Avoid These Three Mistakes & You'll Improve Your Power Clean

If you're looking to improve your power clean and overall clean strength, avoid these three common mistakes! Clean up this lift with the help of former Olympic weightlifter Jeff Wittmer.

(0:09) The first big mistake that we see lifters make when performing power cleans is during the second pull. During the second pull as the bar approaches knee level, lifters will shift their knees forward towards the bar. This action will decrease the amount of power you can get from your legs which as a result means less weight. To help you body keep those knees back, we suggest going with a couple clean variations to improve your second pull.

The best exercises to improve your second pull and prevent those knees from coming forward are:

(0:29) Hang Clean
(1:00) Block Clean
(1:41) Pause Clean or Halt Clean

(2:14) The next most common mistake we see when performing cleans is the bar crash. As lifters go under the bar during the clean, you can see the bar fall anywhere from 2-5 inches onto the chest. As this happens, you'll see their elbows knockdown and from there they will have difficulty standing up with the weight. When it comes to fixing this issue, it's all about shifting the mindset. Most people think they need to pull as hard as they can and as high as they can then just get under the bar as fast as possible. This creates the gap that causes the bar crash. Instead, the mindset should be to bring your chest to where ever you are pulling the bar.

(3:34) Lastly, another mistake lifters make on the power clean is elbow positioning. As lifters go to wrap their elbows around the bar, they point their elbows out. This positioning of the elbow then shifts the weight into the index finger and can put you in a compromising position. When you're pulling, you want to keep your elbows tight to your body while keeping as many fingers on the bar as possible. The main thing you need to focus on is the repetition of the movement from a hang position. You don't need to go heavy but you just need to focus on keeping those elbows in and tight against the body as you're wrapping them around.

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[skandalbanker]

Weightlifting exercises should be explained by ... Weightlifters! Here we are, excellent!

[dtb]

Thanks, this was more helpful than the gym teacher who got mad at me for not being able to power clean very much and made me lift heavier and kept getting mad at me for not making any progress.

[cheesechicken]

For the longest time I’ve been trying to figure out why my wrists hurt like hell when I catch the bar. Thankfully I found your video and I now know to keep my elbows in close to my body, which eliminated virtually all the discomfort I was having. Appreciate it very much 👍

[ssawian]

How to catch the bar at 2.50 was such an eye opener for me! No one has explained it that well. Thank you :)

[dakotaspangler]

My power lean is only a 115 and thanks for the video... now I think I can lift more lol, just need to fix everything mentioned in the video... those are my main mistakes.

[davidringwald]

This guy is a much better teacher than a gym coach I had, the gym coach I had always made me do a heavier weight even though I showed that I struggled with the lighter weight and got mad at me for not being able to lift the weight because he sucked at teaching.

[jonathanrich]

This guy is an amazing encouragement and help! Reminds me of the phrase: "Respect is earned, not demanded"

[Andre-pdrx]

maybe a series of "how to.." in weightlifting exercises ; but you did a great job !

[ovale]

I just need to practice, I'm new to cleans and I'm looking very akward still but I'm getting the idea of how to do it correctly. Thanks for breaking it down

[Pandakiller]

2nd day doing cleans after not doing any for 5 years and my elbows are sticking out I totally forgot it was because my elbows are too far out thanks man hopefully I can get back to my max 😅😅😅😅

[mikeyshelton]

Im a 13 year old lineman and I lift for football and I can tell you it helps when everyone in the Weight room is screaming in your face it somehow makes you lift more

[lilmggaming]

Better then my coaches thank you now I can go to state another year with this

[beyoubodyuniversity]

I need this! I've been trying to fall under 😩

[mrhogey]

Thanks a lot, trying to learn more full body type workouts.

[RodrigoHernandez-wcej]

I have shortened forearm flexors and hamstrings. Could you do a video on that please 🙏🙏?
By the way, great video 👌💪

[Steve-ksbh]

would love to see more videos like this from Fitness Culture! great job.

[Erousey]

This video is so helpful, and not super long! Thanks!

[maelcaval]

This is going to bless my wrist, I recently got them injured cause of how my elbows were positioned, now since i watched this, im ready to practice it in the gym 😁

[bridgetc]

This video is great! I’m going to practice with an empty bar.

[ericsanchez]

this was incredibly helpful, thank you