JERK
We have a saying around our gym: Your shoulders are abnormal unless you can jerk.
While it’s important to learn the basic, stable overhead positions, it’s not enough to say
that you have full range of motion overhead or that you can press and push-press. To fully
express the stability and effectiveness of your overhead position, you need to be able to lock
out your arms, as well as spontaneously generate a stable shoulder position (armpits forward)
with speed and accuracy. In other words, you need to be able to jerk.
If you can do that—lengthen and stabilize both shoulders simultaneously—it shows that
you understand the stabilization concepts repeated throughout this book and have a model
that translates to dynamic overhead actions like swimming, throwing, and blocking. And, like
all category 3 movements, the jerk highlights torque dumps and force bleeds, as well as
spotlights shoulder mobility issues that may go unnoticed when implementing the basic
overhead pressing elements.
If you’re just learning how to jerk, it’s helpful to get the bar from a rack. This allows you
to optimize the setup and isolate the movement. (To see how to take the bar out of the rack,
check out the front squat on page 187.) However, if you plan on Olympic weightlifting, you
have to learn how to transition from a clean to a jerk. To do so, reset your feet into your
pulling stance and adjust your front rack position by lowering your elbows. You want your
elbows to be at about a 45-degree angle (halfway between a front squat rack position and a
strict press rack position).
As with the push-press, you use a dip and drive (bend and extend your knees) to
accelerate the weight upward. But instead of staying in your jumping stance, you drop
underneath the weight, catching it in either a squat (landing) or split squat position.
Regardless of which variation you implement, the goal is to receive the weight in a strong,
stable position at the apex bar height. For the average athlete, pausing for a second in the
lockout position is a valuable stimulus and allows the coach to evaluate the quality of the
athlete’s position.
Push-Jerk
Front Rack 2 Archetype
Overhead Archetype
Squat 1 Archetype
This movement contains the above archetypes. To improve common restrictions associated with this movement, visit the
corresponding archetype prescriptions in part 4.
The push-jerk variation allows you to evaluate vertical jumping and landing mechanics with a
dynamic overhead stimulus. The key to performing the push-jerk is to keep your torso
upright, drive your knees out as you dip and catch, and position your feet straight as you go
from a jumping to a landing stance. The faults to look out for include lumbar spine
overextension, knees forward, bent elbows and internally rotated shoulders, and the dreaded
donkey kick.
Note: The push-jerk is often implemented in low-weight, high-repetition workouts because
it allows for a quick recovery and setup. The split-jerk enables most people to press more
weight.
1. Whether you take the bar out of the rack or clean the weight to your shoulders, the setup is the same: butt squeezed,
belly tight, feet straight, and shoulders back. Notice that Diane is in her pulling or jumping stance and has the bar balanced
on her fingertips and deltoids. Her elbows are halfway between a strict press and front rack position, at about a 45-degree
angle. Note: Your jerk grip width should be close to your front squat rack position.
2. Keeping your torso as upright as possible, sit your hamstrings back slightly, drive your knees out, and lower your hips
between your feet. The dip should look no different than the first 6 inches of a front squat.
3. In one explosive motion, extend your knees and hips into triple extension. As the bar jumps off your shoulders, pull your
head back slightly, just far enough to clear your face and maintain a vertical bar path.
4. As the bar accelerates upward, slide your feet out into your landing stance—screwing your feet into the ground and
shoving your knees out—and press yourself under the bar. Catch the weight with your elbows straight, shoulders back, and
armpits forward.
5. Overhead squat the weight into the top position.
Split-Jerk
Lunge Archetype
Overhead Archetype
Front Rack 2 Archetype
This movement contains the lunge archetype. To improve common restrictions associated with this movement, visit the
lunge archetype prescription in part 4.
It’s a lot easier to maintain an upright torso and stabilize your shoulders in the split stance.
This is why you likely can move more weight with the split variation of the jerk (unless you
happen to be a very competent Chinese Olympic lifter). That’s wonderful, but the real magic
with the split-jerk is that it gives you a model for creating a stable hip position when one leg
is in extension—behind you—and the other leg is in flexion, which is what it looks like when
you cut, run, or lunge.
There are a few key points to keep in mind when performing the split-jerk:
1. Assume the jerk front rack position. To see how to take the bar out of the rack, flip back to the front squat on page 187.
To transition into the jerk from the clean, adjust your feet into your pulling stance and lower your elbows into the jerk front
rack position.
