In praise of the squat jerk, a technique which is more efficient than the current push/power and split jerks, let’s see how many people we can get posting some videos of some exciting squat jerks!
I hit a PR today at 95 kg, almost got 100.
Hopefully more people will realize how amazing this lift is.
I had a discussion with a coach one time who told me he thinks most people are built for split jerking, and very few are built for squat jerking. I’ve screwed around and done some squat jerks once or twice, and yeah it’s kinda cool, but I’m generally more comfortable in the split jerk. And yes it is technically more efficient, but a split jerk offers you greater ability to correct and save a jerk where the bar didn’t go exactly where you wanted it to. The squat jerk also requires greater flexibility in the shoulders.
I like the squat jerk to warm up my shoulders for snatchs and jerks, and just from a good test of flexibility, i have never gone above 70kgs.
I encourage you guys to try it more often. It’s the most unforgiving way to jerk. However, if you master it it will increase your totals significantly. Does anyone know if Kendrick has ever split jerked, and how much did he do versus now?
The kendrick ferris comparison isn’t a great way to show the efficiency of a squat jerk. His jerk was quite a bit different to say the least before he started the squat jerk and I think his American record still stands in which he was doin “splaut” jerks at 205k if I’m not mistaken. I’ve seen fairly recent videos of him clean and squat jerking 211 and barely missing 218. And the squat jerk sounds great, however I’m 6’2" and that’s quite a demand on flexibility for me, most people you see doin it are shorter and in the lower weight classes. The top 2 lifters in the 85k (Kendrick’s weight class) at the Olympics were split jerks (Lu Yong with the gold, and Andrei Rybakou with the silver).
It may technically be more efficient. But don’t forget that squat jerkers are very much in the minority on the world scene. The level of flexibility you need to do it properly is insane. I’ve played around a while and I can sit in the bottom pretty well, but I can’t achieve the same feeling as with snatches where it just sits back there with no effort.
The side view of kendrick farris doing a squat jerk is insane. You see his whole body just fold up directly vertical. It’s no wonder it doesn’t seem to work as well for heavier guys!
i’ve been playing around with the squat jerk myself lately. i love it but it still has a long way to go before i make any attempt to switch in comp. yesterday i hit a 105 squat jerk which is still a ways off from my 135 split jerk, going to keep at it though
have you tried clning with a wider grip or resetting your hands wider after the clean. i have to reset my hand after the cln to have any chance of catching it in the right position
[quote]TurboLykes wrote:
However, if you master it it will increase your totals significantly.[/quote]
Forgive me for taking this with a grain of salt from a guy who’s best squat jerk is still lower than his best split jerk (as I read it from the big fella’s squat jerk thread, anyways).
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
The side view of kendrick farris doing a squat jerk is insane. You see his whole body just fold up directly vertical. It’s no wonder it doesn’t seem to work as well for heavier guys![/quote]
I remember seeing a video a while back of a Russian 105 at a national (ie likely not drug tested) comp clean and squat jerk 237. I can’t remember exactly how deep he got in the squat, but I remember coming back up it was wobbly as hell haha. Can’t for the life of me remember his name, don’t think I’d heard of him before or since.
[quote]boldar wrote:
i’ve been playing around with the squat jerk myself lately. i love it but it still has a long way to go before i make any attempt to switch in comp. yesterday i hit a 105 squat jerk which is still a ways off from my 135 split jerk, going to keep at it though
have you tried clning with a wider grip or resetting your hands wider after the clean. i have to reset my hand after the cln to have any chance of catching it in the right position[/quote]
Haven’t tried that yet. The width feels pretty natural.
[quote]TheJonty wrote:
[quote]TurboLykes wrote:
However, if you master it it will increase your totals significantly.[/quote]
Forgive me for taking this with a grain of salt from a guy who’s best squat jerk is still lower than his best split jerk (as I read it from the big fella’s squat jerk thread, anyways).
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
The side view of kendrick farris doing a squat jerk is insane. You see his whole body just fold up directly vertical. It’s no wonder it doesn’t seem to work as well for heavier guys![/quote]
I remember seeing a video a while back of a Russian 105 at a national (ie likely not drug tested) comp clean and squat jerk 237. I can’t remember exactly how deep he got in the squat, but I remember coming back up it was wobbly as hell haha. Can’t for the life of me remember his name, don’t think I’d heard of him before or since.[/quote]
Only time will tell in regards to that first comment. I’m going to be stubborn with that lift, and work it hard in the strength components like overhead squats for reps. More dips for arm strength due to shaky, weaker arms.
[quote]TheJonty wrote:
I remember seeing a video a while back of a Russian 105 at a national (ie likely not drug tested) comp clean and squat jerk 237. I can’t remember exactly how deep he got in the squat, but I remember coming back up it was wobbly as hell haha. Can’t for the life of me remember his name, don’t think I’d heard of him before or since.[/quote]
David Bejanyan
Did someone say big guys can’t squat jerk? Ha! I’ll be posting videos to this thread soon!!!
