Clean and Press

What it is

This dynamic, compound exercise uses a barbell to build power and strength. It targets your shoulders as a primary mover, while also significantly engaging your abdominals, glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps. This movement involves lifting the bar from the floor to overhead in one fluid motion. It is an intermediate-level exercise that demands coordination and full-body control.

Technique tips

• Maintain a flat back throughout the initial lift.
• Keep the bar close to your body during the pull phase.
• Generate power from your legs and hips, driving upward.
• Quickly pull yourself under the bar into a squat position.
• Rack the bar softly across your shoulders, keeping your torso erect.
• Exhale firmly as you press the bar overhead, then lower with control.

How to track your progress

Log the weight and reps of each set. Straddly turns every set into an estimated one-rep max, so a heavier single and a strong set of eight both count as progress, and it flags a personal record the moment you beat your best.