Estimate Your Max
Power Clean Calculator
Rep-max formulas were built for lifts that fail slowly, and the power clean fails the instant the bar stops moving fast. Enter a low-rep set and this calculator gives you an estimate anyway, with the input capped at five reps and the reasons why spelled out below.
Find Your Power Clean Max
How to Use the Power Clean Calculator
Low reps only, and read the caveat first.
Enter the total weight on the bar and the number of reps you completed, then read the estimate. The result averages five published prediction formulas. Singles, doubles and triples give the most trustworthy answer, and the tool will not accept more than five reps.
Only count reps that were actually caught. A power clean that turns into a muscle clean, or that is received with the hips well below parallel, is a different lift and will make the estimate meaningless. If your last rep was slow or the catch position collapsed, leave it out. The NSCA's step by step power clean technique description is a fair standard to judge a rep against, down to the shoulder-width pronated grip, the bar about an inch in front of the shins and the hips never rising faster than the shoulders.
Why the Power Clean Estimate Is Capped
The honest limits of rep-max maths on an explosive lift.
Every rep-max formula on this site assumes that fatigue reduces the weight you can move in a smooth, predictable curve, which is broadly true for a bench press or a squat. It is not true for a power clean. The clean fails because the bar stops accelerating or because the catch falls apart, and both of those happen suddenly. A lifter who can clean 225 lb once may only manage 185 lb for five, or may manage 205 lb for five, and no equation can tell which.
That is why the input is capped at five reps. Above that, sets of cleans are conditioning work and the projected max stops resembling anything you could lift. Even inside the cap, treat the number as a rough planning figure. Compared with a bench or a squat estimate, the honest error bar here is a good deal wider, and the only reliable way to know a clean max is to work up to a heavy single when you are fresh.
Do not use this estimate as a target for a max attempt on a fatigued day. Cleans are attempted fast and missed fast, and a bar that is not going to make the rack should be dropped, not saved. Train the miss on a platform with bumper plates before you ever chase a number.
What to Do With Your Power Clean Number
Percentages that suit a speed lift.
Clean work is programmed differently from grinding lifts. Most technical clean training sits between 70 and 85 percent of the max for singles, doubles and triples, because the point is bar speed rather than accumulated fatigue. The percentage bars below the result give you those loads directly.
Take the estimate to our power clean strength standards page, enter your bodyweight and see which level it lands in. It is also worth dividing it by your deadlift: around 60 percent is typical for a general lifter, and a much lower ratio almost always means the fix is technical rather than a need for more pulling strength.
More Power Clean and Pulling Tools
Find your level, then check the pull it is built on.
Power Clean Calculator Questions
Common questions about this calculator.
Can you calculate a power clean one rep max from reps?
Only roughly, and only from low reps. Rep-max formulas assume a smooth fatigue curve, and cleans fail abruptly on bar speed and catch position, so this calculator caps the input at five reps and the estimate carries a wider error bar than it would for a squat or bench.
How many reps should I enter?
One to three is best. The tool accepts up to five and refuses anything higher, because sets of cleans above five reps are conditioning work rather than a strength test.
What percentage of my deadlift should my power clean be?
About 60 percent for a general lifter. Trained weightlifters often exceed 70 percent because their technique lets them use more of their strength, and lifters with a big pull and no clean practice often sit near half.
Why is my power clean so much lower than my deadlift?
Because a clean has to accelerate the bar and then be caught in a front rack. Strength gets it moving, technique gets it racked, and most of the gap between the two lifts is technical rather than physical.
Does the bar weight count?
Yes. Enter the total load including the bar, 45 lb for a standard Olympic barbell or 20 kg in kilograms.
Does this calculator work in kilograms?
Yes. Switch the unit toggle to kg and the input, the estimate and the percentages all convert.