I've been practicing the clean and jerk for about 2 months now. I'm a self taught lifter, I don't have time for weight lifting class for now.
DO you guys have any tips on my technique?
CLean and jerk: 195lb
Power clean: 215 lb
get a coach.
and a better camera angle.
-chris
My tip is either you take the time to get help from a coach now, or set aside plenty of time later for injuries. I’ve never seen a jerk like that . . . it didn’t look right and I sure don’t know enough to tell you how to fix it. Try to get some help from Carl Darby on this site or someone else that really knows their shit.
Otherwise, if you are unwilling to get proper coaching I would lay off the jerks and work on improving your push press and standing overhead press in the interim.
The glaring problem is that that wasn’t a jerk. It was a push press with your legs sorta coming apart. The jerk is not an upper body lift with a little leg drive. You have to explosively push yourself under the bar and then stand up with your arms locked overhead.
Read everything you can on the execution of the lifts.
Watch videos in slow motion of Oly lifters on Youtube. Compare to your own form. Specifically look at their body positions when they start the 2nd pull.
You should know what the 2nd pull is.
Tommy Kono also has some great videos on the execution of the lifts on Youtube. Look that up.
Dan John has a great book written about the subject, and it’s FREE on his website… DanJohn.org I think.
Getting a coach is highly recommended. You can find one by searching for the USAW’s website and then checking with… you’re not in the US.
Fuck, ask Avocado, maybe he knows how to find coaches for you Canaidans.
Take two weeks to practice technique with low weights, low reps, and high sets. Just technique. Make your technique spot on, after you’ve got a great idea of what you’re doing. Then slowly reintroduce weight. Oly-lifting is a skill that must be warmed up each workout, I’ve found. Don’t walk in and expect to push near-max weights with good form like you can with the deadlift.
Apparently, you should also learn the hook grip before you start dealing with serious weight.
Good luck.
[quote]wfifer wrote:
The glaring problem is that that wasn’t a jerk. It was a push press with your legs sorta coming apart. The jerk is not an upper body lift with a little leg drive. You have to explosively push yourself under the bar and then stand up with your arms locked overhead. [/quote]
Yeah in the jerk you need to lock those elbows as you get under the bar.
Hahahah… Canasians.
Anyways, yeah, I reiterate everything otep said.
[quote]forevernade wrote:
Fuck, ask Avocado, maybe he knows how to find coaches for you Canaidans.
Hahahah… Canasians.
Anyways, yeah, I reiterate everything otep said.
[/quote]
Just so happens… that i do. big ol’ wizard sleeves with hella tricks up 'em. the quebec weight lifting home page:
Where they just happen to have a full listing of coaches and training areas all throughout the 'bec. the LUCKY little OP so happens to have the best selection of coaches in Canada and they are in all different remote ass corners of that frozen french expanse. I even get to move there next year, but to the best part, montreal, where the food is dope.
So ya see Otep? It’s just like “The Secret” says, you speak shit into existence. Is oprah ever wrong? when you make that much money anything you say becomes fact amigo.
So yeah no excuses to cop some legit coaching there killer. thing is no amount of video and internet tips will help you very much. you will post random angles of single reps. we will tell you what is wrong and what is right. you will either not know what we are talking about or not have a reference point to “feel” what we are talking about and understand.
Also the advice we give wont really be worth a shit because its based on a few reps that you filmed and not a larger sample of reps. One rep doesnt mean shit. a whole session of lifts will better analyze how an athlete could better move or what should be worked on. there is no way on earth that your consistency on one rep is representative of “how” you clean & jerk. I just dont see it happening with any clients or other athletes.
But a coach will be there to see your sets and sessions in full and show/describe/demonstrate/tell you how to correct your lift. He/she will also be able to alter your program to facilitate or trick you into lifting better. We cannot. Gotta learn to feel it buddy.
-chris
Alright. I do know my jerk is terrible.
I know about the quebec weight lifting website. The problem is that the closest OL weight lifting facility is 1 hour from where I live and I don’t have enaugh time to invest for now. Of course, I do know it’s impossible to have a perfect technique without a qualified coach. This is why I was thinking about replacing my martial arts by Ol lifting courses for a season. But to do so, I’ll have to wait until january-february.