2. Drive your knees out, sit your hamstrings back slightly, and lower your hips between your feet. Keep your shoulders
back, back flat, and torso as vertical as possible.
3. Jump the weight off your chest by extending your knees and hips simultaneously. As you do so, pull your head back
slightly to clear your face from the vertical path of the bar, slide one foot straight back, and slide your opposite foot forward.
4. Push your head through your arms (but not too far) as the bar passes your face. Lock out your elbows and get your
armpits forward, catching the bar at its apex. Notice that Diane is on the ball of her rear foot and her leg is slightly internally
rotated. Her lead foot is turned slightly inward and her shin is vertical. Both legs have roughly a 45-degree bend. This is the
most stable position for your ankles, knees, and hips. The key is to think about driving your lead knee out and your rear knee
in—squeezing your rear glute—while keeping your hips square.
5. Keeping your belly tight, armpits forward, and elbows locked out, slide your lead foot back.
6. Step your left foot into your start position stance.
1. Create a stable foot position. To do so, land with both feet slightly internally rotated—
your front foot turned toward the inside of your body with your weight centered just in
front of your ankle, and your rear leg internally rotated with your weight centered over
the ball of your foot. The front-foot position allows you to create external rotation
without your knee tracking too far outward, and the rear-foot position stabilizes your
hip, allowing you to support an upright torso with a neutral pelvis.
2. Always draw your feet together at the finish of the lift by moving your front leg first.
Don’t rush it. Slide your lead foot back and then step your rear foot into your squat
stance. Master the habit of this sequence in the same way you walk out the bar when
performing a squat.
3. Unless you’re a competitive Olympic lifter, alternate your stance. Become a switchhitter of sorts. Sometimes jerk with your left leg forward, and other times jerk with
your right leg forward. It’s natural for one side to be stronger than the other, but just as
a good fighter practices from both a southpaw and an orthodox stance and a good
skateboarder switches between standard and goofy, a well-rounded athlete should
practice jerking from both stances.
Open-Foot Fault
A lot of athletes, especially novices, turn their back leg out as they drop into the lunge
position. This is a huge blow to force production, and, as you can see in the photos below, it
puts your back leg in an awful position. Like all movements, start out using a PVC pipe or
light weight and drill the proper mechanics. If you can’t get into a good position because
you’re missing internal rotation of the hip, you know what to do: Flip to the mobility section
devoted to hip internal rotation (starting on page 381) and get to work.
Note: We see this same open-foot movement pattern in running. The mobility prescription
is the same: Start at the hip and work your way down.
Lunge Archetype
This fault is associated with the lunge archetype. For a mobility fix, visit the lunge archetype prescription in part 4.
MOTOR CONTROL FIX:
Focus on internally rotating your back leg with a slight knee bend.
MOBILIZATION TARGET AREAS:
Posterior high chain (glutes)
Anterior hips and quads
Posterior low chain (hamstrings)
Knee Fault
Dropping into the lunge position feels unstable to a lot of people, especially when they’re first
learning how to jerk. To avoid dropping to depth, athletes often keep their back leg straight
and overextend to keep their torso vertical. As with most motor control faults, you need to
take a step back and drill the movement using a PVC pipe, empty bar, or bar with a light
amount of weight. It’s that simple. If, while working on your technique, you realize that the
position is unattainable due to limited mobility, figure out what’s holding you back and fix
the problem. For this particular fault, tight anterior structures surrounding the hip are usually
to blame.
MOTOR CONTROL FIX:
Think about bending your right knee and turning it toward the inside of your body. Remember, you want about a 45-degree bend in
your legs.
MOBILIZATION TARGET AREAS:
Anterior hips and quads
Trunk
SNATCH
Nothing will tell you more about an athlete’s range of motion and understanding of the
midline stabilization and torque principles than the snatch. It’s the ultimate assessment tool
for a coach and consequently the most challenging category 3 movement for an athlete.
The snatch shares the same bottom-up setup as the clean, but requires a higher degree of
motor control and mobility. You have to pull with a wider grip and receive the weight in an
overhead position. In other words, you have to get into a deeper squat and create torque off a
wider grip, adding another level of difficulty—screwing your hands into the bar with a hook
grip and maintaining that external rotation force as you go from a pull to a stable overhead
position is extremely tough. This is why so many people struggle to stabilize their shoulders
in a good position, keep their torso vertical, and keep their spine rigid. If you make the
slightest error or you are missing the smallest corner in your mobility, everything will fall
apart.
