Training guide
A kettlebell clean takes the bell from between your legs to your shoulder in one movement. You hike it back as in a one-arm swing, snap your hips forward, keep your elbow close so the bell travels up near your body, and turn your hand round the handle so the bell settles on the back of your forearm: the rack. Your hips lift the bell; your arm only guides it.
The research is thin. No trial has tested the clean on its own, and the one study that measured it, in 14 trained adults, found it worked the obliques on the opposite side harder than a one-arm swing. That tells you something about what it works, not what it builds.
This guide teaches the clean in steps, with a 3D demo of each, from the dead clean to the clean from the swing: the rack, why the bell hits your forearm and how to stop it, one bell or two, and how heavy and how many.
Hike the bell back as in a one-arm swing, snap your hips forward and keep your elbow close, so the bell rises near your body, then turn your hand round the handle so it settles in the rack at your shoulder. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) calls the clean "the swing with a pull".
ACE calls the clean "a standard method for developing the rack position", where kettlebell presses and front squats start. The bell rests on the back of your forearm against your chest, wrist straight and elbow close to your ribs.
Two-handed swings first, then the one-arm swing, then the dead clean from the floor, the hang clean from a still hang and the clean from the swing. Our kettlebell plan keeps you on kettlebell deadlifts until your hip hinge is solid.
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A bell that loops out wide flips over your hand and lands on your forearm. Keep your elbow in and let the bell roll round your hand. No study has measured the forces on the wrist in a clean, but repeated knocks aren't harmless: in one case report, they split a thumb tendon.
Start with your press bell, the lighter of our kettlebell plan's two bells, and do 3 to 5 sets of 5 each side, ending each set while every rep is still fast and crisp (the editorial starting point on our clean move pages). For power, low volume worked best across 137 reviews: about 24 reps of a lift a session or fewer.
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In 14 trained adults, the clean worked the obliques on the opposite side harder than the one-arm swing, and the front of the thigh less. A review of 99 kettlebell publications found mostly small, low-quality studies, so treat the clean's benefits as likely, not proven.
ACE's clean starts like a one-arm swing: "as the kettlebell gains forward momentum in front of the body, quickly pull it up to the chest and immediately drop the elbow towards the rib cage and sink back into the hips to catch the kettlebell". Its double-bell version gives the same idea in fewer words: pull the bell in at the hip and rotate it around your wrist.
The bell rests on your arm and chest "while you maintain a tight and straight back", in ACE's words, with your wrist in a neutral, straight position, which is where the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) starts its kettlebell press.
The dead clean starts every rep from the floor, with no backswing. The hang clean starts each rep from a still hang between your thighs. The clean from the swing flows from one rep into the next. With two bells come the alternating hang clean, the see-saw (one bell rises as the other drops) and the double clean, which ACE keeps for advanced kettlebell users. All have 3D demos; the one-arm swing that comes before them doesn't.
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Your hips and knees straighten fast, as in a swing: in 7 men swinging 16 kg, the glutes worked at about 80% of their maximum and the lower back muscles at about 50%. The clean adds a pull close to the body and a catch: in 14 trained adults it worked the external oblique on the opposite side harder than a one-arm swing. No study has measured the arm, upper back or grip in a clean, and muscle activity isn't muscle growth.
A larger chest, a larger upper arm or breasts can move the elbow away from your ribs in the rack: let the bell sit where your forearm is upright and your wrist straight, with the elbow in front of your body (our suggestion; no study has looked at this). Cast-iron bells grow with their weight, so each size sits a little differently, while competition bells keep the same size from 8 to 32 kg.
Adults aged 59 to 79 learnt the clean in supervised classes, and in 12 weeks of swing training women's strength gains matched men's. The one study that measured the clean recruited trained adults; we found none of how beginners learn it.
Built on ACE's kettlebell clean and press and its double kettlebell article, and our clean move pages. Breathing out as the bell lands is our editorial suggestion, in line with our swing guide.
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The movement on the figure: One-arm kettlebell clean from a hike
On the back of your forearm, against your chest, with the handle across your palm. Your wrist stays straight and your forearm upright, so the bell's weight rests on your body rather than hanging off your wrist.