In the mean time, is there anyhting I can do to prepare myself for OL weight lifting courses?
Dude, I go to school full time and drive about an hour each way twice a week to work with a coach in addition to training on my own, more when I can. It is priceless (and only $20 a month!). If you are not prepared to invest the time to learn the lifts properly, then stick to squats, deadlifts, plyos, etc.
Well good for you.
I don’t have time for now and I don’t have my driving licence yet.
I would kill for some to teach me the snatch…OP go find a coach.
So we’ve established his form is horrible. Besides never reaching what his max may be, do you think he would get hurt performing it like this and if so why?
It’s hard to tell from this angle; the clean actually doesn’t look that bad. The jerk is basically a push press–there’s very little explosiveness. I don’t think he’d be likely to get injured doing it, but it’s kind of missing the point. I just don’t think there’s any point in training the lifts if you’re going to do them incorrectly.
OP, don’t get pissy. You did not make the details of your situation clear, so it sounded like you were merely unwilling to make the drive.
Some of the best OL coaches in Canada are in Quebec and there are LOTS of them. There are probably more OL lifters in Quebec than in the entire rest of the country.
The clean isn’t too bad for self taught and 2 months. Better than the ones of the LSU football team. Too much weight for the jerk.
Learn an explosive push press first. The jerk has to be lightening fast.
Like someone said, there are tons of videos on youtube. Check out www.ironmaven.net
Go to her youtube channel. She does video analysis of lifts using Dartfish. Pretty cool stuff.
Good luck.
TNT
I don’t think he’ll hurt himself cleaning that way, but if you watch, he’s catching it as a powerclean THEN dropping into the squat. If he doesn’t fix that it will hold back his clean weights.
IMO
How about for athletic performance do you agree with the rest that he would be better off with basic squats, and deadlifts plus some other form of plyo’s? (depth jumps)
Or would he still benefit more performing his cleans that way?
Do all of you drop the weights when your done, I workout at a fitness gym they don’t take to lightly to throwing nonbumper plate 225 on the floor?
OP my bad for hijacking your thread but I perform c&j almost the same way.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
How about for athletic performance do you agree with the rest that he would be better off with basic squats, and deadlifts plus some other form of plyo’s? (depth jumps)
Or would he still benefit more performing his cleans that way?
Do all of you drop the weights when your done, I workout at a fitness gym they don’t take to lightly to throwing nonbumper plate 225 on the floor?
OP my bad for hijacking your thread but I perform c&j almost the same way.[/quote]
Serious strength coaches don’t do jerks, from what I’ve seen.
He could use better technique for the clean, but so long as he’s getting the snap and focusing more on speed than weight, he’ll probably be alright.
I don’t see the point in plyos if you’re posting in the beginner forum. You’ll get more effect out of squats. If you really wanna get exciting, do a front squat with ~60% and try to leap it up. But squats are really where it’s at.
I don’t work out with bumper plates. Just make sure not to miss too many lifts.
Then again, I also think one can make considerable progress without a coach, so take my opinion with a pillar of salt.
Avocado is basically right that trying to correct form via internet videos is slow and comparatively ineffective. See a coach when you get the chance.
However, there are two things I see that you could try to change for the better. In the pull you are involving your arms too early. Your arms are for pulling your body under the bar, not for pulling the bar higher. Your legs take care of that. To get a feel for what it should be like, try some high pulls in which you keep you elbows locked. Do them slow at first, otherwise your shoulders will be upset with you. The bar wont go very high, but it will be moving fast.
In the jerk, it looks like you are pushing too early with your arms. Relax your grip on the bar when you do the dip and leg drive. Now you won’t want to do what I’m about to suggest all the time, but try putting in a (very) small delay between popping the bar off your shoulders and pushing on the bar with your arms. This will give your feet time to split wider and make a clear distinction between popping the bar off your shoulders with leg drive and pushing your body under the bar with your arms. Good luck.