The Barbell Clean High Pull is a dynamic exercise that targets your upper body and improves explosive strength.

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a barbell with an overhand grip.
  2. Lower the barbell to your knees while keeping your back straight.
  3. Explosively extend your hips and knees, pulling the barbell upward.
  4. As the barbell rises, shrug your shoulders and pull your elbows high.
  5. Lower the barbell back to the starting position and repeat.

How to perform the Barbell Clean High Pull

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Barbell Clean High Pull using your barbell.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your forearms.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your forearms rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

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Variations of Barbell Clean High Pull

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