[quote]GqArtguy wrote:
[quote]TheJonty wrote:
I remember seeing a video a while back of a Russian 105 at a national (ie likely not drug tested) comp clean and squat jerk 237. I can’t remember exactly how deep he got in the squat, but I remember coming back up it was wobbly as hell haha. Can’t for the life of me remember his name, don’t think I’d heard of him before or since.[/quote]
David Bejanyan
he has tried 238 in a tested competition (under 23 euros) with a CRAZY easy clean, but the jerk wasnt close.
To bad he will never represent Russia in any BIG competitions (worlds, Olympics) sense his snatch is terrible by comparison (174)
[quote]blackbeardoly wrote:
Did someone say big guys can’t squat jerk? Ha! I’ll be posting videos to this thread soon!!![/quote]
I said I think it becomes less effective as people get bigger, I didn’t say they couldn’t have an impressive squat jerk. Just that I’m not expecting to see the next olympic super heavy winner squat jerking. And so far I haven’t seen anything to contradict that. The only top lifters I have seen that squat jerk have been in lighter weight categories. And it was in response to turbo who said mastering the squat jerk will significantly increase your total, I will happily admit I am wrong if I see a super heavy win a major world competition (it’s meant to be significantly better so that should happen soon right?)
[quote]tork94 wrote:
[quote]GqArtguy wrote:
[quote]TheJonty wrote:
I remember seeing a video a while back of a Russian 105 at a national (ie likely not drug tested) comp clean and squat jerk 237. I can’t remember exactly how deep he got in the squat, but I remember coming back up it was wobbly as hell haha. Can’t for the life of me remember his name, don’t think I’d heard of him before or since.[/quote]
David Bejanyan
[/quote]
he has tried 238 in a tested competition (under 23 euros) with a CRAZY easy clean, but the jerk wasnt close.
To bad he will never represent Russia in any BIG competitions (worlds, Olympics) sense his snatch is terrible by comparison (174)
[/quote]
That’s the guy I was thinking of. That 238 was crazy, if he could’ve gotten deeper under the bar he would’ve had it. Too bad about his snatch being awful, trying to come back from a 15-20kg deficit after the snatch is just asking too much most of the time (a la Kendrick Farris, perhaps?).
his technique reminds me of kakhiasvili
[quote]TheJonty wrote:
[quote]TurboLykes wrote:
However, if you master it it will increase your totals significantly.[/quote]
Forgive me for taking this with a grain of salt from a guy who’s best squat jerk is still lower than his best split jerk (as I read it from the big fella’s squat jerk thread, anyways).
[quote]The Ox Man wrote:
The side view of kendrick farris doing a squat jerk is insane. You see his whole body just fold up directly vertical. It’s no wonder it doesn’t seem to work as well for heavier guys![/quote]
I remember seeing a video a while back of a Russian 105 at a national (ie likely not drug tested) comp clean and squat jerk 237. I can’t remember exactly how deep he got in the squat, but I remember coming back up it was wobbly as hell haha. Can’t for the life of me remember his name, don’t think I’d heard of him before or since.[/quote]
Indeed. It’s like saying if you Master the Jerk you’ll have a huge total…Mastery of the Squat Jerk will not help your totals increase by much.
We can count on our hands the number of people that can Squat Jerk 140kg+. In fact I’ve only seen International lifters do more then that and then they are about 1/20 lifters if that, maybe 1/30 lifters on the International stage. Probably less then 1/30 International lifters that Squat Jerk in comp.
Yes it’s more efficient to Squat Jerk, but that doesn’t make it anymore viable for people to do it economically. It’s by far the most hard thing to do out of the 3 Jerk styles.
Your video looks good, but the hard thing is balance and recovering it off the bottom. It’s a total MOFO to do so properly! It’s not a lack of arm strength, it was just balance and leg strength.
[quote]blackbeardoly wrote:
Did someone say big guys can’t squat jerk? Ha! I’ll be posting videos to this thread soon!!![/quote]
Not on the International level they don’t. I think the biggest was the 85kg Chinese guy from the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. That David Bejanyan guy is IMMENSE. He’s the biggest guy I’ve seen at 94kg class.
[quote]lordstorm88 wrote:
his technique reminds me of kakhiasvili [/quote]
That was the first thing I thought. Very little extension on to the toes, very fast under the bar, same sort of width and style as Kaka’s.
We can use this thread for Squat Jerkers to post up videos of themselves 
Koing
could be wrong but i thought the split jerk was better because (theoretically anyway) you can get yourself lower under the bar in the split rather than squat position. think i got that from an article on the co-evolution of weightlifting technique and the weightlifting shoe (that made greater depth possible).
but then… nobody split snatches - do they? that would be weird…
and people moved from splitting the clean to squatting it - so i no longer think i’m making sense…
It was the other way around. Squatting gets lower than lunging. I read that article too.
hmm…
well then, now things are making much more sense