Goalora
Support
← All exercises

Clean Shrug

advanced · pull_vertical

Clean Shrug

Setup

Stand over the bar with feet hip-width apart, taking a double-overhand or hook grip a little wider than your shoulders. Bring the bar up to mid-thigh as if finishing a deadlift, back flat, chest slightly ahead of the bar.

Execution

  1. Start with the bar at mid-thigh, knees soft, back flat, arms straight and relaxed.
  2. Drive hard through the floor, extending the ankles, knees and hips together to accelerate the bar upward.
  3. As the bar passes your thighs, shrug your shoulders hard toward your ears, arms staying straight the whole time, no elbow bend and no pulling with the arms.
  4. Let the bar rise only as high as the leg drive and shrug take it, without trying to add height by pulling with the arms.
  5. Bring the bar back down along the same path, re-bending the knees and hips to absorb it as it lands back at mid-thigh.
  6. If a rep feels mistimed or the bar drifts away from your body, let go and step back rather than trying to save it.

Breathing

Inhale and brace before you start the pull, exhale hard at the top of the shrug. Do not hold your breath through the explosive pull; if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, a hernia or you are pregnant, never hold it at all — lighten the load and pull at a slower speed instead.

Quick cues

  • Drive the floor first, then shrug.
  • Arms straight, don't pull with them.
  • Bar brushes your thighs the whole way.
  • Mistimed rep? Let it drop.
  • Land it soft, knees bend to catch.

Common faults

  • Fault: Bending the elbows to pull further, turning it into an upright row

    Fix: Keep the arms straight until the shrug is fully complete; think of the arms as ropes holding the bar, with only the traps working.

  • Fault: The bar swinging away from the body on the way up

    Fix: Keep the shoulders directly over the bar, engage the lats to hold it close to the thighs, and lower the load if it keeps swinging out.

  • Fault: Extending the hips and knees but forgetting to drive through the ankles

    Fix: Finish the drive by rising onto the balls of the feet, and drill calf raises separately if the ankles feel weak.

  • Fault: Muscling through a mistimed rep instead of letting go

    Fix: Release the bar and step back the moment control is lost; you do not need a rack to set it down safely.

  • Fault: Catching the bar's return with stiff, locked legs

    Fix: Re-bend the knees and hips the instant the bar touches your thighs to absorb the impact, instead of dumping the force into your lower back.

Equipment

barbell

Muscle groups

back, legs, glutes, arms