Barbell Muscle Clean
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 and pull the bar as you would to clean.
- Extend through the hips, then keep pulling with the arms and turn the elbows over into the rack.
- Receive it on the shoulders WITHOUT re-bending the knees or dropping under it.
- Lower and reset.
FORM TIPS
- No re-bend and no catch, so it stays light and trains the turnover. The tall clean is its mirror: no pull at all, just a fast drop under from standing.
TARGET MUSCLES
Primary
- Traps
- Glutes
- Hamstrings
Secondary
- Lower Back
- Quads
- Shoulders
- Forearms
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.