Exercise guide · evidence-graded

Clean Pull

The clean pull is the pulling half of the clean: you drive a barbell from the floor to full extension of the hips, knees and ankles with a strong shrug, but without pulling under or catching the bar. Because there is no catch, it can be loaded heavier than the clean, making it a strength and power builder for the hips, back and trapezius.

Also called: Halting Clean Deadlift, Clean Grip Pull, Clean Extension · Equipment: barbell · Pattern: hinge

Open in the app

How to do it

Step by step

Stand with the bar over the middle of your feet, feet about hip-width apart. Take a clean-width hook grip a thumb's length outside your legs, arms straight.
Set your back flat and braced, with your shoulders slightly in front of the bar. Take a big breath and hold it.
Push the floor away to lift the bar, keeping it close to your shins and your back angle unchanged until the bar passes your knees.
As the bar reaches your upper thigh, extend your hips, knees and ankles explosively and shrug hard. Keep your arms straight.
Finish tall on the balls of your feet with your shoulders shrugged up and slightly behind the bar. There is no turnover or catch; the elbows stay straight.
Let the bar settle back to your thighs, then bend at the hips and knees to return it to the floor under control. Reset your back and breath before the next rep.

Coaching cues

Push the floor away, back angle constant
Bar brushes your thighs all the way up
Arms long, the shrug finishes the pull
Finish tall on your toes with a big shrug
Hips through to full extension every rep

In VALDA, these cues are one tap away on the exercise while you train.

Muscles worked

What it trains

Muscle	Role	Evidence
Gluteus maximus	Prime mover	C
Erector spinae	Prime mover	C
Hamstrings: biceps femoris (long head)	Prime mover	C
Trapezius: upper	Prime mover	D
Quadriceps: vastus lateralis	Secondary	C
Gastrocnemius	Secondary	D
Forearm flexors	Stabiliser	D

Evidence grades: A = strong research base · B = good · C = limited · D = coaching consensus.

Common faults

What goes wrong, and the fix

Cutting the pull short

Fix: Choose a load you can drive to full hip, knee and ankle extension every rep.

Bending the arms early

Fix: Keep the arms long and loose; the shrug finishes the pull, not the elbows.

Back rounding off the floor

Fix: Brace before the pull and hold a flat back at a constant angle past the knees.

Bar drifting forward

Fix: Keep the lats tight and the bar brushing the thighs up to full extension.

Hips rising first

Fix: Push through the whole foot so hips and shoulders rise together until past the knees.

Programming

What the research says

Power · first choiceStrength · first choiceSport performance · first choice

Load — Clean pulls are commonly loaded at or above the lifter's best clean, often about 90–120%, because no catch limits the weight. That range is coaching practice. A study of mid-thigh clean pulls found peak force highest at the heaviest load tested and bar speed and power highest at the lightest.
Force or speed — Reviews describe heavier pulls as overloading the extension and lighter derivatives as favouring speed and power, so the load chosen sets which quality a session emphasises.
Reps and set quality — In squat research, ending sets once bar speed had dropped by about 20% gave similar or better strength gains than 40% with about a third fewer reps, and held jump performance better. Pulls are typically done for low reps with every rep at full speed.
Strength base — Reviews describe maximal strength as the foundation of power, with ballistic and weightlifting-derivative work taking a larger share as athletes get stronger.
Session order — Research on exercise order finds the lift trained first tends to show the larger strength gain. Clean pulls are commonly placed after the full lift or its catching variations.

Alternatives · VALDA FLEX

Swap it mid-workout

With VALDA Pro, FLEX offers alternatives like these when you swap an exercise mid-workout.

Log the clean pull in VALDA, with these cues one tap away while you train and your history for it in one place.

General information about exercise technique, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, your healthcare provider is the right person to ask.