Dumbbell Exercise for Explosive Takedowns & Knockout Power! (Hang Power Clean Tutorial)
This Hang Power Clean variation builds explosive power for wrestling, striking and MMA! The exercise targets the entire posterior chain including the hamstrings, glutes, lower and upper back. It also works the quads and calves.
Start with your feet about hip width apart and your toes pointing forward. From the standing position, hinge at the hips. Keep the dumbbells close to your legs as you move the hips back and the chest and shoulders towards the ground. Slightly bend the knees and maintain a slight arch through the back, loading up the glutes and hamstrings. Go as low as you can without rounding off through the lower back.
From there, drive up explosively into triple extension through the ankles, knees and hips. Try to be as quick and powerful as possible. Keep the weights close to your body and use the lower body momentum to shrug and pull the dumbbells up into the front rack position. Your elbows should be positioned underneath the dumbbells and pointing forward at about thirty degrees.
Olympic weightlifters commonly drop into a partial squat as they catch the weights on the Hang Power Clean. You can see how I catch the dumbbells with triple extension. This variation has a better carry-over into plyometric lower body exercises and explosive striking and takedowns in combat sports.