumping the bar against your thighs. It trains leg power and precise timing as you lift the bar from the floor to your shoulders.
Higher injury risk. Read the safety notes before adding weight.
- Advanced
- Compound
- Higher injury risk
- Rest 3 min
How to do it
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and the bar over your midfoot.
- Grip the bar just outside your legs with your hips lowered, back flat, and shoulders slightly ahead of the bar.
- Push through the floor to raise the bar past your knees.
- Extend your hips and knees rapidly upward without touching the bar to your thighs.
- Pull yourself under the rising bar with your elbows rotating forward.
- Receive the bar on the fronts of your shoulders in a squat, with your elbows high.
- Stand fully upright with the bar supported on your shoulders.
- Return the bar to the platform.
Form cues
- Brace before you leave the floor
- Keep your arms long through the drive
- Keep your whole foot grounded in the catch
Common mistakes
- Swinging the bar forwardLeave only enough clearance to avoid thigh contact rather than pushing the bar away from your body.
- Throwing your shoulders backwardFinish your upward drive tall rather than leaning back to generate momentum.
- Bar crashing onto your shouldersMeet the bar at its available height before absorbing it into the squat.
Safety
A missed catch can strain your wrists, shoulders, or back, or cause a fall with the bar. Excessive load and fatigue make an unstable receiving position more likely.
- Practice with an empty bar before adding small amounts of weight.
- Secure the plates with collars on a clear lifting platform.
- Learn to release a missed lift forward while moving clear; never try to catch a falling bar.
- End the set when your receiving position becomes unstable.
If you cannot comfortably hold a front rack or squat with the bar on your shoulders, use a simpler variation and seek qualified guidance before attempting this lift.
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
- 3–5
- Target
- 1–3 reps
- Rest
- 3 min
Use a light technique load and reset your starting position before each repetition.