Hang Clean

The hang clean is an Olympic lifting variation where you pull a barbell from a hanging position - somewhere around your upper thigh to just below your knees - and catch it on your shoulders. It trains explosive hip and leg power, fast pulling strength, and the timing to drop under the bar. It mainly works the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, and traps, with the lower back and forearms helping to stabilize and grip. Starting from the hang shortens the pull compared with a full clean, which can spare the lower back.

Set up with your feet about hip-width apart and the bar over your shoelaces or mid-foot. Take a clean grip with your hands just outside your legs, arms straight, and elbows turned out slightly. Brace your midsection, set your shoulder blades down and back so your lats are tight, then hinge at the hips to lower the bar to the hang position. Keep your shoulders over or slightly in front of the bar, your back flat, and your weight balanced through the middle of your feet.

From the hang, push your feet into the floor and violently extend your hips and knees together to drive the bar upward. Keep the bar close to your body as it rises. As the bar reaches about mid-thigh, shrug and pull yourself under with fast elbows, spinning your arms around the bar to catch it on your front shoulders. Land in a partial squat with your elbows high, chest up, and the bar resting on your shoulders, then stand up to finish.

Breathe in and brace your core before you hinge to the hang, and hold that brace through the catch until you stand up. To make it easier, start from a higher hang position, such as mid-thigh, or use a lighter bar to practice the timing. To make it harder, lower the start to just below the knees or add a brief pause in the hang before the pull.

Fault: The bar drifts away from the body during the pull. Fix: Keep your lats tight and your elbows turned out so the bar stays close to your thighs and hips through the entire extension.

Fault: The wrists bend back and the elbows point down in the catch. Fix: Turn your elbows around the bar quickly and catch with your elbows high, supporting the weight on your shoulders rather than your hands to avoid wrist hyperextension in the rack.

Fault: The arms bend too early instead of the hips and legs doing the work. Fix: Hinge to the hang with patience, then drive through the floor and violently extend the hips and knees before bending the arms; think jump and shrug first, then fast elbows.