How to Clean and Jerk
In the last article, we discussed how to snatch. In this article, we discuss how to clean and jerk correctly with a barbell.
The clean and jerk is one of the two Olympic weightlifting exercises performed in competition. However, this movement is also useful for non-weightlifters, athletes and even non athletes. This movement improves speed, coordination, full body power and athletic performance. The clean movement trains all your major muscle groups and improves your general strength and power.
Without further ado, let’s discuss how to perform this exercise safely and effectively.
Set up
To set up for a clean, stand in front of a barbell. Position your feet about hip width apart with your toes turned out. Sit down to the bar by bending at your hips and knees. Grab onto the bar with straight, relaxed arms with your elbows turned out to your sides. Keeping your elbows turned out will help you keep the bar close to your body throughout the lift.
Keep your focal point forward and tighten your lats. In the set up position, your shoulders should be positioned over or slightly in front of the bar. Your shoulders should never be behind the bar.
First Pull
During the first pull, you will begin to extend your knees as you stand up with the bar. The bar rises from your shins to your knees. During this phase, push your knees out to get your knees out of the way. Your knees should move both back and out during the first pull. During this phase, keep the bar balanced over the middle of your feet.
Explosion
Continue to pull the bar above your knees and make contact with your hips. Once the bar makes contact with your hips, you generate a lot of explosive power that helps you continue the lift. Let the bar make contact with your hips and then forcefully pull the bar upward with your upper body, including your traps and upper back. Let your elbows travel up and out to the side. Keep the bar in close to your body and keep your wrists straight as you accelerate the bar upward. During this phase, your heels/feet may lose contact with the ground. Aim to keep pulling the bar to achieve maximum height and velocity.
Turnover
During the turnover phase, you turn your elbows under to get under the bar and prepare for the catch phase. You should aim to keep your elbows facing forward at the end of the turnover phase, facing the wall in front of you. Your wrists must bend to accommodate the bar in the front rack position.
You should bend your knees into a (quarter or full) squat position to get under the bar and catch it. You want to aim to meet the bar rather than dropping too low and letting it crash on top of your shoulders.
Catch
During the catch phase, meet the bar where it is! While supporting the bar in the front rack position, sit down into a full squat and then stand up fully with the bar still in the front rack position. Keep your weight centered in the center of your feet and keep good posture throughout.
Dip
Now that you have stood up with the bar, you are ready for the dip phase of the lift. During this phase, you will bend your knees while keeping your vertical torso and front rack position. Quickly bend into a 1/8 or quarter squat position. This phase should be short and staccato to prepare you for the jerk. If you go too slow, you will lose all your power to accelerate the bar upward.
Jerk
Now it’s time for the jerk! This is the exclamation point to the lift and you have made it. There are a couple different types of jerks, but in this post we will focus on the split jerk. Once you have dipped, you begin to drive the bar upward with your legs. During this phase, split the legs. You will land in a mini lunge. Your back leg should plant first so that you have a solid foundation to hold the bar overhead. Plant the back leg with the back knee bent and heel slightly elevated. Then plant the front leg in a mini lunge position. The bar should land directly overhead with your arms straight. Hold this position a couple seconds before transitioning to the recovery phase.
Recovery
Begin by stepping your front leg back a few inches. Then step your back leg forward to meet the front leg. Hold the bar overhead to demonstrate control. Then, guide the bar back to the floor. Once it passes below your shoulders, you can drop it to the floor.
Common Mistakes in the Clean and Jerk
Many people fail to keep the bar close to the body in the clean. This may be caused by a technical error at an early stage in the lift. Keeping the elbows turned back instead of out to the side can also cause the bar to drift away from your body during the turnover.
Many people also turn the clean into a reverse curl exercise. This error may be caused by turning the elbows toward the wall behind you instead of out to your sides. Failing to pull the bar up and elbows high in the second pull may also cause this error.
Another common error in the clean and jerk is losing power on your dip. Keep the dip phase short and snappy so that you can propel the bar upward in the jerk.
And finally, some people land the split jerk with the front foot landing first. Doing so will compromise your stability and position at the top of the jerk. Go back and practice the jerk with light loads so you can concentrate on landing the back foot first. Also, you can practice the jerk at slower speeds so you can deliberately place the back foot first. Once you gain confidence and competence, slowly increase your jerk speed until you place the feet correctly with high speeds.
Final Thoughts
While highly technical, the clean and jerk is one of the most impressive lifts you can do to build explosive whole body power. Hopefully this article detailed how to perform the lift correctly. If you need help, reach out to a qualified instructor to help you learn proper form on this movement.
