Clean and Jerk
An Olympic lift in two parts: you clean the bar from the floor into a front squat and stand up, then dip and drive it overhead into a split stance, training your whole body.
- Primary muscles
- Hamstrings, Quads, Glutes, Lower back, Front delts, Traps
- Secondary
- Triceps, Upper back
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. The video is by an independent creator.
Why do it
The clean and jerk is one of the two competition lifts in weightlifting, and it typically puts more weight overhead than any other lift. It trains power through your legs, hips and back, then your shoulders and triceps for the jerk. It's highly technical, so practice each part on its own with an empty bar, ideally with a coach, before joining them. Compared with a clean alone, you have to recover from the squat and reset for the jerk, so timing and leg drive matter twice.
How to do it
Stand with the bar over your midfoot, feet hip-width apart, and grip it overhand just outside your legs with your back flat and shoulders slightly over the bar.
Lift the bar off the floor by extending your hips and knees together, keeping it close to your body.
As the bar passes mid-thigh, extend your hips, knees and ankles explosively and shrug, then drop under the bar and catch it on your front delts in a front squat, elbows up.
Stand up out of the squat. That completes the clean.
Dip a few inches by bending your knees with your torso upright, then drive the bar off your shoulders and split your feet into a lunge as you punch your arms locked overhead.
Bring your front foot back, then your back foot, and stand tall with the bar overhead. Learn this with an empty bar or a coach before adding load.
Common mistakes
Pressing the jerk instead of driving it
Pushing the bar up with your arms limits you to what you can press. Dip and drive with your legs, then punch yourself under the bar into the split.
Tipping forward in the dip
If your chest falls forward as you dip, the bar travels out in front and you end up chasing it. Keep your torso upright and bend straight down at the knees.
Rushing from the clean into the jerk
Starting the jerk before you've settled the bar and your breathing costs you the lift. Stand up fully, fix your rack position, then dip.
Recovering from the split in the wrong order
Bringing the back foot forward first can tip the bar forward. Step the front foot back first, then bring the back foot in to meet it.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
