The power clean is a compound exercise that targets multiple muscle groups, making it a high-intensity full-body exercise. The primary muscles worked during power cleans include:

• Hamstrings: These muscles, located on the back of your thighs, are responsible for knee flexion and hip extension. They play a major role during the pulling portion of the power clean to get the bar off the floor and up to the mid-thighs.

• Glutes: The large muscles of the glutes provide pulling force to get the bar off the floor and into the catch position.

• Back: The muscles of the back, such as the lats and traps, serve to keep your spine aligned during the power clean.

• Biceps: These muscles, located on the top of your upper arm, are responsible for elbow flexion. They provide pulling strength and help flex the elbows to get the arms in position for the catch.

• Shoulders: The muscles of your shoulders, also known as the deltoids, play a crucial role in creating a shelf and supporting the barbell during the catch portion of the power clean.

• Abdominals: Your abdominal muscles work in conjunction with the muscles of the lower back to provide trunk support and keep the spine aligned throughout the movement.

Secondary muscles worked during power cleans include quads, adductors, forearm flexors, and erectors. Power cleans require plenty of energy for large muscle groups at work, and to enable you to generate the necessary force to complete movements, your body metabolizes calories, or fat, and converts them into energy. Exercises like power cleans involve a significant amount of damage to muscle fibers, which leads to muscle hypertrophy, the enlargement of total muscle mass and cross-sectional area, which essentially means your muscles will become bigger and stronger.