How To Optimise Your Power Cleans

 When you’re setting up for a clean, here are some cues to follow. If you haven’t done a power or squat clean before, we recommend speaking to a coach or personal trainer before trying the lift. It is a complex movement that’s best done in the safety of a coached environment. 1. Grip Always use hook grip, wrap your hands around the bar and hold your fingers over the top of your thumbs. 2. Start Position When you step up to the bar, position your feet in a shoulder-width stance. Hands should hold the bar just outside shoulder width. Set your back straight.Align the barbell over the balls of your feet. Drop your hips and ensure your shoulders are directly above the barbell. Engage your core. Keep your head up and make sure your elbows are facing out.3. The PullStart lifting the barbell. Push the feet against the floor. Keep your core engaged. As the barbell passes the knees, pull back towards your legs. Keep it close to your body. Keep your arms straight and your midline tight.Lift starting slowly and accelerate after it passes the knees into a quick, explosive movement and full body extension.4. Extension When you lift the barbell to the mid/upper thigh, explosively extend your hips (like you would want to jump straight up off the floor). Shrug your shoulders, elbow should bend outward. Aim to keep the bar as close as possible to your body. Your goal should be a full hip extension.5. Receiving Position Pull your body underneath the bar to receive it on your shoulders.  Lift your elbows up, push your shoulders forwards and slightly up. Stand up.  That's some brief cues, but as we said before, always speak to a coach about your technique before loading on weight in a clean movement.