Muscle Clean

The muscle clean is commonly abbreviated as “Mu. Cl.”

The muscle clean is a partial lift which has the potential to teach the athlete multiple aspects of the classic or full clean. The muscle clean is used to learn how and when to appropriately use the upper body, mainly the arms, during any variation of a clean when performed at full speed.

To properly execute the muscle clean, the athlete should set up as if to execute a classic clean and use only their legs to initiate the lift off from the floor. The athlete will maintain the same torso angle as a clean pull to hip until the barbell reaches a height above the knees. When the barbell is above the knees, the athlete must aggressively and violently extend their legs then hips to propel the barbell vertically. As the barbell reaches and makes contact with the hip/upper third of the thigh, keeping the barbell as close as they can, the athlete will use their traps and arms respectively, while keeping their elbows out towards the sides, to continue the vertical momentum directly to their shoulders. The athlete should focus on keeping the barbell close to the body and become flat-footed at the same time as the barbell is received on the shoulders..

Note: As the athlete reaches full extension with their legs and hips, the athlete must not re-bend either their knees or hips to receive the barbell.

The muscle clean, although used mainly as a technique primer, can be used in heavier repetitions to strengthen and reinforce the athlete’s arms and turnover.

We recommend performing the muscle clean as 3-6 sets of 2-4 repetitions.