05/04/2026
As the economist Thomas Sowell has said, “There are no solutions, only tradeoffs.” Some tradeoffs are not worth the effort, some are.
What is true for the pull—you can trade extra effort at the top of the pull for more bar height, but it costs you timing—is also true for the Jerk drive. As in the pull, I believe timing is far more important than maximum bar height.
The goal is to meet the bar at the apex of its flight, where it is essentially weightless, and to be in a strong position to stop the downward movement of the bar. That requires excellent timing. Adding extra leg effort to the top of the Jerk drive will get you more bar height. But it costs you time at the top, and that makes you late to the split. Extending the Jerk leg drive destroys your split timing and speed. This leads to excessive bar drop—crashing. And that means missed Jerks.
I coach a very short, reactive dip and drive, emphasizing the use of the elastic qualities of the bar and tissue rebound, to elevate the bar. The end of the leg drive should be with legs and hips extended, but feet essentially still flat against the floor when the bar is unweighted and the split begins. This allows the feet to stay closer to the floor, and the back foot to land first, with better timing and speed to the split position.
I’ll be announcing a Jerk seminar soon, where I can go into more detail and the theory behind the way I teach the Jerk. Watch for it.
