Legs · Barbell
Barbell Full Clean
How to do the barbell full clean, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- Hinge
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Stand over a loaded barbell with a shoulder-width grip. Explosively extend your hips and knees to drive the bar up, then pull yourself under it and catch it on your shoulders in a full front squat. Stand up to finish before lowering the bar.
- 1Power generated from your hips and legs, not a pull from your arms
- 2Your traps shrugging hard as the bar reaches its peak height
- 3Your quads and glutes catching and driving out of the deep front squat
Common mistakes
- Curling the bar with your arms instead of pulling under it
- Letting your elbows drop or your back round in the catch
- Catching high and skipping the full squat receive position
Muscles worked
The barbell full clean mainly works the glutes, upper traps, and quads, with the lower back, upper abs, lower abs, hamstrings, forearms, lats, calves, and front delts assisting.
- GlutesPrimary
- Upper TrapsPrimary
- QuadsPrimary
- Lower BackSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- Lower AbsSupport
- HamstringsSupport
- ForearmsSupport
- LatsSupport
- CalvesSupport
- Front DeltsSupport
- TricepsMinor
- Upper ChestMinor
- Mid TrapsMinor
- Lower TrapsMinor
- ObliquesMinor
- Side DeltsMinor
- AdductorsMinor
Kovo programs the barbell full clean for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More glutes exercises
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- How to do the airdyne bike
- How to do the arc trainer
- How to do the assault bike
- How to do the medicine ball atlas stone lift
- How to do the b stance hip thrust
Last reviewed June 2026.