Exercise Library
Dip Clean
The dip clean can be useful as both a technique drill and a training exercise. Note that this is not the same as a hip clean.
Stand tall with the bar in your clean grip hanging at arms’ length and actively push it against the body. Brace the trunk and ensure your balance is even over the whole foot.
Bend at the knees only with a vertical trunk just as you would for a jerk, keeping the bar tight against your body. Drive straight up out of the dip with the legs and complete a clean as you would otherwise, focusing on complete vertical leg drive and keeping the bar as close as possible throughout the finish and pull under.
Notes
The difference between the dip and hip clean is that a dip clean keeps the trunk vertical, whereas a hip clean involves a forward hinge of the hips. The difference between a dip clean and clean from power position is simply that from power position means you pause in the dip before cleaning.
Purpose
The primary purpose of this exercise is to train the leg drive of the clean extension for lifters who are overly reliant on hip extension and tend to push the hips too far through bar and quit early with the legs. It’s also helpful to get lifters to remain flat-footed longer through the pull, to help lifters keep the bar against their bodies both in the second and third pulls, and to focus on proper arm timing and mechanics.
Programming
The dip clean can serve as a lighter snatch exercise on light training days, replacing power cleans or other hang clean variations to force a reduction in intensity and allow recovery between heavier training days. It can be taken heavy, and up to maximal effort, but the tendency will be to begin hinging at the hips as weights increase, defeating the purpose, so choose loading wisely. It’s also an excellent technique primer to be used to reinforce technique before a clean training session. Use 1-3 reps per set.
Stand tall with the bar in your clean grip hanging at arms’ length and actively push it against the body. Brace the trunk and ensure your balance is even over the whole foot.
Bend at the knees only with a vertical trunk just as you would for a jerk, keeping the bar tight against your body. Drive straight up out of the dip with the legs and complete a clean as you would otherwise, focusing on complete vertical leg drive and keeping the bar as close as possible throughout the finish and pull under.
Notes
The difference between the dip and hip clean is that a dip clean keeps the trunk vertical, whereas a hip clean involves a forward hinge of the hips. The difference between a dip clean and clean from power position is simply that from power position means you pause in the dip before cleaning.
Purpose
The primary purpose of this exercise is to train the leg drive of the clean extension for lifters who are overly reliant on hip extension and tend to push the hips too far through bar and quit early with the legs. It’s also helpful to get lifters to remain flat-footed longer through the pull, to help lifters keep the bar against their bodies both in the second and third pulls, and to focus on proper arm timing and mechanics.
Programming
The dip clean can serve as a lighter snatch exercise on light training days, replacing power cleans or other hang clean variations to force a reduction in intensity and allow recovery between heavier training days. It can be taken heavy, and up to maximal effort, but the tendency will be to begin hinging at the hips as weights increase, defeating the purpose, so choose loading wisely. It’s also an excellent technique primer to be used to reinforce technique before a clean training session. Use 1-3 reps per set.
