Exercise Library
Segment Clean
AKA Pause clean
AKA Pause clean
The segment clean is a clean with one or more pauses on the way up.
Set the clean starting position and brace the trunk tightly. Push with the legs through the whole foot against the floor similarly to a squat. Maintain even balance over the whole foot and actively keep the bar as close to the legs as possible.
Stop and hold in the first pause position for 1-3 seconds, ensuring proper position and whole foot balance. Move to the next pause position and repeat. After the final pause, continue to complete a clean as you would otherwise.
Common pause positions are right off the floor, below the knee, at the knee and mid-thigh.
Purpose
The primary purpose of the segment clean is to reinforce and strengthen a certain position or positions during the clean pull, or to reinforce the movement into or between certain positions. This may be to strengthen the typical weak points in the pull, such as being able to stay over the bar past the knee or not tip forward in the first pull, or to address specific weakness for a given lifter. The pauses make it easier for the athlete to feel and correct for improper position and balance, which means more training in the right ones. It can also be used as part of a clean teaching progression or for technical remediation. Finally, it can used as a hang clean variation to limit the distance and time the lifter has to accelerate and elevate the bar, and by removing an eccentric countermovement, further improving rate of force development and aggressiveness over a standard hang lift.
Programming
Generally the segment clean should be done for 1-3 reps per set anywhere from 70%-90% of the lifter’s best clean depending on the lifter and the number of pauses. In any case, the weight should not exceed what the lifter can do with proper positioning and balance—not only will improper balance and positioning fail to improve the lifter’s performance, it will exacerbate the existing problem. It can be used as a primary clean exercise during preparatory phases and programmed accordingly; it’s also good to place in a complex with a regular clean. Or it can be used with lighter weights as a technique primer at the beginning of a clean session reinforce proper balance and positions for the subsequent cleans.
Variations
The segment clean can be performed on a riser, with slow concentrics in the lower range to emphasize control over posture and balance, with a static or dynamic start, and many other possibilities.
Set the clean starting position and brace the trunk tightly. Push with the legs through the whole foot against the floor similarly to a squat. Maintain even balance over the whole foot and actively keep the bar as close to the legs as possible.
Stop and hold in the first pause position for 1-3 seconds, ensuring proper position and whole foot balance. Move to the next pause position and repeat. After the final pause, continue to complete a clean as you would otherwise.
Common pause positions are right off the floor, below the knee, at the knee and mid-thigh.
Purpose
The primary purpose of the segment clean is to reinforce and strengthen a certain position or positions during the clean pull, or to reinforce the movement into or between certain positions. This may be to strengthen the typical weak points in the pull, such as being able to stay over the bar past the knee or not tip forward in the first pull, or to address specific weakness for a given lifter. The pauses make it easier for the athlete to feel and correct for improper position and balance, which means more training in the right ones. It can also be used as part of a clean teaching progression or for technical remediation. Finally, it can used as a hang clean variation to limit the distance and time the lifter has to accelerate and elevate the bar, and by removing an eccentric countermovement, further improving rate of force development and aggressiveness over a standard hang lift.
Programming
Generally the segment clean should be done for 1-3 reps per set anywhere from 70%-90% of the lifter’s best clean depending on the lifter and the number of pauses. In any case, the weight should not exceed what the lifter can do with proper positioning and balance—not only will improper balance and positioning fail to improve the lifter’s performance, it will exacerbate the existing problem. It can be used as a primary clean exercise during preparatory phases and programmed accordingly; it’s also good to place in a complex with a regular clean. Or it can be used with lighter weights as a technique primer at the beginning of a clean session reinforce proper balance and positions for the subsequent cleans.
Variations
The segment clean can be performed on a riser, with slow concentrics in the lower range to emphasize control over posture and balance, with a static or dynamic start, and many other possibilities.
