Medicine Ball Clean and Press

This is an advanced movement. Master the deadlift and overhead press separately before combining them. Start with a light medicine ball to learn the timing — the hip drive generates most of the momentum, not your arms.

Slowing the press to a three-second ascent forces your shoulders and core to manage the shifting load under tension, while the clean itself should remain fast, driven by hip extension. A brief pause at the rack position before you press lets you reset your brace without losing momentum. Sets of five to eight build power; pushing towards ten or twelve shifts the emphasis to conditioning. Add weight only when every rep finishes with a stable overhead lockout and no forward drift of the ball. Once a heavier medicine ball compromises your hip drive or press path, stay at your current load and add reps or slow the tempo instead. When you can handle the heaviest available ball cleanly for multiple sets, progress to a single-arm version using a lighter ball, which demands far more anti-rotation work from your trunk. Alternatively, try the dumbbell version to allow independent arm loading.

Using arms instead of hips to pull the ball up, which turns it into a curl. Letting the ball drift away from the body during the clean, which loads the shoulders unnecessarily. Pressing before the hips are fully extended, which reduces power and increases injury risk.

Sets

4

Reps

5-8

Rest

90s

Tempo

X-0-1-0

RPE

8