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This is a guest post by Brent, author of a second chance.

The Jerk. The jerk is the single most explosive overhead movement the human body can perform. It incorporates starting with the barbell racked across the shoulders in somewhat of an overhead press position, a short eccentric phase in which the knees are flexed for a very short duration, then an explosive leg drive up to impart momentum to the barbell.

This is followed by an aggressive pressing of the body under the bar (not pressing the bar up), catching it at arm’s length before it develops excessive downward momentum, and recovering to a stable, standing overhead position.

Ivan Stoitsov’s Jerk. Image credit: Ironmind
Benefits of the Jerk. The jerk is not a good developer of muscle structure. It is more of an athletic skill. While you might develop some muscle groups involved in overhead stabilization, you’re never really actively moving the weight with your shoulders or legs. The force exerted on the barbell is very short, and most of the movement revolves around catching it in a stable position.However, the jerk is useful because it’s one of the best movements for teaching you to exert explosive force onto the barbell, much like the snatch or the clean. It forces you to think in terms of a lifter-barbell system: what is the most efficient way I can drive the weight up? Once I’ve done that, how can I catch it before it falls too fast? It develops rhythm and timing with heavy weights. And like the snatch or clean, the jerk also teaches you to effectively and safely absorb the force of the barbell as it falls, which is related to plyometrics.

How to Perform the Jerk. There are three phases to the jerk: the dip-and-drive, the catch, and the recovery.

The dip-and-drive starts with the bar racked securely across the shoulders, as in a front squat or overhead press. While keeping the chest up, the knees are flexed very slightly, no more than 15 or 20 degrees, and then the lifter drives upwards, as though he were jumping. It’s important to maintain a purely vertical movement; horizontal shifting directs the bar forward or behind, making it harder to catch. Take a breath before dipping and hold it, keep the weight on the heels, and focus on keeping the chest up throughout the dip. When the lifter explodes upwards, the majority of the drive should come from the legs, not the hips, because incorporating the hips implies a change in back angle, which he doesn’t want to do. The base of support in this case is the torso, meaning he wants his spine to stay as vertical possible in order to ensure effective transfer of force.

The catch phase is where most of the difficulty lies. The idea is to begin pushing the body under the bar just after the moment of greatest force has been exerted on the bar. This means the feet stop actively pressing into the floor, and the lifter’s center of mass drops closer to the floor. This dropping of height must be done fast enough to “catch” the weight before it develops too much downward momentum, and while there’s enough space to lock the arms out underneath it. Remember with most overhead pressing, the barbell should be held behind the ears at the very top position; the same is true with holding the jerk. Squeeze the shoulders up and actively press against the barbell while it’s overhead.

Dropping the body underneath the barbell involves either splitting the feet fore and aft, or simply bending the knees without moving them. Splitting the feet involves more movement, but the catch position is much more stable with the right foot work. It doesn’t matter what foot the lifter chooses to split forward, as long as he is consistent as far as that decision goes. The front shin needs to be perpendicular to the floor in order to prevent stumbling forward, and the foot should be firmly planted with the weight focused near the heel. The back leg doesn’t have to split far back, but it does need to be bent, otherwise that leg is essentially pushing the center of mass forward. The back foot should not be planted; only the ball of the foot and the toes should be in contact with the floor, and the heel should be slightly rotated outwards (away from the body), in order to close the hips. In the case that the weight is caught, but it drives the lifter deeper into the split, closed hips will protect against hip injury in the split. Foot work is key here. Again, the split does not necessarily need to be long, just balanced well between your front heel and back toe. Remember to bend the back leg, this fixes a lot of problems as far as controlling your center of mass and reducing your height.

Some good examples of footwork can be seen from Dmitry Berestov

US collegiate lifter Chandler Alford

School age lifter Aaron Adams

Note that they all step out forward enough that their shins are nearly perpendicular to the floor, that they all have considerable bending of the back knee, and that they all point the back heel outward. They catch the weight and stabilize very well with it.

Not moving the feet in the catch phase involves less movement and is faster, but requires much more shoulder flexibility and overhead stability. The idea is to push under the bar while dropping into a shallow overhead squat. If you have ever tried an overhead squat of any depth, you know that even dropping to the appropriate height is difficult. Athletes who are strong enough to drive the weight high enough that they don’t have to drop very low under it can simply power jerk the weight, meaning they aren’t driven very deep into the overhead squat. At heavier weights, or if the athlete isn’t strong enough to produce the required space, a power jerk can turn into a squat jerk; the lifter is driven into a deep overhead squat. This is a very difficult position to hold, so most people split jerk or power jerk. Some athletes have phenomenal overhead strength, and prefer the squat jerk because it means they don’t need as much space to catch the bar at arm’s length. However, it requires a high degree of shoulder flexibility (because the torso unavoidably tilts forward during the squat while the bar must remain over the heels) and overhead strength that many simply don’t have. The Chinese are known to specifically train the clean-grip overhead squat out of the bottom position, and there are some Chinese lifters who can overhead squat, off the rack, more than they can front squat.

Overhead Squats off the Rack. Image credit: dehwang
Recovery from the split requires some control. Conventional technique dictates that you step back with the front foot before your back foot steps forward. This is because stepping forward with the back foot shifts the center of balance onto the front foot, which may cause some forward walking with the weight overhead. Stepping back with the front foot keeps the weight balanced behind you, where it should be. Recovery out of a power jerk or squat jerk is just a matter of standing.
Common Errors to Avoid:

• Control the dip-and-drive. Remember that your torso is what’s driving the bar up; a smooth, controlled dip will ensure good transfer of momentum to the barbell during the explosive drive. And remember that you don’t need to dip very deep; think of plyometrics. It’s not the length of eccentric contraction which determines how strong the mitotic stretch reflex is, but the duration (it needs to be short). Refer to the videos of Berestov, Adams, and Chandler; none of them dip very low. They use a short, smooth dip.
• Be aggressive. The jerk is literally about beating time and gravity; as soon as you’ve driven the bar up, jam your shoulders up and out, move your feet where they need to be. If you’re too slow getting into position to catch the bar, you either won’t have the space to catch it locked out, or it’ll be falling with too much momentum to be caught. Be aggressive. Make it happen.
• “Keep pushing the bar up” once you’ve caught it. Chances are the weight is substantially more than you can press, so you must be very tight and very strong overhead. Squeeze the shoulders together, jam the elbows out.
• Push the head through the shoulders when pushing the body under the bar, don’t press with the chest, but do remember to get the chin out of the way of the bar, first.
• Point the back heel. Flex the back knee.
• Step out with the front foot, the goal is to get the shin perpendicular to the floor.

This is a guest post by Brent, author of a second chance. Brent picked up weightlifting around August 2005, got serious about it, and is now trying to qualify for the US World Team in his lifetime. Check out his blog.

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