Happy Birthday Jenica!!

Most of you came through Foundations or On Ramp learning how to jerk by landing in a partial squat, also known as the power (or push) jerk.   This is mainly because it is the most simple way to learn the principles of how to get under a heavy bar quickly. It’s also the fastest one to use during a workout because the recovery consists only of standing up from a quarter squat.

However, as you advance in your technique, you may have noticed that there’s a limit to your speed, balance, and shoulder flexibility. This usually leads you to learn the split jerk, which gives you much greater speed under the bar as you can get lower faster than the power jerk.  Also, with one foot forward and the other one back, you have much more stability and wiggle room in case you pushed the bar too far forward or back.

The last style of jerk is known as the squat jerk.  See Olympian Kendrick Farris executing a 211kg/465lb clean and squat jerk here.  Imagine doing a power jerk and riding it all the way down to the bottom of a squat.  This form requires massive amounts of flexibility, can get you the lowest under the bar, and is the toughest to master.  Compare your stability at the bottom of a back squat vs an overhead squat.  When the weight is moved farther from your center of gravity, it’s much harder to stabilize.  Most of the time this method isn’t even an option due to lack of flexibility.

To sum up here are the pros and cons of each movement:

Power/Push Jerk:

• easy to learn
• fast for workout purposes
• less depth, so harder to get under heavier weights
• less stability than split jerk

Split Jerk:

• requires less flexibility
• more balance/more forgiving
• ultimately limited by how far you can split and still recover
• most commonly used jerk

Squat Jerk:

• fastest of the three jerks
• can get the lowest under the bar
• requires tons of flexibility
• least stable of the three

There’s a great article on the evolution of these styles on The Iron Samurai.  Check it out here.

WOD 07.10.12

Jerk 3-3-3

400m Run
5 Power Cleans
10 Toes to Bar
240m Run
5 Power Cleans
10 Toes to Bar
170m Run
5 Power Cleans
10 Toes to Bar