The Split Jerk
The split jerk is the most technically advanced movement in all of weightlifting. That means it takes the longest to master and if you’re here, that means you probably havent mastered it yet. We are going to break down the split jerk into 3 steps, and no, its not the dip, drive, and split. The way I teach the jerk is a little different. My 3 steps are dip and drive, transition, and catch. Let's get into what these steps are.
Dip and Drive. The dip and drive is how we put force into a barbell which will in turn propel the bar overhead.
Transition. The motion from the bar leaving the shoulders and receiving the bar in the split position.
Catch. The position in which we initially receive the barbell overhead.
These movements can be extremely simple if done correctly but if you have a misunderstanding of what you should be doing in each of these steps, that can cost you that clean and jerk PR. Mentally, approaching a jerk knowing exactly what needs to be done is the only way to truly build consistency. If you doubt yourself for one second or change your thought process, that changes the movement, thus causing us to abandon muscle memory and put intention into what should be a naturally fluid movement.
The Dip and Drive
There are 4 principles I follow in the dip and drive that will ensure success. The big thing here is that we don't overcomplicate. All we are doing is bending the knees, so oversaturating this with cues is never ever going to help you. This is the aggressive part of the movement, the part where we are initiating the movement of putting a max load overhead. The last thing we want is to be thinking about 5 different cues in the middle of it.
Principle 1. Weight Placement in the foot.
The number one thing I absolutely despise is when I hear a coach yell “HEELS” as soon as their athlete stands up with a clean and gets ready to jerk. There are 2 things wrong with this thought process. 1, in no sport ever should we get ready to perform an explosive movement and sit back in the heels. When I say explosive, I mean a jumping type motion, not a squat, not a deadlift, a jump. When do you see Lebron James go up for a jump shot and jump off of his heels? When do you see a diver stand with their heels on the diving board? That is because there is no way, A. hold proper tension in the quads, and B. maintain balance.
Naturally you will always default to advantageous movement patterns. So if the proper movement is to be driving through the middle of our foot and we start with the weight in our heels, all of your weight is going to shift forward on you almost immediately and instead of being able to drive the bar properly, you'll be fighting to keep that bar from shifting forward. This sucks all of the power out of the lift and leaves you with a miss that felt impossible to make.
The big thing here is to keep that weight in one spot the whole time. I like to keep the weight almost pressing through the balls of my feet. I find that the easiest place for me to not have to focus on balance and put the most force into the bar. For some it may be different. You might feel the most comfortable with the weight spread evenly through the foot, maybe just behind the ball of the foot, but when you feel it, you'll know. So next time you are in the gym play around with it and see what feels the best. Then once you feel it DO NOT EVER CHANGE IT. Even if you have a bad day. It's weightlifting, don't pack up shop and try out different techniques when you have a bad day. Accept the fact you had an off day of training and keep rocking with the same stuff, we need to build consistency. The best way to do that is to find that movement that feels natural and work with that the best we can.
Principle 2. Tempo.
This is probably the most important principle for the dip and drive. You may be able to pull off a crafty save if you let the weight get forward, but if you mess up your tempo, it's almost impossible to make a lift. The first thing we need to understand about tempo is that the bar bends. I don't care if you have 40kg on the bar or 200kg on the bar, that bar is going to bend and whip. Obviously 200kg will be more exaggerated but these bars are designed to whip and we need to be in sync with that.
Your dip should NOT be fast. The dip is all about tension and position, just like the pull from floor to knee in the snatch and clean, this should not be rushed. You need to stay slow and controlled on the way down and make sure that you are feeling the weight of the bar pushing down into the shoulders throughout the dip. If we get that moment of separation between the bar and the shoulders, there is almost no hope for that jerk. Take it slow and let that bar push you down into that perfect dip.
Be patient at the bottom of the dip. One big thing I see is athletes trying to change direction too quickly at the bottom of the dip. That will cause the shoulders to cave forward and all tension in the core to be absolutely lost. Like I said before, the bar whips. When you hit the bottom of that dip, the bar is going to flex around the shoulders and eventually start flexing back up. If you start driving too soon, while the bar is still flexing around the shoulders, you are going to have to put 3x the amount of force into that bar to move the same speed as a lift where you let the bar begin to flex back up or “rebound” off the shoulders. Slowing down that dip will help you feel that timing.
Principle 3. Positions.
This one is so simple and so repeatable. 2 things, hips on top of heels throughout the whole entire dip and drive. To feel this go find a wall and face away from it with your heels about 3-4 inches away from the wall. Dip and make sure you feel your butt making contact with the wall for the bottom half of the dip and drive. You might look insane if someone else is in the room, but do this over and over again while focusing on the weight placement staying in the same spot in the foot.
Second thing, bar over the pressure point in the foot. That spot we were talking about earlier, I want you to imagine the bar being right on top of that spot throughout the entire dip and drive. This principle is really as easy as that. Hips over heels, bar over that spot in our foot. That's it. Simple and repeatable.
Principle 4. Patience.
What we don't want to do is start driving with the arms too soon. If we are attempting a split jerk that is heavy, we are not going to be able to add anything to the barbell by pressing with the arms, so don't. In order to have a successful jerk, we have to wait until the hips are extended and the legs have finished driving to start driving with the arms. If we don't, all we are doing is pushing the feet into the ground, resulting in a short split and a press out. Finish the drive, then punch.