ACE drops the elbow towards the rib cage to catch the bell, and keeps it "close to the ribs" to start its single-arm press. An elbow that drifts out lets the bell pull you forward and tires your shoulder.
Squeezing the handle hard in the rack bends your wrist back. Hold it just firmly enough to keep the bell in place, wrist neutral, as the NSCA's press starts. Our wrist pain lifting guide lists the front rack among the positions that load a bent-back wrist.
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In one small study of 5 men, walking with a 16 kg bell in the rack kept trunk muscle activity low, most muscles under 10% of their maximum, and the authors judged its load on the spine similar to carrying a suitcase. Holding the bell upside down instead (bottoms up) raised both. It's one small study, and there's no 3D demo of a rack walk.
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Bodies differ: if your elbow can't reach your ribs, let it rest in front of your body with the forearm upright. If the bell presses on a sore spot, try a slightly different hand position, a lighter bell or a long-sleeved top (our suggestions). Pain in the wrist is the signal to change something, not to push on.
If the bell travels out in front, as in a swing, it has to flip over the top of your hand to reach the rack, and it lands with a thud. ACE's double-bell instructions keep it close instead: pull the bell in at the hip and rotate it around your wrist.
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Keep your elbow in and the bell close, loosen your grip as your hand turns, and turn it earlier, as the bell passes your waist. Practise with the dead clean, which has less speed, until every rep lands quietly. If the bell still bangs, go lighter for a few sessions (our suggestions, from our clean move pages).
No study has measured the forces on the wrist or forearm in a clean. One case report describes a 39-year-old man who split a thumb tendon after repeated knocks from an off-centre grip on a kettlebell, in overhead triceps extensions rather than cleans. He was free of symptoms within 3 weeks in a wrist splint, his tendon had healed on a scan at 3 months, and he went back to kettlebell training.
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Swap cleans for swings and kettlebell deadlifts, which have no catch, until it settles, as our wrist pain lifting guide suggests. Keep any pain to about 5 out of 10 or less, settling within half an hour and no worse the next morning; tingling in your fingers is a sign to stop.
The nearest are programmes. Six weeks of kettlebell training (swings, accelerated swings and goblet squats, with no cleans) raised squat strength and jump height in 30 men, though weightlifting built more squat strength. Ten weeks of kettlebell classes raised bench-press strength in 37 adults aged 18 to 72. And 12 weeks of supervised classes built on the swing, the clean, the military press, the goblet squat and an unloaded get-up raised grip strength by 6 to 7 kg, predicted deadlift strength by 16.2 kg (23%) and walking distance in 32 adults aged 59 to 79.
In 14 trained adults lifting their 8 to 10 rep maximum, the clean drew more activity from the external oblique on the opposite side than the one-arm swing, and the swing drew more from the front of the thigh. The study's summary gives no percentages, and it's one study of a single session.
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In 13 experienced kettlebell lifters, 10 minutes of continuous clean and jerks raised heart rate, blood pressure and blood lactate, and heart rate, the lower blood pressure figure and lactate were still raised 15 minutes later. Maximal squat strength didn't change. These were lifters used to long sets; short, crisp sets suit the rest of us.
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In 12 minutes of kettlebell swings, heart rate averaged 87% of its maximum while oxygen use was 65% of its maximum, and 8 weeks of workplace kettlebell training didn't change aerobic fitness. Cleans are power work; keep your walks, runs or rides too.
Across 137 reviews, power improved most with moderate loads (30 to 70% of a one-rep maximum), low to moderate volume (24 reps or fewer of a lift, sets times reps), Olympic-style lifting and a fast lifting phase. That's why our clean sets are short and crisp.
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A 2019 review of 99 kettlebell publications found mostly small, low-quality studies with trivial to small effects. Its trials reported no adverse events, and its three injury case reports each seemed to involve a training-load error.
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The clean study recruited trained adults, and most kettlebell studies tested young people, often men, for one session or a few weeks. No study has compared bells, starting weights or ways of teaching the clean, or measured the wrist.
Start with your press bell: the one our kettlebell plan says you can press 5 to 8 times each side with 2 or 3 reps to spare, usually one or two sizes lighter than your swing bell (our editorial suggestion for the clean). Move up only when every rep lands quietly and each set stays crisp.
