Barbell Clean And Press
Learn how to do the Barbell Clean And Press with proper form and technique. This barbell exercise primarily targets your Quads, with secondary emphasis on Hamstrings, Glutes, Shoulders, Triceps.
How to Do the Barbell Clean And Press
Follow these steps to perform the Barbell Clean And Press with correct form:
- 1Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the barbell on the floor in front of you.
- 2Bend your knees and hinge at the hips to lower down and grip the barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- 3Drive through your heels and extend your hips and knees to lift the barbell off the floor, keeping it close to your body.
- 4As the barbell reaches your thighs, explosively extend your hips, shrug your shoulders, and pull the barbell up towards your chest.
- 5As the barbell reaches chest height, quickly drop under it and catch it at shoulder level, with your elbows pointing forward and your palms facing up.
- 6From the catch position, press the barbell overhead by extending your arms and pushing the barbell straight up.
- 7Lower the barbell back down to the starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Barbell Clean And Press Muscles Worked
Primary
Secondary
Exercise Details
- Equipment
- barbell
- Body Part
- upper legs
- Category
- Main
Muscles & Anatomy
The barbell clean and press is a two-phase full-body movement. The clean is a power movement: the glutes, hamstrings, and traps explosively extend the hip and pull the bar from the floor to the front rack position. The press is a strength-endurance movement: the deltoids, upper pectorals, and triceps press the bar overhead. Together, these two phases recruit more total muscle mass than almost any single exercise — posterior chain, upper back, shoulders, and arms all work at maximum effort. The clean and press was a competitive Olympic lift until 1972 and remains one of the best measures of total-body strength and coordination.
Pro Tips for Better Results
- 1The clean phase is about hip drive, not arm pull. Drive your feet through the floor and explosively extend your hips and knees — the traps shrug at the top of this extension. The arms then pull the elbows under the bar, not up.
- 2Catch the bar in the front rack position with elbows high — parallel to the floor or higher. A collapsed front rack (elbows pointing down) puts the wrists in painful extension and is the most common technique fault in the clean.
- 3Reset your stance between the clean and press. Take a brief pause in the front rack, reset your breathing, brace your core, and then press. Rushing straight into the press with a fatigued bracing pattern leads to lumbar hyperextension.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
✗ Pulling with the arms during the clean
Fix: Arms should stay straight until after the explosive hip extension. If you bend the elbows early, the arms tire before the legs can fully contribute. Think: jump the bar up with your legs, then pull elbows under it.
✗ Low elbows in the front rack catch
Fix: Practice the front rack position with a PVC pipe. Elbows must be at or above parallel. If wrist flexibility is limiting, use crossed-arm (bodybuilder) front rack until mobility improves.
✗ Pressing behind the ears with lower back hyperextension
Fix: Press directly overhead, not backward. Lean the bar against your forehead at the start of the press, and press it slightly back as it passes the forehead — the bar path should end directly over the shoulder joint, not in front of it.
✗ Starting with too much weight before the pattern is established
Fix: The clean and press is a technical movement. Master the hang clean (from mid-thigh) before pulling from the floor. The press from a front rack should be solid before combining it with a full clean.
How to Program the Barbell Clean And Press
Variations & Alternatives
Hang Clean and Press
Start from mid-thigh (hang position) rather than the floor. Reduces the technical complexity of the pull and is a better entry point for beginners learning the clean and press pattern.
Dumbbell Clean and Press
Use dumbbells instead of a barbell. More accessible for beginners, trains each side independently, and eliminates the front rack position issue. The clean phase with dumbbells involves swinging each dumbbell to shoulder height.
Kettlebell Clean and Press
The kettlebell version has a unique clean path (the bell sweeps close to the body in an arc) and the press trains shoulder stability in a different plane. Popular in kettlebell sport and functional training programs.
Related Exercises
Frequently Asked Questions
What muscles does the Barbell Clean And Press work?
The Barbell Clean And Press primarily targets your Quads. Secondary muscles worked include Hamstrings, Glutes, Shoulders, Triceps. This makes it an effective exercise for developing your upper legs.
What equipment do I need for the Barbell Clean And Press?
The Barbell Clean And Press requires barbell. Make sure your equipment is properly set up and you have enough space to perform the movement with full range of motion.
How do I perform the Barbell Clean And Press with proper form?
Start by stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the barbell on the floor in front of you.. Bend your knees and hinge at the hips to lower down and grip the barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Drive through your heels and extend your hips and knees to lift the barbell off the floor, keeping it close to your body. Focus on controlled movement throughout the entire range of motion. See the full step-by-step instructions above for complete form guidance.
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