Hooray for PR's

Hola my iron friends.  Today we will get our next strength workout and post an analysis of a new C&J pr I got yesterday.  It could have been prettier.  The because of the problems I had in the jerk, we will go over some jerk problems and fixes.  So here we go.


C&J analysis.

The most common problem you see in the jerk is exactly what just happened in the video above.  Most people tend to miss jerks forward.  This is either because they have never felt a proper overhead position and have just conditioned themselves to catch the bar a little bit forward, or because you lack the should mobility to put your arms over your head in a good position.

Luckily both can be fixed.

1st, you need to work on the dip and drive.  It needs to be on the heels and through a vertical plane.
I made and incredibly detailed painting on the subject.

You should look like the guy on the left, not the guy on the right.

Second, you need to start practicing some BTN Jerks.  But Jason WTF is a BTN Jerk? Well I am glad you asked.  It is a Behind the Neck Jerk.  You start with the bar sitting on your neck (like a high bar squat), and you do the exact same jerk dip and drive to finish the jerk.  The advantage is the bar doesn't have to move around your big head.  It naturally puts the bar behind your head which is where you want it to be for a regular jerk as well.  Do this for a couple warm ups and it will start to "grease the groove" as to where a jerk should finish.  Also if you want to do this as an overload workout, most people can go over their max jerk weight with a btn jerk.  Here is a video explaining the movement.  You can skip the recovery drill at the 2nd half of the video.

Finally if your problem is mobility then K starr to the rescue.

The key to the above stretch is that you don't hyper extend the back.  He keeps talking about the rib cage, but really he is meaning don't let the back extend, because that is keeping the tension off the system you are trying to stretch.  Keep the torso rigid (just like of you were dipping and driving.... oh shit, you mean all of this is connected somehow..... mind=blown).

Another good one

Same thing don't hyper extend the back, the stretch should be through the lats.

Alright, this should be enough material to improve your jerk for a little while.  Onto your 1st strength wod for the week.

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Strength:

Snatch Complex, 1 rep =  1 power snatch, 3 behind the neck push press. (3 reps AHAP)

Behind the neck jerk (from rack or jerk blocks): 3x3 @ 80% of max jerk. (looking for technique and good overhead position).

Squats: 3x8 AHAP

Snatch Lift off: 3x8 AHAP  (see video for snatch 1st pull).

Do not let the hips rise faster than the shoulders in the snatch lift off!.

Go out and lift things over you heads my friends.