Transition
This the most messed up step simply because it is not talked about enough. We tend to focus on positions and expect the movement to fall into place. That is just not the reality of the split jerk. We need to nail this portion and create something repeatable.
The shoulders always remain directly on top of the hips. This is the most important part of the lift. Doing this will create a perfectly vertical line from the hip to the barbell. If we have any forward lean in the torso that is going to cause us to push the hips back away from the barbell resulting in instability in the catch and the miss forward. Once we finish that extension in the dip and drive and our torso is vertical, don't try to sneak that head through, keep the torso vertical and push yourself straight down. A good way to think about this is by pushing the hips down directly underneath the barbell.
Drop the back knee down. One of the big problems I see in the jerk is overreaching with the back leg causing the hips to get pulled away, behind the bar. The best way to avoid this is to think of driving the back knee down while splitting. This is the biggest contributor to misses forward so if you can nail the habit of pushing the hips directly underneath the bar and dropping the back knee down in the split you will overcome this quickly.
Drive the front foot out. This is also a cause off misses forward, when people step short with the front leg it creates a compromised position where you are putting most of the weight in that front leg, the weight should be spread 50/50 through both feet in the catch and the ONLY way to achieve that is by having the front foot travel the same distance forward as the back foot travels backwards. 99% of the time, we move the back foot back way more then we get the front foot out and that is also the result of missing forward. Drive the front foot out as far as you can to ensure it travels as far as the back foot.
And most importantly, drive those hips straight down underneath the bar. That is the center point of this principle. The hips have to go straight down underneath the bar. Best way to imagine this, imagine your torso is in a phone booth, if you push the hips back, you'll bump the back wall of the phone booth. Drop the hips straight down to avoid bumping the wall. This is the most important part of this step, the only way to develop consistency here is by getting those hips straight down underneath every. single. time.
CATCH
The catch is the simplest of the three. It all comes down to positions and how well we hold on to those positions by using a proper brace. We are looking at 3 key positions in the catch. These have to be executed every single time no matter what.
Torso position. This one is simple, the torso should always remain perfectly vertical in the catch. The moment we lean forward we lose all stability. We start hyperextending in the spine which makes maintaining a proper brace through the core impossible. We want the core to stay rock solid in the catch and that doesn't happen once we get overextended. Don't shove the head through, punch straight up and punch the hips straight down, let the head stay neutral.
Front leg position. The front leg position is also simple. The key point here is making sure the knee is not out past the ankle. If the knee is further forward than the ankle, the weight immediately will start shifting forward. That is why reaching with the front foot is so important in that transition. We have to get the front foot out there if we want to maintain that even 50/50 weight distribution between the legs.
Back leg position. The back knee should be bent, not too much and not too little. The ideal bend in the back knee is somewhere around 140 degrees. A little more or a little less is fine but the closer we get to that perfect 140 degrees the better.
Keep the feet on the tracks. “Tight roping” is how we lose balance and what that means is if you look at a split jerk from the front, both feet would be lined up. What i want you to think of is imagine you are standing on train tracks. When you go to split, the feet should stay on the train tracks and not inside of the tracks.
If all of these positions are met perfectly with a proper brace you will not be losing that jerk as you have set yourself up in the most stable position possible.
MENTALITY
The split jerk is a scary movement. You are putting a heavy weight over your head in a motion that happens in the blink of an eye, so how do we build confidence in that? We build confidence through repetition, doing the same thing over and over and over again until it feels literally impossible to mess up. The more reps you can accumulate between 70% and 80% with perfect movement, tempo, and timing. The more confident you are going to be when it's time to throw 101% overhead.
Also, a big thing is having confidence in your movement. If you don't know if you are doing something right then there is no way you are fully going to commit to a movement. Its like if you are driving a car with a nail in the tire, i don't think you would commit to a road trip in that car until you fixed the tire. That is why it is so important to figure out the steps that are listed above and master proper movement, so you can trust your technique and put forward maximum effort.
EXTRA
You may have noticed there are some things that I didn't cover. Those things being, where the toes are pointing, external vs. internal rotation in the shoulders, which leg goes forward, which foot hits first in the split, etc. That's because those are all things that are going to be unique to you or things that should happen naturally. The last thing we want to do when it comes to an overly complex movement like the split jerk, is overcomplicate it. If we fall out of our natural movement then we are doomed, everyone moves differently, everyone has patterns that are unique to them.
If you perfect the things mentioned above all of those small things will end up sorting themselves out. Extra energy put on these things will cause paralysis by analysis. The same thing that happens to every new golfer that has 90 different swing tips bouncing around his head, they overthink and shank every shot. But if you master the basics that are mentioned above. You will be able to gain control over this movement, build consistency, and then eventually start to think about those specific things. But if you are still trying to figure out the split jerk, worrying about those small things will do LESS than nothing for you. Focus on the basics and only the basics.
RECAP
Dip and Drive
Find the sweet spot in the foot
Slow dip, patience at the bottom of the dip
Hips over heels
Bar over pressure point in the foot
Transition
HIPS STRAIGHT DOWN
Back knee down
Front foot out
Punch straight up, dont jam head through
Feet travel equal distance
Catch
Front ankle out past front knee
Slight bend in back knee
Vertical torso
50/50 weight distribution in both legs