Clean Pull
Also works: Forearms · Glutes · Hamstrings · Lower Back · Traps
A clean pull is the clean without the catch: same grip, same start, same violent extension, then you simply let the bar come back down. It exists so you can train the pull heavier than you can catch, and it is the most direct way to build bar speed for anyone whose clean is limited by the pull rather than the rack.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Hook grip, hands just outside the legs — the same width you clean with, so the pull rehearses the real lift.
- Bar over the mid-foot and touching the shins; feet about hip-width with the toes turned out slightly.
- Drop the hips until the shoulders sit just in front of the bar and the back is flat with the chest up.
- Squeeze the lats to pull the bar back toward your shins before it moves upward.
- Take the slack out of the bar and the elbows so the first movement is the plates lifting, not the bar rattling.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — One breath per rep, taken and held at the setup, released after the bar is back on the floor. Slow and controlled to the knee, then maximal speed; set the bar down deliberately rather than dropping it if you plan to pull again.
Before you load it
- Use straps once the load passes your grip strength. Grip failing at the top of a fast pull sends the bar somewhere unpredictable.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Work at 90-110% of your best full clean. Below 80% the drill loses its point; above 110% the back angle collapses and the second pull disappears. Start with an empty bar to fix the bar path, then move in 5-10 kg steps once every rep still shows visible acceleration at mid-thigh. If the bar is slow, take weight off rather than grinding.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Do a few sets with straps and a deliberate cue of "long arms, tall finish". If bar height is the goal you are chasing the wrong thing — height is a by-product of hip speed.
Cue the chest and hips to rise at the same rate to the knee. If they will not, the load is heavier than your position can hold — drop 10% and rebuild it.
Judge each rep by bar speed at mid-thigh, not by whether it went up. A clean pull that takes three seconds trains nothing the deadlift did not already train.
Extend straight up and finish stacked with the glutes tight. Leaning back pushes the bar forward, exactly the fault this drill is supposed to remove from your clean.
Cap it at about 110% of your best clean. Beyond that, positions break down and you are practising a bad pull with more weight on it.
Why bother
A clean is capped by the weakest of three things: the pull, the turnover and the front squat. Removing the catch lets you load the pull at 100-110% of your best clean, which nothing else in the gym does at that bar speed. You get the full triple extension against a load your rack position could not survive.
It also fixes the two habits that ruin cleans — pulling early with the arms and cutting the extension short. With no bar to catch, there is nothing to rush toward, so the only job left is to finish tall with straight arms. Lifters who cannot feel the difference between hips and arms in a full clean feel it immediately here.
Where it fits
After your clean or squat work on the same day, or as the main pull on a lighter day. Sets of 2-3 reps, 4-5 sets, with the bar reset on the floor between reps. Keep the volume modest: it is heavy loading on the erectors, and it competes directly with deadlifting for recovery, so run one or the other in a given week, not both hard.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
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Asked and answered
How is a clean pull different from a clean high pull?
A clean pull ends at full extension with the arms straight. A high pull continues after extension, actively bending the elbows to bring the bar toward the sternum. The pull is the better drill for most people because it removes the temptation to pull early with the arms, which is the fault most lifters actually have.
Can I do clean pulls instead of deadlifts?
For a weightlifter, largely yes — the pull covers the same posterior chain at similar loads while rehearsing the bar path you actually use. For a powerlifter, no: the deadlift has a lockout and a grind that clean pulls deliberately avoid. Do not run both hard in the same week; they draw from the same recovery.
Should the bar touch my thighs?
It should brush them at mid-thigh, not slap them. A loud bang means the bar swung away and came back in, which is a bar path fault. Contact should be light and continuous, with the bar staying close as your hips move through.
How high should the bar go?
Stop measuring. At clean-appropriate loads the bar will reach somewhere around the navel, and forcing it higher usually means pulling with the arms or leaning back. The useful marker is speed at mid-thigh and a fully extended finish, not the height on the video.