Empty Bar Power Clean

The empty bar power clean is a technique drill for the clean performed with an unloaded barbell. It trains fast hip extension, timing, and the turnover and catch position while letting you practice the full movement pattern without heavy loading.

Set up with your feet about shoulder-width apart and the bar over the middle of your feet. Bend down and grip the bar with your hands just outside your legs. Keep your back flat, chest up, and arms straight. Your shoulders should be slightly in front of the bar, hips lower than your shoulders but higher than your knees, and your eyes looking forward.

Brace, then push the floor away and stand the bar up past your knees, keeping it close to your legs. Once the bar reaches your upper thighs, explosively extend your hips and knees, shrug your shoulders, and pull your elbows high and to the sides. Quickly drop under the bar into a quarter squat, spin your elbows forward, and catch the bar on your shoulders with a loose grip. Stand up tall to finish, then lower the bar back down under control or drop it for the next rep.

Take a breath in and tighten your core before each pull; breathe out once you are standing tall. To make it easier, slow the pull down or perform a muscle clean without rebending under the bar. To make it harder, pause for a few seconds at the knee or hang position before finishing the rep.

Fault: The bar swings away from your body during the pull. Fix: Keep your lats engaged, turn your elbows out, and brush the bar close to your thighs as you extend.

Fault: Your arms bend early and you muscle the bar up. Fix: Treat your arms like ropes until after your hips extend and your shoulders shrug; the legs and hips do the work.

Fault: You catch the bar in a deep squat instead of a partial squat. Fix: Receive the bar with your thighs above parallel, meeting it with your shoulders rather than dropping all the way down.

Fault: Your lower back rounds as you pull from the floor. Fix: Brace your core, keep your chest up, and maintain a flat back from the start of the lift through the finish.