maratoolClean Deadlift
How to do the clean deadlift
- Begin standing with a barbell close to your shins. Your feet should be directly under your hips with your feet turned out slightly. Grip the bar with a double overhand grip or hook grip, about shoulder width apart. Squat down to the bar. Your spine should be in full extension, with a back angle that places your shoulders in front of the bar and your back as vertical as possible.
- Begin by driving through the floor through the front of your heels. As the bar travels upward, maintain a constant back angle. Flare your knees out to the side to help keep them out of the bar's path.
- After the bar crosses the knees, complete the lift by driving the hips into the bar until your hips and knees are extended.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.
Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first; the glutes finish hip extension; the lower back keeps the spine from rounding.
The middle back, quadriceps and traps take a share of the work as well.
Every exercise for:HamstringsForearmsGlutesLower backMiddle back
How this movement works
The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.
It is filed under olympic weightlifting. The bar must move fast enough for you to get underneath it, which makes this a skill rather than a grind: low repetitions, well short of where fatigue starts editing technique.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:
- Double Kettlebell Alternating Hang Cleankettlebell
- Dumbbell Cleandumbbell
- Flutter Kicksbench + body only
- Front Leg Raisesbody only
- Glute Ham Raisemachine
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 37 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.