Why we love the Power Clean

It’s Called a “Quick Lift” for a Reason

Marvin Eder, 1956, shown above: old strength-history accounts credit the pre-steroid-era Eder with clean-and-overhead-pressing in the mid-300s while weighing under 200 pounds. His power clean technique was terrible — yet still, he cleaned the weight before he pressed it. For Eder, and for a lot of lifters, the power clean was more difficult than the overhead press and became the limiting factor. I have no doubt Eder would have overhead pressed even more if spared having to clean the weight before pressing it.

Before the Bench Press Ruled, the Clean and Press Was King

Until the late 1960s, the number one test of upper body strength was the overhead barbell press and not the bench press. As primal as it sounds, the standardized weight bench for bench pressing, a flat bench with upright supports to hold a barbell, was not yet commonplace. If you wanted to bench press, you had a flat bench and you had squat stands or racks and could drag the two together. Or you could have two training partners hand you the loaded barbell.

Up until the mid-1960s, the gold standard for upper body strength was not, “How much can you bench press?” It was, “How much can you clean and overhead press?” One of the real problems with getting good at overhead pressing was that the overhead press was two lifts: a power clean preceded the press. Technically, getting the weight to the shoulders was a whole lot more complicated than pushing it overhead.

What a Proper Power Clean Actually Does

A proper power clean uses leg power to initiate a long upward pull. The spinal erectors and lower lats jump in to assist the legs as the Olympic bar leaves the floor. To complete the final phase, the top pull, the trapezius and rear deltoids fire.

In a perfectly executed power clean, the athlete generates enough explosive power on the upward pull that, once the pull phase is completed, the barbell continues to rise for a split second. As the barbell continues to travel upward, the lifter dips, flips his wrists, and catches the barbell on its now-downward path, racking it on the shoulders, thus completing the power clean.

An efficient power clean leaves more strength available for the overhead press. Conversely, poor power clean technique, struggling with the clean, dramatically reduces strength for pressing. For many lifters, the frustrating fact was that the clean preceding the press became the limiting factor.

A poorly executed power clean lacks explosiveness. Muscling up a power clean can be dangerous. Recklessly ripping and jerking on a heavy barbell is asking for injury.

Velocity Is the Whole Point

How is a proper power clean performed? You need to be stronger than the weight. If the poundage is too heavy, while you can pull it upward, it will lack any semblance of velocity. Without velocity, a power clean becomes an upright row. If you are unable to generate speed, back down in poundage.

You need to be able to pull fast enough and long enough to create the upward momentum that allows the lifter the split second needed to dip and simultaneously snap the wrists over, racking the weight. If you can’t, the weight is too heavy.

Low Reps Preserve the Quick Lift

Elite Olympic lifters traditionally perform low reps in the power clean. Singles and doubles preserve speed, focus and technical quality. There are no bodybuilding-style slow negatives in Olympic lifting practice. The idea behind low reps is simple: in order to generate true velocity, the central nervous system needs to be fresh.

Past two reps per set, for this purpose, the CNS is dulled and subsequent reps often lack the requisite velocity, degrading the lift to an unacceptable degree. Five-rep sets, the benchmark rep range for powerlifts and the overhead press, are generally inappropriate when the goal is a truly fast, technically sharp power clean.

How would a smart trainee incorporate power cleans into the training template? Power cleans make an excellent way to start a back training session and make a terrific warm-up for the deadlift. Here is a classical power training back-day session, done once a week.

A Classical Power Training Back Day

Check Your Ego at the Door

Power cleans need to be snappy and precise. Power cleans are always done first in any workout they are part of. Check your ego at the door and dare to be weak. The best way to learn the power clean, especially if self-taught, is first and foremost to vow never to grind a power clean. If the barbell has no upward velocity, it is not a power clean.

The power clean is, despite its complexity, the easiest quick lift to master compared to a full squat clean, a power snatch, a full squat snatch or an overhead jerk, either split style or squat style.

Why High Pulls Often Miss the Point

A lot of resistance training experts recommend high pulls as a precursor to power cleans. The idea is logical: keep the muscle-building, strength-infusing pull portion of the power clean while ditching the complexity of the wrist flip, dip, and catch. In reality, most high pulls lack velocity and become a type of extended deadlift.

