How to Power Clean | A Lesson from Crossfit Games Athlete Noah Ohlsen

December 28, 2017

The power clean is a powerful movement that is transferable to a bunch of different sports and even everyday life. It’s a functional exercise you can use to develop power in your running, pushing, hitting, and pulling. Almost everyone can benefit from incorporating the power clean. Noah Ohlsen shares some tips and walks through how to power clean.

How to Power Clean: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Set feet just under your hips with shins about an inch away from the barbell.
2. Get tight. Instead of going down to into the position to pick up the barbell and then trying to get tight, Noah likes to get tight before starting. Before grabbing the bar, set your back in a good position by engaging your lats, keeping your chest up nice and big, and then push your hips down into the position.
3. At this point your lats should be pulled back, hips are just above your knees, and shoulders are slightly in front of the barbell.
4. Place hands on the bar. An easy way to know where to place your hands is by using the texture on the barbell. Go about a thumb away from the smooth part of the bar.
5. Create a hook grip with your hands.
6. Lift the barbell off the ground and bring it up towards your hip, keeping it close to your body.
7. Once the bar gets between your knee and hip, quickly jump the bar up to your shoulders, pulling your elbows through to the other side.
8. Simultaneously, your feet should land on the ground in the squat position.
9. Drop into a mini squat
10. Push up to stand

Lesson Tips from Noah Ohlsen

In addition to his step-by-step guide, Noah Ohlsen has another helpful tip for the power clean. On the step where you jump the barbell to your shoulders, Noah recommends aggressively squeezing your butt and belly. This creates speed to help get the bar moving. Check out some more tips from Noah and other Marc Pro athletes here: www.marcpro.com/protips