How to Clean and Press

As I mentioned, the technique for a dumbbell clean isn't quite as simple as doing a barbell clean while holding a pair of dumbbells.

First of all, a seven-foot long bar forces you to take a pronated grip (palms down, knuckles facing front). That's how we clean or snatch; it's usually how we deadlift; it's how we instinctually grab the bar when we're about to do almost anything with it.

A pair of dumbbells not only don't force you to have any particular hand position, other than the one you find most comfortable or powerful, it actually makes it unnaturally clumsy to try to maintain a barbell-esque pronated grip at the start of the exercise. The most efficient way of doing a dumbbell clean is to not think about doing a clean at all. Think of doing a "power hammer curl from the floor."

Begin with the dumbbells on the ground just outside your feet, with the left dumbbell pointing roughly "1 and 7" on a clock and the right dumbbell pointing roughly "11 and 5." Squat down, feet being a comfortable width apart, and grab both dumbbells. Your arms should be able to slide down along the outside of your legs, without the legs interfering in keeping the arms locked at the start.

Keeping a flat back, begin the dumbbell clean using the same lower body and torso position as with a barbell, allowing the dumbbells to rise next to or slightly in front of your legs. As the weights approach your knees, explode up with maximum force and control the weights enough to keep them from looping too far forward, while also maintaining a predominantly thumbs-up, hammer curl-type orientation.

Receive the weight by catching it with a slight dip as it comes to rest in front of your shoulders, elbows pushed forward so you look like a slightly-awkward midpoint of a legit hammer curl.

Congrats, you've just completed the first half of a dumbbell clean and press. Unfortunately, it's like wrapping up foreplay with Khloe Kardashian. If you thought that was tough to get through, you're not gonna enjoy the next part, either.

Immediately take a quick breath in, brace your abs and glutes, and press the weights overhead. No jerky or jumping leg drive. This isn't a clean and push press, so keep it strict. If you're pressing for any substantial number of reps, you'll find it easiest to maintain a mostly-neutral grip, rather than externally rotating the arms to get the dumbbells into "regular" press position (palms facing forward).

Preserving muscular energy whenever possible goes a long way with such a big exercise. While a neutral-grip overhead press will slightly increase the front delt and triceps activation, you'll also be starting the press from a stronger biomechanical position (with the elbows brought in rather than rotated out), which will maintain joint health and could improve pressing strength – a pretty solid tradeoff in my book.

Once both arms are locked out overhead, take another quick breath before lowering the weights to your shoulders (either hand orientation, neutral or pronated, is fine), then lower them to the waist as in the negative of a quick hammer curl, catching them with a knee dip and a flat back to lessen the impact on the wrist, elbow, shoulder, and low back, and then squat to place them on the ground.

All of that makes one rep, and you're doing how many more this set?