Hang Power Clean
Hang clean caught in a partial squat, so the bar is racked on the shoulders without dropping to parallel.
How to do it
- Take a clean grip just outside your thighs and stand tall with the bar against the front of the legs.
- Brace your trunk and pull your shoulder blades back so the lats hold the bar close.
- Hinge at the hips and slide the bar down to just above the knees with the back angle unchanged.
- Drive through the whole foot and extend the knees and hips explosively into the bar.
- Shrug and pull your elbows up and out, then whip them around the bar as you drop into a quarter squat.
- Stand out of the partial catch with the bar racked, then return it to the hang under control.
Key technique cue
Catch in a quarter squat with high elbows; don't sink into a full squat.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Dropping into a full squat to catch, which turns the lift into a hang clean and loses the power target.
- ✕ Bending the arms before full extension, which cuts the hip drive short and slows the bar.
- ✕ Letting the bar swing away from the thighs, which forces a forward catch and stresses the wrists.
- ✕ Landing with the feet wide and flat, which kills the ability to stand out of the receiving position.
Benefits
- ✓ Develops explosive hip extension with a lower technical barrier than the full clean.
- ✓ Reinforces a fast, aggressive turnover under the bar.
- ✓ Builds trap, upper back and grip strength through heavy pulling volume.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 1 You are here - Hang Power Clean
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Step 2
About the exercise
The hang power clean is the hang clean stopped short: you extend the hips violently from mid-thigh, pull under the bar and receive it on the shoulders in a quarter squat rather than a full front squat. The point of the variation is postural control, rate of force development and a more aggressive turnover under the bar, which is why coaches use it as the teaching step before the full clean. The quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings are the prime movers, with the spinal erectors, traps and forearm flexors supporting. The power variant is worth learning separately from the full clean, and the catch height is the single detail most lifters get wrong.
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