Hang clean: the clean from just above the knees, and the version the studies measure

A hang clean is a clean that starts from "the hang": you stand up with the bar first, lower it down your thighs to just above your knees, and lift from there. It skips the first pull off the floor that the power clean starts with. Caught in a quarter squat, it's a hang power clean; caught in a full front squat, it's a hang squat clean. One study defines the hang the same way: the lifters lowered the bar from standing to just above the knee before each rep.¹

The studies found for this page all use the hang power clean, so that's the version this page describes. It's a weightlifting skill, learned with a coach watching you lift; this page covers the positions and what the studies measured.

How to do a hang power clean

1. Stand with the bar. Feet between hip and shoulder width, toes turned out a little, an overhand grip, arms straight, the bar against your thighs. In one study's description, the start had the bar at mid-thigh, heels flat and the trunk rigid, with the shoulders over and slightly in front of the bar.²
2. Lower to the hang. Push your hips back and slide the bar down to just above your knees, back flat. The same description has a controlled lowering to just above the knees, then the hips moving forward and the knees bending slightly to get the legs back under the bar.²
3. Jump. From the middle of the thigh, extend your hips, knees and ankles fast and shrug, keeping the bar close to your thighs.²
4. Pull under. Bend your arms only after your legs and hips finish extending; that pulls you under the bar.²
5. Catch. Elbows forward and up, the bar across the front of your shoulders and collarbones, in a quarter squat.² One study failed a rep if the upper thigh dropped below parallel in the catch.¹ Stand up, then lower the bar to your thighs for the next rep.

The lowering to the hang is the top of a Romanian deadlift, and the catch is the rack position of the front squat. If those two are solid, the hang clean is mostly about the jump and the timing.

What the studies measured

• Which load gives the most power. In 15 men doing hang power cleans on a force plate at 30% to 90% of their max, peak power was highest at 70%, but not significantly different from 50%, 60%, 80% or 90%. The authors conclude power can be maximized at a submaximal load.³
• It differs from person to person. In 30 male college athletes tested at 45%, 65%, 80% and 95% of their max, the load that gave each one the most power was highly individual. Stronger athletes (squat max relative to body weight) tended to get their most power at heavier loads (r = 0.478): a correlation across 30 athletes, not a rule for any one lifter.¹
• Muscle activity. Twenty-seven weightlifters, beginner to elite, did hang power cleans and hang clean pulls (the same pull without the catch) at 50%, 70% and 90% of their max. Above 70%, the two showed a similar pattern of activity in the main muscles measured, apart from the trunk muscles, and the level of expertise didn't change muscle activity.⁴
• Seven weeks of training. Professional handball players, women with at least a year of hang power clean experience, trained it at 90% or 50% of their max with the same total volume. Both groups raised their hang power clean max and their 5-, 20- and 30-metre sprint speeds; neither changed jump height significantly. The effect sizes favoured the heavier group.⁵

Those are athletes and weightlifters, and none of the studies measured muscle growth. Read them as how the lift behaves at different loads, not as a promise of what it will build.

Versions: power, squat, higher or lower hang, pulls and dumbbells

• Hang power clean: caught in a quarter squat, as above. The usual starting point.
• Hang squat clean: caught in a full front squat, then stand. Learn the front squat first.
• From mid-thigh or below the knee: as a practical option, a higher hang gives a shorter, easier pull; a hang just below the knee is closer to a clean from the floor.
• Hang clean pull and hang high pull: the same pull with no catch. One study describes the hang high pull as the hang power clean without its catch phase,¹ which makes it a practical way to train the jump while the catch is still rough.
• Dumbbell hang clean: a dumbbell in each hand at your thighs, the same dip and jump, the dumbbells caught at your shoulders. For one kettlebell, see the kettlebell clean.

The common faults, and a fix for each

• Pulling with the arms. If your elbows bend before your hips finish, the arms do the legs' job. Arms long until the jump is over.
• Dipping too low. Going well below the knees turns it into a clumsy deadlift. Stop the bar just above the knees with your shoulders over it.
• The bar looping out. Keep it brushing your thighs; push your hips toward it rather than swinging it forward with them.
• A slow elbow turnover. The bar lands on your hands, not your shoulders. Whip the elbows forward and up.
• A catch below parallel when you meant a power clean. That's a squat clean; lighten the bar or make the catch higher on purpose.
• Lifting through something that hurts. If you have pain, an injury or a condition, ask a doctor or a physical therapist.

Sets, reps and where they go

• The loads in the studies ran from 30% to 95% of a max,³¹ in people who could already do the lift. Those are testing loads, not a starting weight.
• What the 2026 position stand says. The American College of Sports Medicine's review of reviews found power was enhanced by moderate loads, 30% to 70% of a one-rep max, low-to-moderate volume (24 reps across all sets or fewer) and Olympic-style weightlifting.⁶
• A practical start: an empty bar, three to five sets of two or three reps, two to three minutes of rest, first in the session after a warm-up. Add weight only when every catch lands in the same place.
• Once or twice a week, on a day when your legs are fresh. It shares the hips with your deadlifts and Romanian deadlifts, so don't stack them heavy on the same day.

Common questions

Hang clean or power clean?

The power clean starts on the floor; the hang clean starts from standing, with the bar lowered to just above the knees. That removes the first pull, so the hang clean is quicker to learn and usually done lighter. The catch can be the same: in the hang power clean and the power clean, both are a quarter squat. The power clean page covers the floor start.

What muscles does the hang clean work?

The muscle-activity study above recorded the outer quadriceps, the glutes, the muscles along the spine, the abdominals and the trapezius.⁴ It compared the lift with the pull, not with other exercises, so this page doesn't rank them.

What weight should I use?

Start with an empty bar. In the two load studies, men who could already do the lift got their peak power at moderate to heavy loads, and the load that gave the most power differed from one person to the next.³¹

What if something hurts?

If you have pain, an injury or a medical condition, a doctor or a physical therapist should set the limits before you train hard.

If you'd rather not plan it alone

This page describes a weightlifting lift; it isn't a sign that coaching will program it for you, and it's learned with a coach watching you lift. What coaching does is build the week around your goals and your days: your workouts live in Trainerize, sized to the time you have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one. Coaching explains how that works, and here's how to apply. Otherwise: at your next session, after a warm-up, do three sets of three hang power cleans with an empty bar and write down where the catch landed.