Barbell Clean Pull
A step-by-step form guide from the Ægir Iron exercise library: how to do the lift, what to watch for, and the muscles it trains.
- Equipment
- Barbell
This is a technical lift, best learned under a coach’s eye before loading heavy.
HOW TO PERFORM
- Set up as you would to clean: feet hip width, bar over mid-foot, hook grip just outside the shins, hips down, back flat and the lats engaged.
- First pull, floor to knee: push the floor away with the legs, keeping the chest up and the hips and shoulders rising at the SAME rate, with the bar tracking close to the shins.
- Second pull, knee to hip: as the bar clears the knees bring the torso vertical and drive the hips forward into the bar, extending hips, knees and ankles together.
- Shrug hard at full extension. The elbows bend a little on their own; do not turn it into an upright row.
- There is NO catch. Guide the bar back to the floor and reset before the next rep.
FORM TIPS
- A pull, not a clean. The high-pull version carries on with the elbows travelling up and out. With nothing to receive, it loads well above a full clean.
TARGET MUSCLES
Primary
- Traps
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
Secondary
- Lower Back
- Quads
- Forearms
- Shoulders
In the app
This guide covers these exercises in the Ægir Iron library:
- Barbell Clean Pull
- Barbell Clean High Pull
Log it in Ægir Iron to track your PRs and estimated 1RM, and to see the sets each muscle gets every week. Free for individual lifters.