Exercise Library
Clean From Power Position
The clean from power position can be useful as both a technique drill and a training exercise. Note that this is not the same as a dip clean or 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. Pause in this dip position for 1-2 seconds, then 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 only 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. The pause makes it easier to control the position and balance and ensure proper execution, and requires more power in the leg drive because there is no elastic contribution, relative to a dip clean.
Programming
The clean from power position can serve as a lighter clean 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. Pause in this dip position for 1-2 seconds, then 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 only 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. The pause makes it easier to control the position and balance and ensure proper execution, and requires more power in the leg drive because there is no elastic contribution, relative to a dip clean.
Programming
The clean from power position can serve as a lighter clean 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.