3 to 5 sets of 5 each side, resting until the next set can be just as crisp: the dose on our dead clean, hang clean and one-arm clean move pages, an editorial starting point. Our kettlebell workout does 3 sets of 5 each side, and once the clean is smooth you can go up to 8 a side (editorial). For power, about 24 reps of a lift a session or fewer worked best.
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"Swings, cleans and snatches are power moves: end each set or round while every rep is still fast and crisp, well before you tire", as our kettlebell plan puts it. Tired cleans loop wide and bang your forearm.
Once or twice a week, inside a session with a squat, a press and a pull, as our kettlebell workouts do. The NHS recommends strengthening activities that work all the major muscles on at least 2 days a week.
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Add reps and sets first, then the next bell. Kettlebells usually jump 4 kg, which can be 25 to 50% for a beginner, and a fixed 20 kg bell and one stepped up 4 kg every 2 weeks built similar strength over 6 weeks of swings. With a heavier bell, start with sets of 2 or 3 each side and build back to 5 (our suggestion).
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Hip-hinge practice, a few kettlebell halos and a set of kettlebell deadlifts, as in our kettlebell workout, then a couple of sets of two-handed swings.
Doses come from our move pages and workouts where named; the move-on points are our editorial suggestions.
Our swing technique workout: 8 rounds of 5 to 8 swings, one set a minute. Move on when 10 swings in a row stay crisp, as our swing guide says.
The same swing with one hand on the handle and the other by your side; there's no 3D demo of it. 3 sets of 10 each side (editorial). Move on when each side is as crisp as two hands, with your shoulders square.
From the floor every rep, with no backswing: 3 to 5 sets of 5 each side, its move page's dose. Move on when every rep lands quietly on your forearm.
From a still hang between your thighs, pausing before each rep: the same dose. Move on when it lands quietly too.
Each rep drops back into the next: the same dose, or 3 sets of 5 each side as in our kettlebell workout. This is the clean most programmes mean.
The alternating hang clean, then the see-saw, then the double clean, which ACE keeps for advanced kettlebell users. 3 to 5 sets of 5 each side for the first two (their move pages' dose); the double clean's move page gives no dose, so use 3 to 5 sets of 5 (editorial).
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No study has timed it. Move on by the checks above rather than by the calendar.
One bell lets you watch one side at a time and fix the path before you add a second. ACE's double kettlebell exercises are written for advanced kettlebell practitioners.
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With a bell in each hand, clean one while the other hangs, then swap. In the see-saw, one bell drops back to the hang as the other rises, with no pause, which makes the timing harder. Keep both bells close so they don't knock together (their move pages).
Both bells at once, from between your feet to the rack at both shoulders. It's the start of the double front squat and the double press, which is why ACE teaches it: the rack is "a prerequisite for more advanced kettlebell exercises such as the front squat and military press".
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It flips over and bangs your forearm. Keep your elbow in, the bell close and your hand turning early.
Your biceps and shoulder tire and the bell rises slowly. Stand up faster: your hips lift the bell, your arm guides it.
Your knees travel forward and the bell starts low. Go back to two-handed swings and kettlebell deadlifts for a week.
Your wrist bends back and your forearm aches. Relax your grip so the handle sits across your palm, wrist straight.
The bell pulls you forward and your shoulder tires. Elbow near your ribs, forearm upright.
Your lower back takes the landing. Stand tall, glutes tight, ribs down.
Swing it back once more and park it on the floor with a flat back.
Tired reps loop wide. End each set while every rep is crisp, and rest until the next can be as crisp.
Swings and kettlebell deadlifts in place of cleans until it settles, as our wrist pain lifting guide suggests.
Start with kettlebell deadlifts, then swings, as our swing guide says, and add cleans once swings are comfortable. If your lower back, not your hips, is doing the work, go back a step. Keep pain to about 5 out of 10 or less, settling within an hour, as our back pain guides advise.
Clean only with no spinal fractures and confident technique, as our swing guide says of swings, and stop a set as soon as your back starts to round. The UK consensus advises avoiding repeated or loaded forward bending and lifting with a hip hinge.
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Not the time to learn the clean: the NHS advises against starting a new vigorous activity, and Tommy's says to avoid exercises where a weight could hit your bump. If you already clean confidently, you may be able to carry on with a lighter bell, as Tommy's says of weights you already use; stop if you feel faint, overheated or in any pain.
