Dropping Under Cleans
A classic mistake in the clean is dropping out from under the bar and allowing it to crash down into the rack. This means misses or unnecessarily difficult recoveries, with excessive downward force, loss of posture and rack security, forward leaning, imbalance, dizziness and more.
The two most common reasons for this are mistakenly attempting to receive all cleans in the deepest possible squat, or rushing to get deeper than necessary because of a lack of confidence at heavier weights.
First, understand the principle that we need to move the body down relative to the bar, not just get into the bottom of a squat indiscriminately—we need to meet the bar at whatever height we’ve lifted it to, which is nearly always higher than we think. We need to trust that ability to lift the bar, and consistently train our turnover to keep us connected to the bar regardless of elevation.
Train the basic mechanics of the turnover with tall muscle cleans, focusing on consistently smooth delivery into a secure rack position. This motion should never vary.
Then train tall cleans, receiving at varying heights, from a relatively high power position to near full depth, to improve your natural sense of the bar’s location and your ability to stay with it.
Finally, use a power clean + clean complex with the focus on securing the bar in the rack position at the same height in the clean at which you received the power clean. This will both help the mechanics and remind you of how high you actually lift the bar in a clean to boost your confidence.
The two most common reasons for this are mistakenly attempting to receive all cleans in the deepest possible squat, or rushing to get deeper than necessary because of a lack of confidence at heavier weights.
First, understand the principle that we need to move the body down relative to the bar, not just get into the bottom of a squat indiscriminately—we need to meet the bar at whatever height we’ve lifted it to, which is nearly always higher than we think. We need to trust that ability to lift the bar, and consistently train our turnover to keep us connected to the bar regardless of elevation.
Train the basic mechanics of the turnover with tall muscle cleans, focusing on consistently smooth delivery into a secure rack position. This motion should never vary.
Then train tall cleans, receiving at varying heights, from a relatively high power position to near full depth, to improve your natural sense of the bar’s location and your ability to stay with it.
Finally, use a power clean + clean complex with the focus on securing the bar in the rack position at the same height in the clean at which you received the power clean. This will both help the mechanics and remind you of how high you actually lift the bar in a clean to boost your confidence.
