What will be required

The Clean and Jerk is one of the classic weightlifting exercises that has migrated to functional CrossFit training.

Due to the technical complexity of the exercise, as a rule, the jerk is included in the training program by more experienced and prepared athletes, however, many beginners also try to perform the jerk (unfortunately, often incorrectly) in their training. In today's article, we will share with you a technique for learning to properly perform the clean and jerk and help to minimize the risk of injury in the process.

What's on our agenda today:

• Why should you push the barbell?
• Exercise technique
• Beginning Athlete Mistakes
• Official sports regulations
• How to achieve an increase in power indicators at a point?
• Crossfit complexes with push bar.

Why is this exercise necessary?

As a child, even before I began to seriously get involved in sports, I really liked to watch weightlifting competitions. This is truly a great sport, and many athletes, such as Yuri Petrovich Vlasov, Leonid Ivanovich Zhabotinsky, Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev and others, left a truly huge sports legacy, and their phenomenal results continue to motivate athletes from all over the world even decades later.

Weightlifters perform clean and jerk as part of the competition, and their main task is to lift the most weight. In CrossFit, we have a slightly different goal, doing the clean and jerk primarily to increase the tonnage and overall intensity of the workout.

I don’t know about you, but for me, complexes that contain a push of the bar are the most difficult due to decent working weights and the need to unquestioningly observe the correct technique. If you read the total tonnage per workout, you get a huge number. But after completing all the complexes, no matter how difficult they may be, a feeling of satisfaction comes, as I realize that I have worked 100%.

During the push of the bar, the following muscles work: quadriceps, buttocks, spinal extensors and deltoid muscles. Therefore, I recommend that you correctly distribute the load during the week, for example, do not perform heavy weightlifting exercises in one workout and heavy deadlifts and front squats in another. Thus, your muscles simply will not have time to recover, overtraining will set in, which will lead to a complete lack of progress in training, constant muscle pain, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances and depletion of the central nervous system.

Technique for pushing the barbell

Due to the technical complexity of the exercise, I recommend seeking help from a competent specialist. Below I will try to describe in as much detail as possible the correct technique for performing a push, but only with a look from the outside you can soberly assess the technique, point out mistakes and help the ward achieve the desired result.

The standing clean and jerk is a technically difficult exercise, and professional weightlifters hone their technique for years. The push of the bar implies a huge amplitude of movement, and the movement itself consists of several stages: lifting the bar off the floor, undermining, squatting, pushing and scissors squatting. Each stage should be worked out separately in order to fully understand the biomechanics of movement. In no case should you rush if you are not given some separate stage. Start practicing them with minimal weights until the coach is satisfied with your technique. After that, you can begin to push, again, starting with small weights.

Breaking the bar from the floor

Starting position:

• Feet shoulder width apart;
• Hands hold the bar slightly wider than shoulders with a grip in the "castle";
• The toes are slightly apart, the center of gravity lies on the heels;
• We keep the back perfectly straight, while maintaining the natural lordosis in the lower back;
• The shoulders are taken back slightly, the gaze is directed forward.

Our task is to lift the bar from the floor with the help of a powerful effort of the legs and back and give it the proper acceleration in order to throw it on the chest. We raise the bar just above the knee, while the neck should be as close to the lower leg as possible.




Undermining

In order to give the bar acceleration and throw it on the chest, you need to straighten your legs and body, stand on your toes (a small jump is allowed), bend your arms and “take” it with your chest, at the same time starting to sink into the squat. In this case, the elbows should be brought out in front of you.




Podsed

When the bar is at the level of the solar plexus, we begin to squat under it, while turning it with the movement of the shoulders to the chest. If everything is done correctly, approximately in the middle of the squat, the bar should “fall” on your chest. We sit down with it on the chest in full amplitude, get up and fix. We have a couple of seconds to gather our strength and prepare for the push. During the push of the bar, the elbows should be kept turned away from each other so that the bar does not lie on your chest, but on your shoulders.




Pushing out + squatting "scissors"

With an explosive movement of the legs and buttocks, we begin to push the bar up, while performing the “scissors” squat. Some weightlifters perform the squat squat, but due to the anatomical features of most people, the scissors squat is easier for them and allows them to lift more weight. We make a small jump, bringing one leg forward and the other back. The movement resembles lunges with a barbell. As soon as we have caught the point of balance, we put the back foot to the front and fix in this position. Now the bar can be thrown to the floor.


Detailed training in the technique of pushing the barbell on the video:

Another helpful video:

Typical beginner mistakes

1. The pushing of the bar is carried out primarily due to the efforts of the quadriceps and buttocks, while the deltas and triceps are responsible for stabilizing the projectile. Don't confuse the push with the push or the military press, here we are not swinging our shoulders, we are breaking the laws of physics.
2. You should not perform a jerk and a push in ordinary sneakers or sneakers. Do not regret a few thousand rubles and buy specialized high-quality weightlifting shoes, they will help keep the body in the correct position during the squat. At one time, I added 40 kg to the barbell squat in two workouts, just by switching from sneakers to barbells. Progress in the clean and jerk also did not take long.
3. Contact a smart coach. On your own, you are unlikely to be able to set the correct push technique, only with a look from the outside you can make adjustments to the technique, based on the individual anatomical features of the body.
4. Pay special attention to warming up the hands and elbows. When the bar is placed on the chest, and the elbows are brought forward, the joints and ligaments are under enormous stress. Use static-dynamic exercises to further strengthen your ligaments and tendons.

Regulations

Table of standards for men (sum: push + snatch, kg):

Table of standards for women (sum: push + snatch, kg):

How to progress on the clean and jerk?

The secret of a powerful push is to work out the individual phases of the movement and perform auxiliary exercises.

Crossfit complexes

The table below contains several CrossFit routines containing a clean and jerk. Attention: this is definitely not suitable for beginners, as it combines all the elements of a truly “hardcore” training, namely: heavy working weights, high intensity, explosive nature of the exercises, huge tonnage and a complex load on all muscle groups.