What's a sensible starting dose for the tall clean, and what should you already have down?

Use an empty bar or a very light load for four to six sets of three reps, treating every rep as a speed drill rather than a lift. You should already have a reliable front-rack catch and a basic hang clean before adding this; it's a refinement drill, not a first exposure to catching a bar.

What can you use instead of a barbell for the tall clean?

A PVC pipe or a very light training bar lets you drill the same fast elbow-and-spin pattern with essentially no load, which is exactly how this drill is meant to be trained. There's no good bodyweight substitute, since the whole point is learning to move quickly under an external object.

What is the tall clean for, and when is it not worth doing?

It isolates the turnover speed and rack position of a clean, useful as a warm-up or technical primer for lifters already comfortable with the full lift. It's not useful, and can even reinforce bad habits, if your front-rack catch isn't solid yet; fix that on regular cleans first.

Advanced

Tall Clean

The tall clean strips the lift down to the pull under, teaching you to move fast and get elbows around quickly with no help from the legs. Standing tall with the bar high, you simply pull yourself under and rack it. It is a light technical drill that sharpens turnover speed and rack position, ideal in warm-ups or skill work.

Equipment: Barbell
Body part: Glutes, Traps
Type: Strength
Browse by muscle: Trapezius Upper, Deltoid Middle, Vastus Lateralis, Gluteus Maximus
Browse by movement: Shoulder Raise

How to do it

1
Stand fully upright holding the bar at the hips with a clean grip.
2
Rise onto the balls of the feet with the shoulders shrugged slightly.
3
Without any dip or leg drive, pull the elbows high and fast.
4
Whip the elbows around to spin under the bar.
5
Catch it in the front rack, dropping into a squat as needed.
6
Stand tall and reset for the next repetition.

Tips

Use light weight; the drill is about speed under the bar, not load.
Keep the bar close and pull yourself down to it rather than heaving it up.
Aim for fast, aggressive elbows to secure a clean front rack.

Variations

Common mistakes

Adding a small dip or leg drive at the start turns this into a regular clean and defeats the point of the drill, which is turnover speed with no legs.
The bar swings away from the body as the elbows whip around, and a bar that drifts out has no fast path back down to the shoulders.
The elbows come around slow and low instead of fast and high, so the rack position arrives late and gets caught on the wrists instead of the shoulders.
Once the weight creeps up past what feels genuinely light, the drill turns into a strength lift and the speed work it's meant to build disappears.

Frequently asked

What's a sensible starting dose for the tall clean, and what should you already have down?: Use an empty bar or a very light load for four to six sets of three reps, treating every rep as a speed drill rather than a lift. You should already have a reliable front-rack catch and a basic hang clean before adding this; it's a refinement drill, not a first exposure to catching a bar.
What can you use instead of a barbell for the tall clean?: A PVC pipe or a very light training bar lets you drill the same fast elbow-and-spin pattern with essentially no load, which is exactly how this drill is meant to be trained. There's no good bodyweight substitute, since the whole point is learning to move quickly under an external object.
What is the tall clean for, and when is it not worth doing?: It isolates the turnover speed and rack position of a clean, useful as a warm-up or technical primer for lifters already comfortable with the full lift. It's not useful, and can even reinforce bad habits, if your front-rack catch isn't solid yet; fix that on regular cleans first.

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