Power Clean
Whole-body explosive power
How to do it well
The set-up and the rep in full, then the cues the app shows on the exercise card — the short version, for the moment you are standing in front of the bar.
Set-up
Bar on the floor over the middle of the feet, feet hip width. Grip just outside the legs, double overhand or hook grip. Shins to the bar, hips higher than the knees, chest up, back flat, shoulders just over the bar.
The rep
Push the floor away and lift the bar smoothly to the knees, keeping the same back angle. As it passes the knees, bring the hips through and jump hard so the bar brushes the upper thighs. Shrug, pull yourself under, whip the elbows through, and catch the bar on the shoulders in a quarter squat with the chest tall. Stand to finish, then lower it back to the floor.
On the exercise card
- Fast pull
- Catch tall
What goes wrong, and the fix
| What goes wrong | The fix |
|---|---|
| Jerking the bar off the floor | The first pull is controlled. The speed comes after the knees. |
| The hips rising first off the floor | Keep the chest and hips rising together until the bar passes the knees. |
| Bending the arms early | Keep them long until the legs have finished the jump. |
| Catching low and folded | Catch tall, in a quarter squat with the chest up. A deep catch is a slow one. |
Make it easier, or harder
- Easier
- A hang power clean from above the knees, which removes the pull off the floor.
- Harder
- More load, but only while the bar stays fast, or a pause just below the knee before the jump.
How Train Smart prescribes it
The sets and reps below are the authored starting point. The actual weight you see is calculated from your own last top set and the week you are in within your four-week block.
Both rugby codes open their power session with it, five sets of three at about three-quarters of a maximum: heavy enough to matter, light enough to stay fast. It is whole-body power from a low start, which is what a hit or a drive off the line asks for.
| Program | Session | Sets × reps | Load |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rugby League | Power & Collision | 5 × 3 | 75% 1RM |
| Rugby Union | Power & Contact | 5 × 3 | 75% 1RM |
What it trains, and who trains it
- Muscles worked
- Quads · Glutes · Hamstrings · Traps
- Region
- Lower body
- Classified as
- Power
- Prescribed in
- rugby league · rugby union
If you cannot do this one
Rack taken, kit missing, or it does not suit you. These are the swaps the app offers, matched by movement pattern and body region — each with the reason it is a fair substitute.
| Alternative | Why it works as a swap |
|---|---|
| Hang Power Snatch | Fastest bar-speed Olympic lift — sprint power |
| Clean Pull | Skill-free triple-extension overload — high force, low complexity |
| DB Snatch | Explosive single-arm power, easy to learn |
| Single-Arm DB Clean | Asymmetric explosive pull — combat athletes |
| Trap Bar Jump | Loaded jump — power with no barbell skill |
| Kettlebell Swing | Hip-snap power + conditioning |
This exercise, in a program that knows why it is there
Train Smart puts this movement in the right session, at the right point in your block, at a weight calculated for you — and swaps it automatically if you do not have the kit.
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