Squat 1 Archetype
Hang Archetype
Overhead Archetype
This movement contains the above archetypes. To improve common restrictions associated with this movement, visit the
corresponding archetype prescriptions in part 4.
1. Assume your snatch stance (which is the same as your jumping and deadlift stance), pull your shoulders back into
external rotation, and go through the bracing sequence.
2. Lower into the bottom of the squat—keeping your back flat, shoulders upright and tight, and knees out—and establish a
hook grip (see page 201).
3. To maximize tension in your upper back and get your torso vertical, screw your hands into the bar—creating an external
rotation force—pull your shoulders back, and sit your butt to your heels.
4. Load your hips and hamstrings by elevating your hips. As you do, be sure to keep your back flat, shoulders retracted,
shins vertical, and knees out. Remember to take all the slack out of the system before you pull.
5. Extend your hips and knees simultaneously. There should be no change in your spinal position as you pull the bar off the
ground.
6. As the bar passes your knees, scoop your hips forward, keeping the bar as close to your body as possible. As you reach
triple extension, shrug your shoulders. Notice that Diane’s arms are straight and that 100 percent of the upward energy
generated from her legs and hips is being transferred to the bar.
7. As the bar travels upward, slide your feet out into your landing stance (screwing your feet into the ground), lower into
the squat position, and pull yourself underneath the weight.
8. Catch the weight in the bottom of the overhead squat. Keep your shoulders retracted, elbows straight, and armpits
forward.
9. Stand up from the overhead squat position.
Note: For the proper width of the snatch grip, I suggest this rather critical notion: Grip the
bar so that if things get sketchy, you can dump the weight behind your back and keep it from
smashing into your skull. Shoulder flexibility is typically an issue when it comes to the snatch
grip; ideally you can work with a coach to figure out what’s best and safest.
MUSCLE-UP
So you can do a strict pull-up and a ring dip without struggle. That’s great! But can you
combine the two movements into one seamless, coordinated action? Can you do it while
keeping your back flat and your shoulders organized?
The level of trunk and shoulder control required to perform a strict muscle-up is insane.
Add a dynamic element like a kip, add a dose of fatigue, or string together multiple reps, and
you will reveal any and all crappy motor control habits.
By the way, the rings don’t do you any favors. You have to cultivate torque and maintain
stability as you go from a pull to a press, a sort of motor control highwire act. It’s the
equivalent of attempting a snatch while balancing on a pair of rotating, shaking plates. The
point is that if you don’t have a model for generating torque off an unstable object, you’re
going to bleed force and get sucked into poor positions that leave you prone to injury.
Overhead Archetype
Front Rack 2 Archetype
Press Archetype
Hang Archetype
This movement contains the above archetypes. To improve common restrictions associated with this movement, visit the
corresponding archetype prescriptions in part 4.
1. To set up, establish a false grip by hooking the edges of your wrists through the rings. This grip allows for a seamless
transition into the dip and puts your shoulders in a fully externally rotated position. Keep your butt squeezed, legs together,
ribcage down, and belly tight.
2. As you initiate the pull, internally rotate your hands, keeping your shoulder blades pulled together and your legs out in
front of your body.
3. Keeping your elbows in tight to your body, pull yourself up. To keep your torso and shoulders integrated, imagine
pushing your feet forward as you initiate the pull.
4. As you pull your chest to the rings, punch your torso forward. Again, think about keeping your toes pointed, legs
together, and feet positioned out in front of your body.
5. The moment you arrive at the bottom of the dip, actively spin your thumbs toward the outside of your body to create
torque in your shoulders.
6. Still turning your hands out, extend your elbows and establish the top of the dip position.
Just because you have the strict pull-up and the full-range ring dip doesn’t guarantee that
you will be able to do a muscle-up. As with all category 3 movements, the challenge lies in
the transition. To shorten the learning curve, we often have athletes practice the transition
with the rings low to the ground so that they can use their legs to support their body weight.
We also layer in the heaving dip balance, which requires athletes to remove connection with
tension and drop from the top to the bottom of the dip. This teaches the athletes how to
create spontaneous torque in the bottom of the dip and prepares them for the muscle-up
transition. In the meantime, we make it a mission to develop shoulder rotation range of
motion.
Note: The kipping muscle-up is performed in much the same way as the kipping pull-up.
(To see how to kip, revisit the kipping pull-up on pages 252–253.)