Single-Arm Open-Palm Kettlebell Clean

How to do it

1. Stand over a kettlebell with your feet about hip-width apart and hinge down to grip the handle with one hand.
2. Swing the bell back between your legs with a flat back, then snap the hips forward to send it up.
3. As the bell rises past the hips, pull the elbow in and up and open the hand, releasing the handle.
4. Catch the body of the bell in your open palm, handle pointing down, as it arrives at shoulder height.
5. Hold the catch for a moment with the elbow tucked and the wrist straight.
6. Flip the bell back to a handle grip on the way down and let it swing back between the legs for the next repetition.

Common mistakes

• Throwing the bell high and catching it late. The release happens just as the bell reaches chest height; if it goes above the shoulder it comes down hard on the palm.
• Catching with a bent wrist. The palm faces up with the forearm vertical under the bell; a wrist folded back takes the impact in the joint.
• Using the arm to lift the bell. The hips do the lifting and the arm only guides; a bell pulled up with the biceps arrives without the float that makes the catch possible.
• Looking down at the bell in the catch. Eyes forward and the bell arrives where the hand is; watching it drops the chest and the catch lands short.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Hamstrings

Secondary

• Forearm Flexors
• Forearm Extensors
• Glutes
• Spinal Erectors
• Quads
• Shoulders