The Ultimate Guide to Hang Cleans: Techniques, Form Tips, and Variations
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to the world of weightlifting, especially with moves as complex as hang cleans. Despite its challenging nature, mastering the hang clean technique offers numerous benefits ranging from increased strength to improved athletic performance.
This guide will demystify this powerful lift, offering practical tips on form and variations that can suit different fitness levels. Ready for a journey into the depths of weightlifting? Let’s dive in!
Key Takeaways
- Hang cleans are weightlifting exercises where a weight is pulled from hanging to the shoulders, working out multiple muscles in the body.
- Power cleans involve lifting a barbell from the floor to shoulder height in one fluid motion, targeting different muscle groups compared to hang cleans.
- Clean pulls help build strength for hang cleans and power cleans by focusing on specific movements and improving technique.
- Understanding the differences between hang cleans and power cleans can help you choose the exercise that suits your goals and weak points.
Understanding the Different Cleans
A Hang Clean is a weightlifting exercise where the lifter starts with the barbell at the hips and uses explosive power to bring it up to the front rack position. The mechanics of a Power Clean involve pulling the bar from the ground to shoulder height in one fluid motion, while Clean Pulls focus on developing strength and technique for cleans.
What is a Hang Clean?
A hang clean is a move in weightlifting. You pull a weight from hanging to your shoulders. It starts with the weight between your hips and knees. This move works the back half of your body, including leg, back, and core muscles.
Many muscles are used, like the neck ones (trapezius), shoulder ones (deltoids), lower back ones, butt ones (glutes), upper leg front ones (quads), inner thigh ones (adductors), hamstrings, forearm flexors, calves, and core.
Doing a hang clean works out many parts of your body!
The Mechanics of the Power Clean
You start a power clean with the barbell on the floor. You grip it tight and stand straight. Then, bend your hips and knees to squat down. Lift up fast until you have a full front squat position.
Next, push through your legs and feet to rise from the squat. Fast hip thrust is needed here too! Keep your chest high as you send your shoulders under the barbell in a quarter squat stance.
Stand tall again at finish time with weight overhead held firm by strong arms. This move works all parts of the body for more muscle mass and strength gain!
Clean Pulls Explained
Clean pulls are a type of lift in weightlifting. This move is like the start of a power clean. You should stand up straight, with your knees a bit bent. The bar should be held in front of you.
This exercise helps build strength for other kinds of lifts, like the hang clean and power clean. Clean pulls work out your back muscles and leg muscles a lot! It also helps make your hip thrust stronger which is key for doing cleans right.
Try to do them with good form so you don’t get hurt and can lift more weight over time.
Hang Clean Vs. Power Clean: The Differences
Hang Clean and Power Clean have slight differences in form, performance, and muscles worked.
Form Differences
The Hang Clean and Power Clean may seem similar, but even subtle differences in form can have a huge impact on the muscles worked and the effectiveness of the exercise. Here are the key form differences:
Aspect | Hang Clean | Power Clean |
|---|---|---|
Starting Position | Weight starts at the hip | Weight starts on the floor |
Main Movement | Explosive hip drive | Starts with a deadlift |
Range of Motion | Focuses on the second half of the clean | Works through a more complete range of motion |
Focus in Pulling Phases | Strengthens the second pull specifically | Works all pulling phases and improves transitions between the first and second pulls |
The Hang Clean is a great exercise for transitioning into a full clean and improving clean timing. In contrast, the Power Clean is vital for learning the full clean & jerk. Both exercises strengthen the clean, but the exercise choice should align with individual weak points and goals.
Performance Differences
When it comes to hang clean vs. power clean, performance differences are key to consider. This table outlines the varied performance aspects for each exercise.
Exercise | Focus | Development | Range of Motion | Timing | Specific Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hang Clean | Explosive hip drive. It emphasizes the second half of the clean. | Generates force by eliminating momentum during the first phase of the clean, making it more challenging. | Has a short range compared to power clean as it focuses on the second pull. | Does not significantly improve timing for the complete clean & jerk. | Strengthens specifically the second pull. |
Power Clean | Pure power development, it works through the entirety of the pulling phases. | Initiates with a deadlift, this helps in enhancing power. | Works through more complete range of motion compared to hang clean, hence more challenging. | Improves the timing for the complete clean & jerk, making transitions smoother. | Strengthens all pulling phases and improves transitions between the first and second pulls. |
Ultimately, the choice between the hang clean and power clean depends on your specific weak points and fitness goals. Both exercises can strengthen your clean. However, understanding these performance differences can help you make an informed decision.
