Learning the clean will set you up for a whole library of weightlifting exercises, whether you’re a weightlifting beginner , want to upskill your technical lifts or haven’t learned any proper clean form yet. In theory, the clean is as simple as driving a weight — either kettlebells, dumbbells, or barbells — from the ground to your shoulders in one fluid, powerful motion. But of course, there’s way more skill to it than that and many variations to learn.
That’s why we turned to CrossFit coach Mike Smith for a step-by-step guide on mastering the clean — a staple Olympic weightlifting exercise — the benefits and differences between types of cleans, and how to lift according to dumbbells, kettlebells and barbells. Grab the best cross training shoes for your workouts and buckle up. Here’s what he told us.
Are cleans a good exercise? Yes, when learned properly, the clean has plenty of benefits. It can be performed as a standalone lift and develops explosive power, strength and speed, plus it’s also the initial stage of several competitive lifts — the clean and jerk, clean and split jerk and snatches , then the clean and press in a general weightlifting setting. The clean and jerk and snatch are two lifts found within the sport of weightlifting, meaning a strong clean can act as a gateway to other technical lifts.
Learning the clean step-by-step can help lifters who plan to compete, but translates to other weightlifting settings like CrossFit. Benefits of the c.