Stephanie showing us a solid lockout position on her split jerk during the Rumble in the Jungle. All jerks are welcome (push jerks, power jerks, squat jerks, or split jerks, that is)
The goal of the jerk is to move as much weight overhead as you can. This requires being strong, powerful, coordinated, and accurate (among several other things).
You’ll see, quite often, people try to push the weight up as if they were strict pressing, or even push pressing, the barbell. This can be misleading and can lead to missed lifts…
…what you need to think of, instead, is pushing yourself underneath the barbell. The barbell then becomes a leverage point and [depending on the load you are moving] you can aggressively push yourself underneath the bar.
Matter of fact, if you were to pull up Olympic weightlifting and see the national, and international, level lifters, you’ll see the net distance the bar travels during the jerk (when they haven’t brought their feet together with everything locked out, yet), is pretty minimal.
Yes, they are moving 400-500 pounds in weight, sometimes, but the principle sings true for the rest of us, regardless of if you are moving 50 pounds or 500 pounds:
You need to push yourself UNDER the bar rather than pushing the bar up. Your legs will take care of the rest when you stand up.
When you perform some type of jerk (push, power, squat, or split), you are using the bar as leverage to push under it.
Fun fact of the day!
WL
E2MOM x 4
2 Jerks
MetCon
11min AMRAP:
10 Push Press (95/65)
15 Deadlifts (95/65)
20 Air Squats
Time to jerk some big weight!
