After-we-clean-we-must-jerk-the-weight-overhead

Jerks

After completing a clean in competition we jerk the weight to arm’s length and stand demonstrating control all the while.

 The bar is on the front of the shoulders in competition. In training we have a very direct transfer jerking the weight from behind the head out of a rack. The foot work is very fast. The recovery, for a split jerk, is a lunge. So, we stand after completing the clean. We allow the elbows to drop, briefly, maintaining the bar on the shoulders, collar bones, pecs, delts, lats, and stacking the weight on the hips through a strong support system.

Posture is first. Stand up straight. Dip no more than 1/10 of your height and drive the weight upward. As soon as the bar leaves your shoulders is when you activate the shoulders and arms, not before. Punch yourself under the bar as it rises. This ensures constant interaction with the bar. Firm foot placement solidifies the support from the platform to the hands. Secure the weight and step back, front foot first, assuming you are a split jerker. The bar travels straight up and down throughout the jerk, dip, and drive. Squat jerking is more efficient than split jerking but bar placement is very, very, technical. Most of us cannot squat jerk, sorry. It remains a great training tool.

The Olympic weightlifting bar is designed to help us lift. It whips if we explode properly. This being said, we must minimize the time spent reversing the dip to drive the weight overhead promptly. Success on the jerk depends on the ability to reverse from descent to ascent very, very, quickly. The bar will whip and give us more time to reposition and receive the bar.

For athletes this movement gives them the first step explosiveness which requires opponents to adjust. This is control. For everyday people this gives us the ability to think on our feet, quickly. Shortly after I started doing these movements I noticed I would instinctively grab anything I dropped with greater frequency. Training for athletics allows anyone to behave more purely in life.

People always ask me “how will this help me?”  The simple answer is it makes you faster. I have an athlete who runs a forty yard dash in 00:04:21 seconds. He has practiced weightlifting from the age of twelve. He thinks faster than most because time is different after practicing quick lifts. We do not need to be that strong or fast, true. We should all advance as far as possible to make life’s occurrences easier to handle. Why waste time doing something that will not make your life better? Do not just look the part, live the part. Be more capable than you appear.

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