How To Fix The Hips Rising Early In The Clean
Every week I answer questions submitted by you on my podcast, The Last Set Best Podcast which you can find on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! This weeks question comes from @fit.ericyuan73
“What’s the cause of the hips rising early in the clean?”
First, let’s briefly cover what this means.
The pull for the clean can be broken down into three phases or pulls…
1st pull: When the bar leaves the floor until it reaches just above the knee caps.
2nd pull: When the moves from the kneecaps to the hips and the legs extend.
3rd pull: Transition from the top of extension to the bottom of the squat.
A good rule of thumb in the first pull is that your hips, shoulders, and bar should all rise together at the same rate.
A very common mistake in the first pull is letting the hips rise faster than the bar or shoulders. When this happens, you are not pushing with your legs enough and you back and legs aren’t working together. This causes the bar to slow down as it’s passing the knee, which is exactly when it should be getting faster!
This can lead to missed lifts or a jump forward to save the lift, neither of which is going to help you clean the most weight possible.
There’s three things you can do to fix this.
Tip #1: Pull The Slack
Every bar has bend in it, and when you pull the bar off the floor, the bar will always bend first before the weights come off the floor, regardless of how much weight there is.
In your set up position, try to pull any slack out of the bar before you start pulling the weights off the floor. This is usually done by setting your back tight and wedging your hips low enough so that there is a ton of tension in your legs and zero slack in the bar.
The hard part is keeping that tension, which leads into the next tip.
Tip #2: Push, Don’t Pull
While we call the pull a “pull”, it can help to think of it like a “push”.
By imagining pushing into the floor with your legs, you’ll find it easier to prevent the hips from rising fast (a symptom of thinking of it as a pull), and easier to keep tension in your legs AND you’ll also be able to maximize leg drive later in the “pull”.
Pro tip: try setting up with your balance a little more forward on your foot than you think you should. This helps a lot of lifters feel the push into the ground more.
Tip #3: Get Stronger
Getting stronger, especially in the clean pull is a great way to work on this issue.
Clean pulls can be done at higher reps with heavier weights, and they require less skill than the clean. This means you can isolate this specific technique issue and practice, and your legs and back will get stronger, making it easier to use the right technique at heavier weights.
If you know what you’re supposed to do, and you’re able to at light weights but not heavier weights, then you don’t have a technique issue, you have a strength issues disguised as a technique issue.
You can, and still should aim to work on your technique in all your cleans, and a great way to do that is to use variations like the ones below that highlight these issues.
P.S. If you need a strength focused weightlifting, check out my new 16-Week Weightlifting Program here!
Clean Variation #1: Static Start Clean
If you typically use a dynamic start and you’re a beginner, then this variation is perfect for you.
By using a dynamic start you set yourself up to rush your start position and first pull, leading to the hips rising early.
Try getting into your start position and holding it for 3 seconds with tension and the slack pulled out of the bar before you start the pull. You will 100% feel your legs working and likely getting very tired. This is a great way to work on this without adding any new lifts into your training.
Try these out as a movement primer in your warm ups with lighter weights, then keep the focus without the pause for the heavier weights.
Clean Variation #2: Pause Clean
Once you’ve made any corrections to your start position, this variation is a game changer.
Perform a clean as normal, but pause with the bar 1” or less off the floor, then finish the lift like normal. This pause gives you enough time to remember to keep pushing with your legs. It also serves as a reminder because you’ll feel your legs working hard, even with a short pause.
Try them out as a movement primer or on a lighter technique focused day for 5-10 sets of 1-3 reps between 65-85%.
Clean Variation #3: Low Hang Clean
If you struggle with feeling your legs and back work together, Low Hang Cleans are a great variation to practice.
Pull the bar all the way up to your hips, then like a hang clean, lower the bar all the way down until the plates either touch or barely touch the ground before finishing the clean as normal.
By lowering it down, you can feel how engaged your legs and back need to be to hold position, and you’ll notice how much better it feels when you do it right.
Try these out as a variation complex, or on a lighter technique focused day for 5-10 sets of 1-3 reps between 65-85%.
Clean Variation #4: Tempo Clean
The tempo clean is one of the best variations to practice your technique.
That’s why its one of the key progressions in my free beginner program which you can get here!
Set up like you would for a normal clean, but perform the pull slowly, with a 4-second count from the ground to the hips before you finish the lift as fast as possible. This slow pull gives you time to focus on keeping your hips low and pushing with your legs.
Try the tempo clean out as a movement primer or on a lighter technique focused day for 5-10 sets of 1-3 reps between 65-85%.
Hopefully you found this article useful! You can find the full episode of the podcast linked below as well as on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. If you have a question you’d like to submit for the podcast, click here!
If you’re new to the olympic lifts, then check out my free Weightlifting101: Beginner Guide + 6-Week Program here.
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