How to Jerk - The Cal Strength Jerk Progression, Part 1

The jerk is considered by many to be the most complicated of the Olympic Lifts. It is a counter-intuitive movement that requires you to use your legs to drive the bar up overhead while your hands are driving your body underneath the bar, and it is tough to get this movement pattern properly ingrained in many athletes. We use a 6-phase progression to teach the jerk, and Part 1 of our series will talk about the first 3 steps - the standing military press, push press, and push jerk.

- Phase 1 - The military press is used to teach the athlete how to be comfortable with the bar going overhead, both for getting accustomed to navigating the face as the bar travels overhead, as well as which muscles are necessary to stabilize the bar overhead.
- Phase 2 - The push press emphasizes the drive portion of the lift, teaching the athlete how to use their legs to increase the velocity of the bar over a strict pressing movement.
- Phase 3 - The push jerk is used to teach the athlete how to simultaneously use their hands to drive their body underneath the bar as they use their legs to drive the bar overhead.

Stay tuned for part 2, where we will discuss the next 3 phases of our jerk progression, including the footwork and neural drills we use before the final phase - the complete split jerk.

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