Clean and Jerk, Push Press, Jerk, Thrusters, etc...

[Matt DeMinico]

Ok, on all three of these exercises (Clean & Jerk, Push Jerk, Thrusters) and anything extraordinarily similar, I think I've been doing them wrong. I'm pretty sure when I go to start the push press or jerk portion of it, I've been switching my grip from the racked position, to where I've got my palms back on the bar and ready to drive it up.

But when I was watching some footage of australian records, they were holding it in the rack position the whole time, right up to when they start the dip and drive, and then only when they start the drive upward do their elbows start to come down.

I was having some pain doing thrusters the other day, and I'm wondering if this could be part of the reason? Or is the thruster supposed to be done with the bar in your palms the whole time? Same with push press? I imagine the jerk is supposed to be done like these O-lifters were doing it though?

[Martin McVitty]

i'm not sure if i correct but when i'm doing push presses or thrusters i have the bar in the palm of my hands. on jerks i adjust the bar from the rack position into my palms so i can drive it up.

there is a good video in the exercise section of the crossfit site that looks at push presses and jerks. if i can remember which one i'll post a link to it.

[Matt DeMinico]

Yeah I just went back and looked at that video, and it looks like (I'm guessing it's Sage in that video?) she adjusts it into her palms before the jerk, or at least to under her knuckles (where her fingers meet her palms)

But I don't recall seeing the others do that on other videos, maybe I just missed it.

[Wade Smith]

Matt, I've watched those videos (with Sage) numerous times as well. She's either so fast and/or the camera angle (or something) makes it difficult to completely tell all the nuanced complexities going on (hands, feet, knee angle, back angle, jump, etc). I thought it was just me. I've had to watch them over and over multiple times. Maybe coach could make some new videos with her with some slow-mo or tri-panel views to showcase those different variables.

[Jay Cohen]

The upward motion comes from a violent dip/drive, bar needs to be racked, if bar is sitting in palms, you will not be getting the full benefit of the hip/body drive, hands/arms play very little part in the jerk. It is not a shoulder press.

The more relaxed I keep my hands, fingers, bar resting on delts, then on the drive, as bar begins that upward drive, I do grip the bar, drive myself underneath the bar, split.

Just my two cents from a rookie lifter.

Check the vids at PM

Originally Posted by Wade Smith

Matt, I've watched those videos (with Sage) numerous times as well. She's either so fast and/or the camera angle (or something) makes it difficult to completely tell all the nuanced complexities going on (hands, feet, knee angle, back angle, jump, etc). I thought it was just me. I've had to watch them over and over multiple times. Maybe coach could make some new videos with her with some slow-mo or tri-panel views to showcase those different variables.

at the very top of the clean sage comes up with such a high speed that she's able to re adjust her grip preparing for the jerk as the weight comes just barely off her shoulders as her legs straighten out at the very top....

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/c...ean-n-jerk.mov

if you watch as she comes up at the very top of the clean, that's when she adjusts the grip. that specific video has helped me figure out the proper timing.

[Brandon Oto]

Greg talked about this recently.

Shoulder press, it's pretty much on your hands, to optimize arm drive.

Front squat (or clean), it's fully on your shoulders.

In the motions that start with a push press, the bar has to be mostly on the shoulders as well, for the proper leg drive.

Something like a thruster can be somewhere in between, depending on what you emphasize. If you have it fully racked and aren't very explosive with the drive, you end up shoulder pressing it from a kind of odd, tricep-extension position, so a lot of people do them more in the press position.

[Matt DeMinico]

I dunno I kinda see it now as basically all hips, and the stiffer you can make your upper body (with the front rack), the more power is delvered to the bar. Just like trying to clean or snatch with bent arms, it's going to absorb power that should have gone to the bar.

[Lincoln Brigham]

Brandon has it 100% correct.

Watch the [habitual] grip adjustment at the top of the clean:
http://crossfitsedona.typepad.com/Vi...SquatClean.mov
Coming out of the clean the bar is on the shoulders and the fingertips. After the grip adjustment the bar is across the shoulder and the palm of the hands. The elbows have dropped slightly. The feet move from the squat stance back into the narrower jumping stance.

In the thruster there is no opportunity to adjust the gip like this. You either have to drive it from shoulders using the fingertip grip or front squat it with the bar in the palm of the hands and try your best to get the bar on the shoulders. Note that most people cannot front squat with the bar in the palm of their hands AND have the bar resting on the shoulders. This makes the thruster technically more difficult than a simple front squat followed by a push press.