Perhaps you’ve heard of or seen some derivate of the “clean” weightlifting movement where one powerfully yanks a loaded bar from a static position and catches it on the shelf that is their anterior shoulder/neck area. Sometimes they start from the ground, and other times they’re holding the bar from a standing position, but what’s most confusing to many is the different naming conventions often used for this particular movement.

You will sometimes hear it called the “power clean”, “hang clean”, “hang power clean”, or some other choppy name that makes little to no sense. You might then wonder, aren’t these all the same thing, and if not, what is the difference?

I get it, it’s confusing, and honestly, all the strength and conditioning jargon coaches like myself often use is completely unnecessary in order to get our point across to the athlete. In this case, however, the small technical nuances are very important but not nearly as confusing as they may seem. What you’ll find below is a breakdown or cheat sheet of the many different “clean” movement variations.

Why the clean in the first place?

Without spending an exhaustive amount of time discussing the use and or potential benefits of weightlifting movements such as the clean, it is important to have a basic understanding of its purpose. Movements such as the clean, snatch, and jerk are all weightlifting movements that are in fact an Olympic sport in their own right. Each movement has several different derivatives which serve different purposes, but in general, it’s safe to say they help improve one’s rate of force development and overall athleticism when implemented appropriately within a comprehensive program. There is a lot of debate surrounding the most effective use of these methods or whether to include them at all in an athlete’s program but that is not what I am here to discuss today, rather, this is simply a brief background introduction to them followed by the more technical nuances of the “clean” movement below. With that, onward!

The Clean:

The clean is what I consider the most comprehensive derivative of them all, many consider it a “full clean”. The athlete starts with the loaded bar on the floor and then catches it in a deep squatted position, ultimately returning to an upright position. This derivative is likely to be used with the maximal amount of weight an athlete can handle because it allows them to dive under the bar without having to get it much higher than their hips.

The Power Clean:

The power clean is much like the clean, in that the athlete starts in the same position (bar on the floor) and moves through the exact same progression but instead of catching the bar in a low squatted position they instead remain fairly upright in what is known as the “power position” (above a parallel squat). This derivative is more common than the clean and does not require the advanced skill of diving under the bar as a clean does.

The Hang Clean:

Similar to the clean, this derivative ends with the athlete diving under the bar in a low squatted position, however, what makes it different is the athlete starts with the bar in the “hang” position where the bar resides slightly above the knees in their hands. The athlete must rapidly produce force in a shorter range of motion to effectively perform this movement, thus you will often see less load used in this derivative than its “clean” counterpart.

The Hang Power Clean:

This is perhaps the most commonly used derivative with athletes because of its short and sweet range of motion which makes it slightly easier to learn (that is subjective of course). The athlete begins with the bar in the same position as the hang clean, and ends in the same position as the power clean, meaning that they never go below a parallel squat. This movement is fantastic with lighter loads moving at high velocities and a staple for a lot of coaches.

Wrap Up

While the technical nuances that separate all the derivates of the “clean” movement may seem daunting at first glance, a brief explanation such as this article can make it easy for anyone to understand in a short amount of time. It should be noted that some coaches may use slightly different naming conventions for these movements, and this is by no means gospel, however, in my experience, this is the most common terminology around. The primary use of each derivative also deserves a more microscopic look which will come in a future article. I hope that you find this article useful and that any confusion surrounding the “clean” movement jargon has been cleared.