Power Clean

Cómo hacer el Power Clean

1. 1Stand with feet hip-width apart, barbell over mid-foot. Grip the bar just outside your legs with a double-overhand grip, hands roughly shoulder-width apart.
2. 2Hinge at the hips and bend your knees forward until your shins touch the bar, chest up, back flat, and shoulders positioned slightly in front of the bar. This is your starting position.
3. 3Begin the first pull by pressing the floor away with your legs, keeping your hips and shoulders rising at the same rate and the bar moving in a straight, close path up your shins.
4. 4As the bar passes your knees, sweep it back into your hips by extending your knees slightly and shifting your torso toward vertical — this loads the hips for the explosive second pull.
5. 5Drive the second pull by violently extending your hips, knees, and ankles simultaneously. Shrug your shoulders hard and allow your elbows to pull high and wide as the bar travels upward.
6. 6Once the bar reaches chest height and you have generated maximum upward momentum, pull yourself under the bar by bending your knees into a quarter-squat and rotating your elbows forward rapidly.
7. 7Receive the bar on your front deltoids and upper chest in the front rack position — elbows high, upper arms parallel to the floor, wrists extended. Your feet may move slightly outward as you catch.
8. 8Stabilize in the quarter-squat with the bar under control, then stand fully upright to complete the rep.
9. 9Lower the bar back to the floor under control — either by reversing through the rack and hinge positions or by a controlled drop if bumper plates and appropriate flooring are in use.

Consejos de técnica

• Keep the bar as close to your body as possible throughout the pull — dragging it lightly up your shins and thighs reduces the moment arm and makes the catch far more reliable.
• Think of the shrug and high-elbow pull as one aggressive movement rather than two separate steps; any hesitation between them bleeds momentum before the bar can reach catch height.
• Actively drive your elbows forward into the front rack rather than letting the bar crash onto passive wrists — a fast elbow turnover protects the wrists and stabilizes the load.
• Start each set with a weight you can move smoothly; the power clean rewards bar speed over brute load, and a sluggish first pull usually means the weight is too heavy for the current session.
• Use collars on every set and work on a surface rated for barbell drops — if you cannot make the catch safely, let the bar drop in front of you and step back rather than fighting to save a failed catch.

Errores comunes

• Jerking the bar off the floor: rushing the first pull causes the hips to shoot up before the legs contribute, converting the lift into a stiff-leg deadlift and killing the leverage needed for the second pull.
• Looping the bar away from the body: letting the bar swing forward at the hip extension phase increases the distance it must travel and forces an inefficient, slow catch that strains the lower back.
• Cutting the hip extension short: failing to reach full triple extension — hips, knees, and ankles — before pulling under reduces power output and limits the height the bar can reach, making a solid catch impossible at heavier loads.
• Slow elbow turnover on the catch: arriving at the front rack with elbows low allows the bar to crash onto the wrists rather than the shoulders, which can cause wrist injury and makes the position unstable.
• Catching in too deep a squat: the power clean is defined by a catch above parallel; squatting too low means the load exceeded bar speed, signaling the weight should be reduced until the explosive pull is restored.

Preguntas frecuentes