Use a lighter bell, breathe out on every rep and don't hold your breath, as our breathing guide says. With a pacemaker or implanted defibrillator, ask your doctor before upper-body strength training, as the American Heart Association advises.
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Learn with a coach if you can: supervised classes that included the clean were well tolerated in adults aged 59 to 79, with four minor problems, none put down to the clean.
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Work up in order, moving on at the checks above: the dead, hang and one-arm cleans at 3 to 5 sets of 5 each side (their move pages' dose) and the clean from the swing at 3 sets of 5 each side (our kettlebell workout); the one-arm swing between the first two has no 3D demo.
3D demoKettlebell swingIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoKettlebell dead cleanIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoKettlebell hang cleanIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoOne-arm kettlebell clean from a hikeIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoKettlebell cleanIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoAlternating kettlebell hang cleanIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoDouble kettlebell alternating hang clean (see-saw)Advanced · A kettlebell
3D demoDouble kettlebell cleanAdvanced · A kettlebellHip-hinge practice and kettlebell deadlifts, 8 reps each, and halos, 5 circles each way, warm you up (our kettlebell workout); goblet squats, 3 sets of 8 to 12 (kettlebell workout B), and double kettlebell front squats use the rack; suitcase carries, 2 walks of 30 m each side (our kettlebell workout), and farmer's carries build your grip.
3D demoHip-hinge practiceBeginner · No equipment
3D demoKettlebell deadliftBeginner · A kettlebell
3D demoKettlebell haloBeginner · A kettlebell
3D demoDumbbell goblet squatIntermediate · A dumbbell
3D demoDouble kettlebell front squatIntermediate · A kettlebell
3D demoSuitcase carryIntermediate · A dumbbell + A kettlebell
3D demoFarmer's carryIntermediate · A dumbbell + A kettlebell
3D demoWrist & forearm flowBeginner · No equipmentOur kettlebell plan puts cleans in workout A, with kettlebell deadlifts in their place for the first two weeks while your hip hinge settles.
Learn the kettlebell clean and press teaches the clean in three steps, then presses from the rack. Not swinging confidently yet? Start with Learn the kettlebell swing. Our kettlebell workout uses 3 sets of 5 cleans each side.
A 35-minute practice session for the kettlebell clean and press: hinge and swing, the clean in three steps, then strict presses from the rack, with one bell.
35 minIntermediate12 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellA 25-minute practice session for your first kettlebell swings: hip hinge drills, kettlebell deadlifts, then short sets of swings with a park after each.
25 minBeginner8 movesA wall, A kettlebellA 30-minute full-body kettlebell workout: deadlifts, swings, cleans, presses, rows, halos and carries.
30 minIntermediate9 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellA 20-minute kettlebell swing workout: 30 seconds of swings, 30 seconds of rest, building to the 12 rounds a training trial used, then carries.
20 minIntermediate7 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellA 25-minute carry workout with dumbbells or kettlebells: farmer's carries, suitcase carries on each side and an overhead carry, with a safe pick-up first.
25 minBeginner7 movesA kettlebell, A dumbbellIf you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels like squeezing or pressure, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; severe difficulty breathing; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint; someone who faints while exercising; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
The NHS says to call 999 if back pain comes with pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs; loss of feeling around your genitals or anus; difficulty peeing, or peeing or pooing yourself; changes in how your genitals feel during sex, or problems getting an erection or orgasming; or chest pain, or if it started after a serious accident. These can be signs of cauda equina syndrome, which needs urgent treatment in hospital.
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Call 999 or go to A&E if you heard a crack, it has changed shape or points at an odd angle, it's numb, tingling or has pins and needles, or the skin has turned blue or grey or is cold. Contact NHS 111 for severe wrist pain, a snap, grinding or popping noise when it happened, a wrist you can't move or hold things with, or lost feeling in your hand. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
If back pain comes with feeling hot, cold, shivery or generally unwell, or it's severe pain that started suddenly or is getting worse quickly; or a strain is very painful or getting worse, with a lot of swelling or bruising.
