In Depth on The Power Clean with Mark Rippetoe

Mark Rippetoe delivers the full teaching method for the power clean. Recorded at the Starting Strength Seminar held at Wichita Falls Athletic Club in June 2019.

[notimewaits]

Rip has always reminded me of a 19th century lawman/gunslinger. A serious man, plain spoken and dedicated. He says what he means and he means what he says.

[scottmoyer]

Rip is truly an expert movement coach. One could only listen to this (without watching) and learn how to clean perfectly fine. 10/10. Ty for posting.

[mauriciorossi]

This is like 1000 million times better instruction that anything I have found anywhere for any movement. I am gonna be patient and go step by step, make sure I have a great foundation.

[lookie]

I learn more from Rip's videos half a world away than any "personal trainer" in flesh could teach me. Respect.

[patrickvanmeter]

I love cleans. Helped me to increase my deads. Very hard for me to learn to do correctly but when you do get right, you wil know immediately. This is the best example I have ever seen.

[roi]

I wish Rip will tell me 'just exactly like that' after I clean.

[vidbit]

Fantastic! I got tired of bruising my knees because of my terrible power clean technique. I was somehow jumping early enough that I'd bang my knees straight into the barbell. I switched to hang cleans to remove that possibility. Now that I see some really good video coaching, I think I can relearn the power clean but with good technique.

[blessedbythebest]

I do CF and I been overthinking “arm pulling” and been struggling for 3 years weeks. Everyone tells me tips but I don’t have a mirror to see if I’m mirroring the way others do it. This Detailed power clean video is amazing. We are doing them today so I’m going to think of EVERYTHING you have said. The detail of each body part matters a lot to me. No wonder it never felt right. No one really told me about Elbows straight and focus on the jump.
That’s actually how I knew I wasn’t doing it right because I wasn’t jumping. GRACIAS SIR

[TheHaiku]

18:50 The most replayed, you don't say??

[tpace]

I've watched dozens of videos and this is the best explanation of the why's of the clean thanks

[dds]

Intense guy, but I love it. That's why he's the man!

[Filosofuerza]

No other person, nor certifying institution teaches the PC (nor any other barbell lift) with such simplicity and clarity. Said as someone who's been to the seminar, and enrolled on SSOCCA for 6 months. The best time and money invested in learning barbell training.

[talentlessproductions]

I love this guy, I was doing an upright row when cleaning, im so excited to practice my deadlifts and cleans tomorrow. Then get my push work out in for the day

[riyadhatrah]

This guy is a genius. Simple and elegant. Thank you!

[MikeXCSkier]

So I said in another post that I would no longer just criticize but try to offer some constructive help. Turns out Mark is not really that bad a guy. The reason that last lifter jumped forward is not because he started his pull too soon. In order to see what I'm talking about you'll need to replay the video at 0.25 speed. Start the video at 28:25. At this exact point the lifter makes contact with his thigh just above the knee - it does look like he starts the pull early. But he actually does not "jump" until the bar is level with the bottom of his shorts. This happens in a fraction of a second so the actual time will still read 28:25, which is why you need to replay at a slow speed. At 28:26 the lifter starts the jump amd this is where the error happens. Again where talking fractions of seconds but a fraction of a second before the clock hits 28:26 you can see that this lifter's knee angle is almost vertical. This means that he cannot effectively use his quads to impart vertical force to the bar. He has no choice but to shift his legs forward and bump the bar forward to get any movement at all on the bar. Right at 28:26 you can see the separation of the bar and the lifter. His heels are off the ground indicating that the center of gravity of the lifter-barbell system has shifted forward. From here the lifter then goes into his "jump, " but it is now too late to effectively impart upward force on the bar.


This is one of the key reasons why the high-hip start position is not optimal. I have seen this in several other videos that Starting Strength has posted on how to do the Olympic lifts. With high hips, you're starting with a very closed hip angle and a very open knee angle. On the way up, most lifters will open the knee angle even more to the point where the lifters' legs are practically straight at the start of the second pull. With no force being contributed from the quads, the lifter's only recourse is to move the bar up with hip extension only. This causes the bar to move forward and swing out. With a light enough weight, the lifter can pull the bar back toward him or her, or in this case compensate by jumping forward. This will work for light weights, and strong lifters can even move some appreciable poundage this way. In the beginning it might even seem to be an effective and efficient way of cleaning because "leading with the torso" and using all hip extension and little to no knee extension is a very common beginner error. I did it too. But at some point this technique will cause progress to stall because the bar moving away from the lifter is the cardinal sin of weightlifting. At the start of the second pull the lifter must be placed, the whole foot must be in contact with the ground, and the quads should contribute quite a bit to the pull to give the bar a vertical trajectory.


Take this comment in the spirit it was intended. I am not trying to be an asshole here and I am not bashing the high hip deadlift-jump-and-shrug method for the sake of bashing the method. There are real downsides to this method as demonstrated in this and many other videos.

[cobra]

Rip is the man when it comes to barbell form!!!

[tomcastle]

Props to the dude with the Mastodon shirt 🤘

[stephenwood]

Don't forget to use those lats to pull the bar into the body as it passes the knees. "Clearing the road" as Dimas would say, pushing those knees back coming off the floor. Great video! Very thorough.

[mouloudachour]

Top I'll do all my best to learn this.... Thank you

[ShineDawg]

spot on, beautiful instructions, well done