The Clean & Press combo is the best accessory lift for vaulting the numbers of the big-three strength exercises.

What is a Clean & Press?

This move refers to a full “squat clean” where the bar is received in the rack position, followed up with a front squat. The pressing portion is a push press and not its wilder, more technical brother, the jerk.

How to Perform the Clean & Press

You have to progress through triple extension and receive the bar in rack position in a full squat. After you’ve landed in the full squat, return to the standing position and push-press the bar overhead.

The Clean & Press mimics an Explosive Deadlift and the scoop or receiving portion recruits many of your upper body and core muscles. It’s no surprise this part of the lift ultimately aids in a deadlift. The next part of the lift requires you to front squat the weight. Firing from the hole in a deep front squat will do wonders for adding size to your quads and improve your strength in the back squat.

The Push Press

Using your legs to dip briefly into a quarter squat, you drive the weight overhead with speed. This part of the lift will focus on strengthening your shoulders and get your upper chest involved while moving your arms to full extension. The best way to increase these lifts is to do them in a structured program. Getting better at anything requires practice. Again, think of the Clean & Press as the best accessory exercise you can be doing for all of the main lifts and it should get its own day.

Explosiveness – the Missing Link

Explosively pulling weight from the ground, catching it and tossing it overhead isn’t commonly done in most gyms and you may think that these are only exercises for Olympic lifters and CrossFit trainers. Maybe you think your explosive lifting days are over since you’re not playing hockey or football. Whatever the case, explosive lifting is the most common missing link in the pursuit of heavier weight on the bar and more pounds on your frame.

The fear associated with cleaning comes from worrying about how it will affect your lower back, wrists and shoulders, and not knowing how to do it correctly. If you have healthy wrist mobility, shoulder mobility and good elbow health, you’re prepared to Clean & Press. And, if you progress with the weights in a smart program, it’ll strengthen your lower back.

Push Press

Aggressively tossing weight overhead can be daunting, especially after you start working with weights heavier than 225 pounds. If your form is correct and you progress in smart increments, there is nothing to worry about. Keep the end goal in mind. Above all else, you want to increase muscle mass, so continue to add weight on the bar for the big three lifts.

Why It Works for Muscle and Power

Nothing puts muscle on an athlete’s frame faster than a power exercise. Strength exercises come close, but power definitely takes the edge. Using a massive amount of force over a short period of time recruits a great deal of muscle fibers. When your goal is more muscle, maximal fiber recruitment is paramount. When you clean, the body has no choice but to recruit as many fibers as possible to produce the requisite force needed to complete the exercise. The push press also involves a massive amount of force development and increasing the rate of force development is the key to lifting heavier.

Move the Bar Faster

Rate of force development (RFD) is how fast you generate force during an exercise or athletic activity. And if you aren’t lifting as fast as possible on the three lifts, you’re shortchanging your gains. As soon as you hit the concentric or lifting portion of the lift, you should be moving the bar as fast as you can in a controlled manner. Since moving the bar at a fast rate requires a great deal of force production, it stands to reason that you need to train RFD.

The Clean & Press should be programmed with the intent to increase the amount of weight you can do in the exercise, but it should also be done with light or relatively light weight.

Newton figured it out. If you want higher acceleration, the force must be higher or the mass lower. Acceleration and force go hand in hand.

Having a programmed light week will improve your movement pattern in the exercise and give you an opportunity to attack heavy weight with similar aggression. A good first milestone to work towards is a body weight Clean & Press of 3-5 reps.