Dumbbell Clean is a compound exercise targeting the full body: several joints work together, it takes heavy loading well and belongs at the start of a session. Secondary muscles: glutes, legs, shoulders. Equipment: dumbbell. Difficulty: intermediate, add it once the basics are solid. It takes 5 steps; the most common mistake is covered in the tip below.

Step-by-step

Hold dumbbells at your sides and push your hips back into a half squat
Extend your hips and legs explosively to accelerate the dumbbells
Shrug your shoulders to carry the dumbbells upward
Whip your elbows underneath to catch the dumbbells at shoulder height
Stand fully, lower the dumbbells under control, and repeat

Coaching tip

Unlike a bar, dumbbells never catch on your knees; the safest clean variant for learning explosiveness.

Caution

Skip this move or ask a professional first if you have pain or an injury in: lower back, shoulder. FitCi filters it out of your program automatically based on the injuries in your profile.

How to program it

Sets × reps and rest by goal; load and long rest matter most on compound lifts. Start at the bottom of the range in week one; add 2.5–5% when you hit the top with clean form.

Goal	Sets × Reps	Rest
Strength	4 × 4-6	180 s
Muscle gain	3 × 6-10	150 s
Fat loss / conditioning	3 × 10-15	90 s

FitCi applies this table to your age and goal automatically and writes weekly progression.

Alternatives

At home, no equipment: Burpee, Inchworm
Same muscle, different equipment: Barbell Deadlift, Barbell Power Clean, Barbell Clean and Jerk

More full body exercises

Add this exercise to your program

Build your own program in FitCi, pick an expert template, or photograph the plan your coach gave you; the app tracks sets, reps and weight.

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