man performing the Hang-Clean

In this article, we will cover the High Hang Clean Exercise.

If you are looking to create total body power and explosiveness than Hang Cleans are for you.

They are great exercise that requires you to have a mix of good strength and speed.

High Han Cleans are a full body compound exercises. They are shown to help with increasing your athletic performance.

We will cover the benefits to including this exercise.

The equipment you need to perform them.

The best way to include them into your strength training or CrossFit routine.

A written description along with images and a video will demonstrate how you are to perform the high hang clean.

When you are performing Hang Cleans, it is best to perform them without the aid of wrist straps. Using straps leads to a higher wrist injury rate with this movement.

High Hang Cleans are a great tool to use to teach hangs for athletes not ready yet to pull straight from the floor.

Benefits of High Hang Clean

High Hang Cleans have been shown to help with a person's athletic performance.

They stimulate over 200 hundred different muscles in your body creating a huge surge of anabolics and training effect.

Exercises like this that whelp to work your posterior muscles will help to strengthen your back.

Having a stronger posterior chain will contribute to limit your chances of back injury.

Exercise Difficulty Level

Since we are using the high hang variation, the difficulty is an early intermediate level. Being at a higher bar position limits the amount of bend required at the hips.

Using a higher hold makes this exercise easier to do then the lower variations. Below are the three primary hang positions.

This article is covering the High Hang which you can see on the far right in the image.

Equipment Required

The equipment needed to perform traditional High Hang Cleans is a long bar and weight plates.

You can also use variations of this exercise that you can do with dumbells or kettlebells.

Different Hang Positions

The three common Hang positions are the floor, hang, and Hi Hang. See image below for where the bar should be.

demenstration of the different Hang Positions

Image source

High Hang Clean CrossFit

In a CrossFit training routine, you would include this exercise under the strength portion of your workout routine.

When you are training for maximal power, it is best to use a lower variation of this exercise like the Knee or below knee versions.

The High Hang Clean works best when you are trying to complete a maximal number of repetitions using a set time interval.

Having you back in a more upright position will help to decrease your chances of suffering from a back injury.

The High Hang position keeps your back more upright through its range of motion. As your posterior muscles tire from performing an exercise rounding of the lower back is more prone to occur.

Staying in a more upright position makes rounding of your back extremely low.

High Hang Clean Muscles Used

  • Primary Muscles

  • Quadriceps
  • Secondary Muscles

  • Shoulders
  • Forearms
  • Biceps
  • Traps
  • Glutes
  • Spinal Erectors

High Hang Clean How To Image

High Hang Clean How To demonstration

High Hang Clean How To Description

  • Grip the bar with a shoulder-width grip. You will use an overhand grip when grabbing the bar (the palms of your hands should be facing the body).
  • Lift the bar to your mid thigh. Keep your shoulders back, chest out, straight back slightly inclined forwards.
  • You are now in the starting position.
  • Extend through your hips, knees, and ankles to drive the weight upwards as shrugging your shoulders towards your ears.
  • When you hits full extension, you will move into the last pull portion. Aggressively shrug and flex your arms moving the elbows up and out. Pull yourself under the bar while rotating the elbows under the bar.
  • You will use the front squat position to receive the bar. You need to rack the bar onto your protracted shoulders.
  • Keep lowering your body until you are at the bottom of the squat position.
  • Drive through your heels with your torso upright and elbows out until you are in the standing position.
  • Rotate at the elbows to return the bar to the mid thigh position.
  • Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

High Hang Clean How To Video

Alternative Exercises

There are several variations of this exercise that you can use instead. Some of the different exercises are The Clean Pull, The Split Clean, Kettlebell Clean Press.

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