Power Clean from Blocks

How to do it

1. Set the loaded bar on blocks or pins so it rests at around knee height, or slightly above.
2. Take a grip just outside the legs, bend the knees a little and set the back flat with the shoulders over the bar.
3. Push the floor away and drive the hips through, keeping the bar close to the thighs.
4. As the hips finish, shrug and pull the elbows high, then whip the elbows under the bar.
5. Catch the bar on the front of the shoulders in a quarter squat, elbows up, then stand.
6. Lower the bar back onto the blocks under control and reset your position before the next repetition.

Common mistakes

• Treating the blocks as a rest. The bar starts from a dead stop each rep, which is the point; rushing the reset means pulling from a poor position.
• Pulling with the arms from the blocks. Starting higher tempts an early arm pull, because the bar is closer to the shoulders; the legs and hips still do the lifting.
• Letting the bar swing away from the body. From the blocks there is less distance to keep it close over, and a bar that loops out has to be caught out in front.
• Catching low. A power clean is caught in a quarter squat; if you have to sit into a full squat, the pull was not high enough for the load.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Hamstrings

Secondary

• Quads