The Seated Hang Clean For Explosiveness And Trap Development

Throughout this blog, the kettlebell has been espoused as a great total body exercise tool. And of course, this is true.

But there are times when a little “isolation” work goes a long way toward specialized goals.

I put isolation in quotation marks because its still not really an isolation movement. It’s the seated hang clean, and it could do wonders to your upper body development and explosiveness.

Why The Seated Hang Clean Works So Well …

The seated hang clean completely takes your lower body out of the equation.

It is purely upper body POWER.

(Now we’ll get into how to setup and then perform the Seated Hang Clean for maximum benefit)

1. Start by sitting down with a kettlebell in your lap. Any chair will work, but the seat can’t get in the way of the kettlebell. If you start with the kettlebell you normally use for cleans, you may be in for a rude awakening until you master the form.
2. Grab the kettlebell with either hand on the top of the handle and let it hang by your side.
3. Now, the execution: The ONLY way you can get the bell up to the rack position is by violently shrugging with the shoulder. I’d even recommend shrugging with BOTH shoulders, to help with smoothness of the movement and in keeping everything in your body synchronized. Either way, it is going to be a strong, snappy shrug and you will find you may even need to get some biceps involved. THIS IS OKAY!
4. Once the kettlebell is to the rack, lower it the same way. The heavier the weight, the more you are going to have to brace your abs (or you could hold another kettlebell in your other hand, to balance yourself out).

Movements like this seem simple, but go a long way to muscular development of your upper body.

It is not an isolation movement: it is still compound, but more “contained” that a regular clean.

Keep It Dead For Power!

Doing it like this not only allows you to get some specific overload to your traps and upper back, but also teaches you to be explosive out of a “dead” hang position–no momentum to help you get it up.

When the weight is “dead”, it takes pure POWER to get it moving, especially if it needs to move the amount of distance necessary for a clean. A large amount of force must be generated in a short amount of time in order to get the weight to your shoulder–this is POWER!

Learn it, love it.

Work this into your routine after your main kettlebell work. While this can be worked as a “main” movement, it is more “isolated” that what most of your work should be, and thus belongs toward the end of your routine.