Every college, university and high-level athlete uses Olympic lifting to increase power output, speed on the field, and agility. These movements are very specific, intense to learn, and take a long time to perfect. So much so that, as the name suggests, it is an Olympic Sport. Weightlifting is not something that is a recreational sport. It takes years to perfect these movements, even with great coaching. With hundreds, if not thousands, of kids getting taught in sports performance facilities the good old question arises: which type of lift is more applicable and which should be taught to athletes that are not Olympic lifting athletes?

Lets start off by agreeing that both the hang clean and power clean will get you big results no matter what your goal is: speed, power or agility. The complex movement and the speed it takes to move the bar work the body like no other movement. Any other movements cannot mock the power that is transferrable to sport. With that being said, great coaching and time is needed for both movements and which one is more practical is something that has to be taken into consideration.

The power clean is a staple in Olympic weightlifting and is a movement that is complex and straight up powerful. All sports can and would benefit from the teaching and use of the power clean in their programs. The power clean is a mainstay in many collegiate strength and conditioning programs throughout the United States, but is rarely taught in the private sector that caters to your HS athletes. This is because the athlete that generally hits the sports performance facility is only there on average two to three months and is sometimes in season during those months. The issue is not only the athletes making time to get better while in the off season, but for sports like soccer, baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball there is no off season anymore. The athletes play all year round with AAU and tournaments. This makes it very difficult to teach, progress and ensure that the Olympic lifting is taught properly. With that being accounted for, most athletes are taught the hang clean.

The hang clean is a great movement that was founded off of the power clean as a segment for getting better in the power clean. The hang clean puts the athlete in an athletic position past the first initial pull of the power clean. This position is where the transfer of power comes. The hip drive is the whole goal of the clean. The difference between the hang and power clean is the speed of the movement. The power clean generates more power through the movement because of that first pull. The hang clean has to be done with some downward movement first to generate some momentum for the hip drive to take place.

The question becomes this: if the power clean generates more power then why not put it into the private sector? There are three main factors I believe are the reason you do not see this more in the private sector.

1. Economy of training. I am not talking about money here, but time. The time it takes to teach the segments of the power clean is much longer and way more detailed. The hang clean is a more simple movement and takes less time to master. While it is still a technical lift, the teaching of the pull off the floor and body position of the PC is more time consuming. Having athletes for only a short amount of time we want to be as efficient as possible. With many sports performance facilities classes only lasting 60 to 90 minutes, time is crucial--and it’s a business, so time is money.

2. Coaching. I believe that a great coach is needed to teach the power clean. Since it is a very technical lift, a qualified coach who is experienced should be teaching it.

3. Risk vs. Reward. I am a firm believer that with the amount of kids that you have for only 3 months, you get better results with the hang clean because you can load faster. This is because it is slightly easier to teach and you can progress quicker once mastered. The power clean, as mentioned, takes longer to teach and thus longer to progress with weight until perfected.

These three reasons are why the hang clean is more beneficial in the private setting. Within the college domain you have the time to teach, perfect and load the power clean properly. Private Olympic lifting gyms also have this luxury because this is what they do, perfect Olympic movements. Again good coaching plays a huge role in the ability to teach either lift. Both are phenomenal producers of power and you need one of them in your program to create the best athletes possible.