Muscles Worked
The hang clean and power clean are both dynamic exercises that engage a wide range of muscles. Let’s take a deeper look into the muscle groups worked by each of these cleans.
Exercise | Muscles Worked |
|---|---|
Hang Clean | Glutes, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Forearms, Core muscles. It is especially effective in working the quadriceps and improving the second half of the clean. |
Power Clean | Glutes, Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Forearms, Core muscles. The power clean is beneficial for developing strength and power in the gluteal muscles and focuses on improving the first half of the clean & jerk, as well as improving transitions between the first and second pulls. |
The choice between the two exercises depends on your individual needs and goals. The hang clean is an excellent choice if you are seeking to strengthen the second pull, while the power clean is great for working the entirety of the pulling phases. Both exercises will contribute to strengthening the clean and offer an effective full-body workout, ideal for weightlifters, athletes, and bodybuilders.
Other Variations of Cleans
– Hang Squat Clean: Learn how to incorporate a squat into your hang clean for an extra challenge and increased lower body strength.
– Dumbbell Hang Clean: Discover how using dumbbells instead of a barbell can provide additional benefits and target different muscle groups.
Ready to take your cleans to the next level? Check out these variations for more techniques, form tips, and ways to challenge yourself!
Hang Squat Clean
The hang squat clean is a weightlifting exercise that involves starting with the barbell hanging at arm’s length, then lifting it explosively while dropping into a full-depth squat.
This movement engages muscles throughout your entire body, including your hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, and core. It improves stability and reinforces the joints in your lower body.
The hang squat clean is a great choice for athletes looking to build strength and power for sports like weightlifting or CrossFit.
Dumbbell Hang Clean
The dumbbell hang clean is a variation of the hang clean exercise. It involves lifting the weight from the hip in an explosive way. This exercise is great for building strong glutes and improving the second half of the clean movement.
Additionally, it includes a front squat which helps to develop leg strength that carries over to other weightlifting exercises like the clean & jerk. The dumbbell hang clean also helps with generating force by eliminating any momentum during the first phase of the exercise.
So, if you’re looking to increase power and improve your overall performance, adding dumbbell hang cleans to your workout routine can be beneficial.
Benefits of Different Cleans
Improve your strength, power, and athletic performance while targeting multiple muscle groups with different variations of cleans. Discover the benefits of hang cleans and more in our ultimate guide.
Keep reading to level up your weightlifting game!
Improving Strength and Power
The hang clean exercise is a great way to improve your strength and power. It specifically targets the glutes and the second half of the clean movement. By incorporating a front squat, it also helps build leg strength, which is important for weightlifters.
If you’re looking to increase your overall athletic performance and become stronger, adding hang cleans to your training routine can be very beneficial. Remember to start with lighter weights and focus on proper form before increasing the load.
Enhancing Athletic Performance
To enhance athletic performance, incorporating cleans into your training routine can be highly beneficial. Cleans are powerful exercises that target multiple muscle groups and improve explosive strength.
By performing hang cleans or power cleans, you can develop the ability to generate force quickly and efficiently, which is essential for sports that require speed, agility, and power.
These exercises primarily work your lower body muscles like the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves while also engaging your core and upper body muscles for stability and control.
Muscles Targeted by Cleans
Hang cleans target a variety of muscles, helping to strengthen and develop your entire body. Here are the main muscles worked during hang cleans:
- Posterior Chain: Hang cleans primarily activate the muscles in the posterior chain, which includes the muscles in your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.
- Legs: Hang cleans engage your quadriceps (front thigh muscles), adductors (inner thigh muscles), and calves during the squatting and thrusting motions.
- Upper Body: Hang cleans also work your shoulders and upper back muscles. The trapezius and deltoid muscles are activated during the initial pull and second pull of the lift.
- Core: Your core muscles, including your abs and obliques, play an important role in stabilizing your body during hang cleans.
- Forearms: The forearm flexors are engaged as you grip the barbell or dumbbells during hang cleans.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this ultimate guide to hang cleans has provided valuable information on techniques, form tips, and variations of this exercise. Whether you’re a weightlifter, athlete, or bodybuilder, incorporating hang cleans into your training can help improve strength and power.
By understanding the differences between hang cleans and power cleans and exploring other variations like the hang squat clean and dumbbell hang clean, you can enhance your athletic performance and target various muscle groups.
So start practicing these techniques and enjoy the benefits of adding hang cleans to your workout routine!