Empty Bar Clean

The empty bar clean is a technique drill for the clean done with an empty barbell, PVC pipe, or light dowel. It trains the positions and timing of the pull, the turnover, and the catch without adding load. Use it during a warm-up or as a form refresher before heavier Olympic lifting.

Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes under or just behind the bar. Grip the bar slightly wider than your shoulders with a hook grip or full grip. Hinge at the hips and bend your knees until your shoulders are over the bar, arms straight, back flat, and eyes forward.

Push the floor away and lift the bar smoothly past your knees. When the bar reaches mid-thigh, extend your hips and legs together, shrug your shoulders, and pull yourself under the bar. Catch it on your front shoulders with your elbows high, grip relaxed, and hips back in a quarter squat. Stand up tall to finish.

Take a breath in and brace your core before each rep, then exhale once you are standing. To make it easier, slow the whole movement down and pause at the hip and at the catch. To make it harder, add a pause just below the knee or perform each rep from the hang.

Fault: You bend your arms early and pull with your biceps. Fix: Keep your arms relaxed ropes until after your hips extend; let the shrug and pull under come from the shoulders, not the arms.

Fault: You catch the bar with your elbows down and the weight resting in your hands. Fix: Turn your elbows around quickly and point them forward so the bar sits on your shoulders, not your wrists.

Fault: You jump your feet too wide or shift your weight onto your toes. Fix: Keep the jump small and land with your feet in the same stance you started in, weight balanced through the middle of each foot.