Empty Bar Clean & Jerk

The empty bar clean and jerk is the Olympic lift done with a barbell and no weight. It trains the positions, timing, and coordination for both the clean and the jerk, making it a useful warmup and technique drill before loading the bar.

Set up with your feet about hip-width apart and the bar over the middle of your foot. Grip the bar just outside your legs with straight arms, shoulders over or slightly in front of the bar. Keep your back flat, chest up, and eyes forward.

Lift by pushing the floor away and extending your hips and knees together, keeping the bar close to your body. As the bar passes your thighs, jump and shrug to pull yourself under, catching the bar on your shoulders in a front squat. Stand up. Then dip straight down a few inches, drive up hard, and push under the bar to lock your arms overhead. Bring your feet back in line and lower the bar under control.

Take a breath and brace your core before each pull. Exhale after the catch or jerk, then inhale and brace again before the next rep. To make it easier, practice the clean and jerk as separate pieces or use a PVC pipe. To make it harder, add small plates or speed up the transitions, only if your form stays solid.

Fault: Pulling with the arms too early. Fix: Keep your arms relaxed like ropes until after your hips and legs have fully extended; think jump and shrug first, then pull under.

Fault: Catching the clean with the elbows pointing down. Fix: Spin your elbows around quickly so they point forward and the bar rests on your shoulders.

Fault: Letting the bar drift away from the body. Fix: Keep your lats tight and pull the bar back into your hips and thighs so it stays close on the way up.

Fault: Dipping forward or backward before the jerk. Fix: Dip straight down with your torso upright, then drive up through your whole foot into a balanced lockout overhead.