How heavy should muscle cleans be?

Noticeably lighter than your power clean, since you cannot drop under the bar. Use it light as a technique drill or warm-up, and go heavier only as long as you can still turn the bar over smoothly without bending your knees or leaning back. Sets of 3 to 5 reps are typical, though heavy singles and doubles are also used.

Is the muscle clean good for beginners?

Yes. Many coaches use it to introduce the clean because it is slower and easier to coordinate than the power clean, and it teaches the bar path and turnover before you learn to pull under the bar. Once you have those positions, most of your clean training should move to the power clean and the full clean.

How is a muscle clean different from a high pull?

The Barbell High Pull stops when the bar reaches chest height with the elbows high and out. The muscle clean continues from that point, spinning the elbows around the bar to receive it on the shoulders.

Should I use straps for muscle cleans?

Usually not. Straps limit how freely your hands and wrists can rotate around the bar, which keeps most lifters from reaching a proper rack position. If you want a grip challenge, you can also skip the hook grip and hold the bar with a regular overhand grip.

Barbell Muscle Clean

What Is the Barbell Muscle Clean?

Barbell Muscle Clean is a compound exercise that primarily targets the shoulders, upper back, glutes and quads and also engages the hamstrings, lower back and calves. It is an intermediate-level movement in which the bar is pulled from the floor to the front rack position on your shoulders in one continuous motion, with your legs staying straight and your feet staying in place as you receive it.

It comes from Olympic weightlifting, where it is essentially a clean with no movement under the bar. Because you cannot drop under the bar to meet it, the lift isolates the turnover, the moment the elbows spin around the bar and deliver it to the shoulders. At light weights it teaches a smooth, precise delivery into the rack, which helps lifters who let the bar crash onto them in the clean. At heavier weights it builds strength in that same turnover. Coaches use it at the start of a session as a technique primer, as a main training lift, or as accessory work at the end.

The muscle clean shares its start and pull with the Barbell Power Clean. The difference is the finish: in the power clean you rebend your knees and usually move your feet out to pull yourself under the bar, while in the muscle clean your legs stay straight, so the bar has to travel higher and your upper back, shoulders and arms do more of the work. That is why you will handle noticeably less weight than in a power clean. It goes one step further than the Barbell High Pull, which stops with the bar at chest height, and it is the clean counterpart of the Barbell Muscle Snatch. Starting from the hang instead of the floor reduces the contribution of the legs and puts even more of the lift on the upper body.

It suits beginners learning the clean, since it is slower and easier to coordinate than the power clean, as well as weightlifters and CrossFit athletes who want a cleaner, stronger turnover. Before adding it, you should be able to pull from the floor with a flat back, which the Barbell Deadlift and Barbell Romanian Deadlift build, and hold a comfortable front rack, which the Barbell Front Squat trains.

Muscles Worked

MuscleActivation

Deltoid: Primary
Gluteus Maximus: Primary
Upper Trapezius: Primary
Vastus Lateralis: Primary
Biceps Femoris: High
Erector Spinae: High
Vastus Medialis: High
Gastrocnemius (Medial Head): Medium
Infraspinatus: Medium
Biceps Brachii: Low

Instructions

Stand with your feet about hip-width apart and your toes turned slightly out, with the barbell over the middle of your feet.
Squat down and grip the bar overhand, with your hands about shoulder-width apart, just outside your legs.
Set your hips low with your shoulders slightly in front of the bar, your arms straight, your chest up and your back flat.
Brace your core and push through your whole foot to lift the bar off the floor, keeping the same back angle until the bar passes your knees.
Once the bar is above your knees, extend your hips and knees forcefully, keeping the bar close to your thighs, and finish standing nearly upright rather than leaning back.
As your body reaches full extension, shrug and pull your elbows up and out to the sides, keeping the bar close to your body as it rises to chest height.
Without rebending your knees or moving your feet, spin your elbows quickly around and under the bar.
Receive the bar in the front rack, resting across the front of your shoulders with your elbows pointing forward, your fingers loosely around the bar and your legs straight.
Stand tall for a moment with the bar still and secure on your shoulders.
Lower the bar to your thighs and then to the floor under control, and reset your position before the next rep.

Common Mistakes

Bending the arms too early
Pulling with bent elbows before your hips and knees finish extending wastes the leg drive and turns the lift into an arm pull from the floor.
Bar drifting away from the body
Letting the bar swing forward off the thighs makes you chase it with your arms and lean forward, which slows the turnover and loads the lower back.
Pulling the elbows back
Driving the elbows back instead of up and out pushes the bar away from your body and makes a smooth turnover impossible.
Rebending the knees to catch
Dipping under the bar turns the lift into a power clean and skips the straight-legged turnover strength this version is meant to build.
Leaning back to finish
Throwing the torso back to lift the bar higher replaces the upper-body pull with a swing and strains the lower back.
Crashing the bar onto the shoulders
Letting the bar drop onto the rack instead of delivering it smoothly is the very habit the muscle clean is meant to correct, and it jars the wrists and collarbones.

Injuries

Barbell Muscle Clean is a medium risk exercise when performed with proper technique. The lower back takes the strain of the pull from the floor, the shoulders work hard as the elbows rise high and turn over under load, and the wrists and elbows take the bar in the front rack. Lifters with tight lats, triceps or wrists often feel the rack position first, and the wrist is usually compensating for limited mobility elsewhere.

Keep your back flat and the bar close to your body throughout, and pull your elbows up and out rather than back. Choose a weight you can turn over smoothly with straight legs. Once you have to lean back, bend your knees or let the bar crash onto your shoulders to finish a rep, the bar is too heavy. Work on your front rack mobility if the bar sits on your hands instead of your shoulders.

To regress, use an empty or lighter bar, start from the hang so the pull is shorter, practice the pull alone with the Barbell High Pull, or build the rack position with the Barbell Front Squat. To progress, move on to the Barbell Power Clean, then the Barbell Squat Clean once your front squat and timing allow it.

Stop if you feel a sharp or pinching pain in the front or top of the shoulder as the elbows rise, pain in the wrists or elbows in the rack, sharp pain in the lower back, or numbness or tingling in the arms or legs.

Overview

Primary Focus: Full body
Equipment: Barbell
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Intermediate

Alternative Exercises

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the difference between a muscle clean and a power clean?: Both start the same way, but in the Barbell Power Clean you rebend your knees and usually move your feet out to pull yourself under the bar, while in the muscle clean your legs stay straight and your feet stay planted. That makes the muscle clean slower and lighter, with more of the work done by the upper back and shoulders.
Q: How heavy should muscle cleans be?: Noticeably lighter than your power clean, since you cannot drop under the bar. Use it light as a technique drill or warm-up, and go heavier only as long as you can still turn the bar over smoothly without bending your knees or leaning back. Sets of 3 to 5 reps are typical, though heavy singles and doubles are also used.
Q: Is the muscle clean good for beginners?: Yes. Many coaches use it to introduce the clean because it is slower and easier to coordinate than the power clean, and it teaches the bar path and turnover before you learn to pull under the bar. Once you have those positions, most of your clean training should move to the power clean and the full clean.
Q: How is a muscle clean different from a high pull?: The Barbell High Pull stops when the bar reaches chest height with the elbows high and out. The muscle clean continues from that point, spinning the elbows around the bar to receive it on the shoulders.
Q: Should I use straps for muscle cleans?: Usually not. Straps limit how freely your hands and wrists can rotate around the bar, which keeps most lifters from reaching a proper rack position. If you want a grip challenge, you can also skip the hook grip and hold the bar with a regular overhand grip.