
Place your feet with one leg forward and the other one back so that you “fall” into a lunge position. This phase is akin to a heavy push-press with a little flair. Since you will be pressing up as you begin the move, at first the bar comes down a bit but then goes back up. At the top, pause briefly to catch your breath in preparation for the final part of the lift.ĭip down by bending your knees before you raise the bar overhead and push your feet back into the floor as you dip. Without pausing, you must quickly and forcefully extend at your hips and knees, exhaling as you pass the halfway point of the lift. (Caution: If your elbows touch your knees this will invalidate the lift.) At the end of this step, you should be at the bottom of a front squat position the bar is right under the chin, elbows are held high in front of you, upper arms parallel to the ground and your knees are bent in a squat. As the bar continues upward, you “jump” (move quickly) under the bar and “catch” the weight in the front rack position. Once the bar reaches the middle of your thighs, elevate your shoulders in a powerful shrugging motion while your feet jump up. Start lifting the bar by driving your feet through the floor as in a max-effort deadlift. The Clean-and-Jerk BreakdownĪssume a shoulder-width stance with the barbell resting right above the connection between the toes and the rest of the foot.īend at the knees, keep the back flat and grab the bar using a pronated, shoulder-width grip.
#CLEAN AND JERK HOW TO#
Although it is a complex lift, anyone can learn how to perform it. The athlete then comes to a standing position to complete the lift. In this second stage, the athlete thrusts the barbell into an overhead position while placing the legs in a partial lunge position (one leg in front of the other). After a pause, the athlete goes to the second stage of the motion. The first stage, called the clean, is a lift where the barbell is picked up from the floor and placed on the shoulders in one explosive motion. The clean and jerk is one of the two lifts used in Olympic weightlifting - the other being the snatch - and it consists of two stages.


So if you are ready to build some serious muscle, improve your strength and boost performance, it’s time to put skepticism about this lift aside and get after it. But with the right approach, access to reliable coaching and belief that you can do it, the clean and jerk can be an invaluable strength tool. Some people refrain from doing the clean and jerk because it has a bit of a learning curve and requires patience and persistence to do correctly. It is a complex lift that helps build explosive power and strength and can even help improve mobility.
#CLEAN AND JERK FULL#
The barbell clean and jerk - on full display earlier this year at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - has gained a tremendous amount of popularity in recent years and for good reason.
