MOVEMENT TIP: The Hang Clean

While the Clean is executed from the ground, the Hang Clean, demonstrated here by CrossFit Seminar Staff member James Hobart, is a variation of the movement, which is started from a ‘hanging’ position i.e. above ground level in any of the following start points:

High-Hang: Upper thigh
Mid-hang: Mid-thigh
Hang: Top of knee caps
Knee: Bar at knee caps
Low: Bar just below knees

If nothing is specified, the Hang Clean is typically done from just above the knee and this is the point that everybody should work from in the initial months of learning and developing the Clean. More experienced athletes work the hang positions as a training exercise to produce more explosive force in the hip extension.

Points Of Performance

• Stand on feet with hip-width apart


• Hands about one thumb's distance from hips


• Hook grip on the bar


• Lumbar curve maintained


• Deadlift the bar to the hang position


• Extend hips and legs rapidly


• Heels down until hips and legs extend


• Shoulders shrug, followed by a pull under with the arms


• Bar is received at the bottom of a front squat


• Complete at full hip and knee extension with the bar in the front rack position