The kettlebell clean: tame the arc
The SFG manual has a line about the clean I love: "The heavy kettlebell clean showcases the martial mix of relaxation and tension." You stay loose enough for the bell to travel and roll smoothly, then get tight enough to own it in the rack.
Most people's first cleans hurt. The bell flips over and bangs the forearm. That's almost always a technique problem, and it's fixable.
Not an Olympic clean
The kettlebell clean is a different lift from the barbell clean, and the manual spells out the differences:
no shrugging
elbows in
no puffed-out chest
no growing tall or dipping under the bell
If you come from barbell lifting, drop those habits here. The kettlebell clean is a hip snap and a tight arc, not a pull-and-catch.
The grip
Hold the bell deep in your palm, with the handle running parallel to your calluses.
Load the ulna, the pinky side of your forearm.
Gooseneck your wrist slightly.
The manual says to learn it first with a cheat clean, where you use a two-hand pistol grip to get the bell to the rack, so you can feel where it's supposed to sit before you clean it with one hand.
Same start as the swing
The clean starts like the swing. Same 5 o'clock start, same 8 o'clock hike pass. Hike so your upper arm connects to your ribs, then extend your hips. The swing's hip drive powers the clean.
The difference is the destination. The swing goes out to 3 o'clock. The clean goes to the rack.
Tame the arc
The manual's key phrase: "'Tame the arc'... directing the kettlebell in a tight arc to the rack." A wide arc is what bangs your forearm. A tight arc lets the bell roll around your forearm and settle.
Two cues from the StrongFirst articles and "The SFG Clock" by Woo-chae Yoon:
"Pull the elbow back sharply towards 9 o'clock as you begin to stand up."
Then "quickly drop the elbow under the kettlebell, so it points at 6 o'clock."
Another image I use: "visualize your bent elbow hitting the wall behind you at waist height." That keeps the bell close.
As it rises, spear your hand through and let the bell roll around your forearm. While you're learning, touch your collarbone with your thumb, which helps you find the rack. And don't re-bend your knees. The hips finish once.
The rack
The goal is to "softly catch the bell at your shoulder." When it's right, "it sits on the arm as if loaded on a spring."
That spring matters later. The clean rack sets up a heavy press, so the position you land in is the position you'll press from. A sloppy rack makes for a sloppy press.
The SFG I standard
At the SFG I, the clean is tested as a double clean, five reps with two bells. The standard includes all the swing points except arm extension and the float, plus:
the bells, elbows, and torso "become one"
shoulders down
neutral wrist
the shortest path
no impact on the forearms
"No impact on the forearms" is the line everyone remembers. If the bell hits you, the rep isn't right.
Shake it off in the rack
The manual reminds you to use fast & loose drills in clean rack work: "Don't forget to shake off the tension with 'fast & loose' drills." Holding a rack builds a lot of tension in your shoulders and traps. Between sets, shake out your arms, drop your shoulders, and "keep an impassive face and relax the traps."
Errors and fixes
The bell bangs your forearm. Your arc is too wide or you're gripping too hard. Tame the arc, pull the elbow back toward 9, spear through.
Shrugging the bell up. That's the barbell habit. The hips move the bell, not your traps.
Re-bending the knees to catch it. No dip. Finish the hips once and let the arm guide the bell.
Elbow flaring out in the rack. Elbow in, pointing toward 6 o'clock, the bell sitting on the spring.
Where the clean fits
StrongFirst lays out a progression that I teach: the deadlift becomes the swing, and the swing becomes the clean and snatch, with the same start and hike but different destinations. For the clean, the elbow goes to 9 o'clock, then 6. The snatch, as the manual says, is "a clean that finishes overhead," so a clean clean is the bridge to the snatch.
My newest how-to covers the swing and the snatch, the two lifts on either side of the clean. Watch the hips. They're the same in all three:
The clean in the SFG II
The clean doesn't stop at the SFG I. The SFG II strength test is a one-arm clean and press with a bell close to 1/2 bodyweight for men or 1/3 bodyweight for women. That press only happens if the clean puts the bell on the spring first. Heavy pressing starts with a good clean.
Cue list
Handle deep in the palm, parallel to the calluses
Learn the rack with a cheat clean first
Start at 5, hike to 8, upper arm to ribs
Snap the hips. Don't shrug
Elbow back toward 9, then down to 6
Tame the arc and keep it tight
Spear the hand through and let the bell roll
Thumb to collarbone while learning
Don't re-bend the knees
Soft catch: the bell sits on a spring
Shake off the tension between sets
Practice this week
Start with a few cheat cleans per side to find the rack. Then do single cleans, set the bell down, and reset. If one bangs your forearm, stop and think about the arc before the next rep. Clean is better than many.
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