If wrist pain hasn't improved after 2 weeks at home or comes with tingling or loss of feeling; arm pain doesn't go away after a few weeks; back pain hasn't improved after a few weeks or is worse at night; after any faint; or for dizziness that won't go away or keeps coming back.
See a GP if you think you have a hernia: a bulge or lump in your groin, upper thigh or tummy that may get bigger when you cough, sneeze or cry and smaller when you lie down. Get help from NHS 111 if you have a hernia and pain in or around it, a bloated tummy, sickness, constipation, a high temperature or sudden confusion. Call 999 or go to A&E only for a femoral hernia (a small lump at the top of your thigh, in your groin) with very bad tummy pain, sickness, being unable to fart or poo, a high temperature or sudden confusion.
If a joint pain is sharp, gets worse during a set or lingers into the next day, swap to an easier option, and see a clinician if it persists. Our wrist guide allows pain up to about 5 out of 10 if it settles within half an hour; our back pain guides allow the same if it settles within an hour.
A bell that lands hard is a path problem: keep it close and let it roll round your hand. Repeated knocks aren't harmless either: in one case report, they split a thumb tendon.
It's a hip-driven power lift: the swing that starts it works the glutes hard, and the clean added work for the obliques on the opposite side. Your arm guides the bell; lifting it with your arm is the commonest fault, not the technique.
Kettlebell programmes built squat, deadlift and grip strength in small trials, and as cardio they're weaker than they feel: heart rate runs ahead of oxygen use, and one 8-week programme didn't change aerobic fitness.
A fixed 20 kg bell did as well as stepping up 4 kg every 2 weeks over 6 weeks of swings, and women new to kettlebells gained strength starting with 8 kg. For power, moderate loads worked best. Crisp reps with the right bell matter more than the number on it.
Weightlifting built more squat strength than kettlebell training in the one comparison, with similar jump gains, and kettlebell studies are mostly small. Kettlebells are a good tool, not a better one.
Hike the bell back as in a one-arm swing, snap your hips forward and keep your elbow close so the bell travels up near your body. As it passes your waist, turn your hand round the handle so the bell settles on the back of your forearm at your shoulder. Then let it drop back between your legs into the next rep.
Usually the bell is looping out wide and flipping over onto your forearm. Keep your elbow in, pull the bell closer and turn your hand round the handle earlier, so it rolls over rather than crashing down. If your wrist is already sore, do swings and deadlifts instead until it settles.
The bell rests on the back of your forearm against your chest, with your wrist straight and your elbow close to your ribs. It's where kettlebell presses and front squats start, which is why the clean matters.
It's a whole-body power lift driven by your hips, like the swing: glutes, hamstrings and back, with your arm, upper back and grip guiding and catching the bell. In one study of 14 trained adults, it worked the obliques on the opposite side harder than a one-arm swing. No study has measured its effect on muscle size.
Start with your press bell, the lighter of the two in our kettlebell plan, or lighter while you learn. Move up only when every rep lands quietly, and add reps and sets before a bigger bell, because bells jump about 4 kg at a time.
3 to 5 sets of 5 each side, resting until the next set can be just as crisp, once or twice a week. That's our editorial starting point; our kettlebell workout does 3 sets of 5. End each set while every rep is still fast and crisp.
In a swing the bell floats out in front of you to about chest height; in a clean you keep it close and catch it at your shoulder. They're not the same exercise: in one study the swing worked the front of the thigh more and the clean the opposite-side obliques more.
The dead clean from the floor first, then the hang clean from a still hang, then the clean from the swing: each adds a little more speed. Move on when every rep lands quietly on your forearm.
No. The barbell clean is a two-handed Olympic lift caught in a squat, covered in our power clean guide; the kettlebell clean is a one-arm swing that ends in the rack. In one 6-week comparison, weightlifting built more squat strength than kettlebell training, with similar gains in jump height.
Yes, with supervision and a light start. In a 12-week trial, adults aged 59 to 79 learnt the clean among five basic kettlebell lifts in supervised classes and gained grip and leg strength, with four minor problems, none put down to the clean.
They start with the same hinge as the swing, which puts a moderate load on the lower back while your hips do most of the work. If your lower back, not your hips, is doing the work, go back to swings and deadlifts. Back pain with numbness or weakness in both legs, or changes in your bladder or bowels, needs urgent care.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