When doing high pulls the temptation is too great: poundage is added at the expense of velocity. The ego-deluded athlete handles 315 for 5 reps in the high pull when he cannot perform 185 x 2 in the actual power clean.

The topmost part of every technically perfect power clean is what defines the exercise. Real velocity must be generated, enough to create that millisecond of upward momentum that characterizes a theoretically explosive lift. The dip and catch require timing and practice. This is an intricate dance of man and barbell.

You need to be “stronger” than the weight you are power cleaning. By that I mean, yes, the lifter can bull up or goon up more poundage, but minus the velocity that defines the quick lifts.

Where the Power Clean Fits in the Exercise Hierarchy

Power cleans are high up in the hierarchy of progressive resistance exercise. The nucleus is the Core Four: the squat, bench press, deadlift and overhead press. In the next concentric circle outward in the exercise hierarchy are arm work, biceps / triceps, chins / pullups, rows, dips, and power cleans. This select group comprises the next outward circle.

Start a back workout with super-light, 2-rep sets of snappy power cleans. Really concentrate on the technique. This isn’t a curl or pullup that can be done on autopilot. Power cleans require concentrated effort. Start super light and take small jumps. When your velocity starts to slow, you are done. What could be easier?

Log results and seek to exceed the previous week’s best each succeeding session. A session of perfect power cleans will leave you perfectly warmed up. Now go deadlift! Power cleans and deadlifts go together like biscuits and white sausage pepper gravy. Between the two they attack every muscle on the back. In my world, there is no better trap or erector combination.

Look at how wide an overhead press grip Marvin used. He was only 5-5 in height yet used an extremely wide grip. His wide bench press grip created the power base that birthed his ultra-wide overhead press grip. Old strength-history accounts differ on the exact numbers, but the lesson remains: Eder’s pressing strength was world class, while the clean often limited the press.

Equipment Notes for Power Clean Training

Power cleans demand simple but suitable tools: a bar that can rotate, secure loading, room to move, and a surface that matches the way the lift will be trained.

For power clean work, lifters and facilities can compare Olympic weightlifting bars, weight plates, squat stands and modular racks, power cages and platform racks, and weight benches for the broader strength room.

A practical setup might include Legend Fitness commercial adjustable squat stands, a bar such as the Body-Solid black oxide Olympic weightlifting bar, loading such as IRON COMPANY premium rubber bumper plates, and a rack such as the TKO Defiant Strength power rack, when those tools match the lifter, room, floor, and intended use.

The equipment does not create the power clean. Velocity, timing, technique, restraint, and repeated practice create the power clean.

Safety Note for Power Cleans and Quick Lifts

The power clean is a technical, high-speed barbell lift. It should be learned with light weight, strict attention, suitable space, and coaching when available. Do not grind power cleans. Do not rip, jerk, or muscle a heavy bar from the floor and pretend it is a quick lift.

Power cleans require enough front-rack mobility to receive the bar on the shoulders, not on the wrists alone. Stop or scale back for sharp wrist, elbow, shoulder, neck, back, hip, or knee pain; failed rack position; uncontrolled bar path; repeated missed timing; dizziness; numbness; or any rep that turns into an ugly upright row.

If the lift is performed where the bar may need to be dropped, use appropriate bumper plates, platform surface, clearance, and facility rules. Beginners, older lifters, injured trainees, deconditioned athletes, and anyone with medical or orthopedic concerns should seek qualified coaching or medical guidance before adding power cleans.

This article preserves Marty Gallagher’s RAW power clean philosophy and old-school Olympic lifting perspective. It is not individualized medical, rehabilitation, or programming advice.

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About the Author: Marty Gallagher

As an athlete Marty Gallagher is a national and world champion in Olympic lifting and powerlifting. He was a world champion team coach in 1991 and coached Black's Gym to five national team titles. He's also coached some of the strongest men on the planet including Kirk Karwoski when he completed his world record 1,003 lb. squat. Today he teaches the US Secret Service and Tier 1 Spec Ops on how to maximize their strength in minimal time. As a writer since 1978 he’s written for Powerlifting USA, Milo, Flex Magazine, Muscle & Fitness, Prime Fitness, Washington Post, Dragon Door and now IRON COMPANY. He’s also the author of multiple books including Purposeful Primitive, Strong Medicine, Ed Coan’s book Coan, The Man, the Myth, the Method and numerous others. Read the Marty Gallagher biography here.