The Power Clean - no overhead press is a expert-friendly barbell strength exercise that targets the glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps, with the traps, abdominals, shoulders, lats and middle back working alongside. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesGlutes, Hamstrings, Quads
Secondary musclesTraps, Abs, Shoulders, Lats, Middle Back
EquipmentBarbell
LevelExpert
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Power Clean - no overhead press
Set a loaded barbell on the floor about an inch in front of your shins with your feet hip-width apart.
Squat down and grip the bar just outside your knees with your hips below your shoulders and your chest up.
Extend your hips and knees to lift the bar while keeping your torso angle and the bar close to your legs.
As the bar passes your knees, drive your hips forward and explosively extend hips, knees and ankles.
Shrug and pull your elbows high, then whip them under the bar to catch it on your front deltoids in a quarter squat.
Stand tall to finish the rep, then lower the bar back to the floor under control.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Trains triple extension of the hips, knees and ankles against a heavy external load.
The whole-body timing demand makes it a coordination lift as much as a strength lift.
It ends at the shoulders rather than overhead, so the shoulder demand stays low.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Pulling with the arms early, which spends the leg drive that should be moving the bar.
Letting the bar drift away from the body, which throws the catch forward and out of position.
Catching with the elbows low, so the bar rolls onto the wrists instead of resting on the shoulders.
Loading it before the sequence is grooved, which turns an explosive lift into a slow bent-over row.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Power Clean - no overhead press, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
