The pro of the wide grip jerk is obviously that the bar needs to travel a shorter distance. But what are the cons exactly? Is it too hard on the shoulders? Why it isn’t more popular.
There is a such thing as going too wide obviously. The biggest problem is that your elbows are going to get beaten to shit. A fav lifter of mine is Richie Patterson from NZ. He does the wide jerk quite well.
It could be coincidence, but when I think of wide grip jerks, I always think of Vladislav Lukanin and Zlaten Vanev; both of whom had nasty elbow injuries. Vanev had 3 I think.
Is it a violent injury or overuse injury that these lifters face?
another down side of the wider grip, is that it is more difficult to keep a vertical torso on the dip and drive.
There is also a wider base of support for the bar, which makes it much harder to use the spring of the bar to your advantage (im not talking about breaking the rules, just using the bend that happens at the bottom of the dip and drive.)
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
There is a such thing as going too wide obviously. The biggest problem is that your elbows are going to get beaten to shit. A fav lifter of mine is Richie Patterson from NZ. He does the wide jerk quite well.
I have seen this video many times, but only now I realised this is the guy from New Zealand that has been training at my gym in Finland for some time now. But I don’t know if he is still here. Strong guy no doubt.
But when I looked at his hand placing at the bar and bar height I realised that a wider grip might not help like you could think, unless you go full retard and grab it collar to collar.
[quote]Wrah wrote:
[quote]PB Andy wrote:
There is a such thing as going too wide obviously. The biggest problem is that your elbows are going to get beaten to shit. A fav lifter of mine is Richie Patterson from NZ. He does the wide jerk quite well.
I have seen this video many times, but only now I realised this is the guy from New Zealand that has been training at my gym in Finland for some time now. But I don’t know if he is still here. Strong guy no doubt.
But when I looked at his hand placing at the bar and bar height I realised that a wider grip might not help like you could think, unless you go full retard and grab it collar to collar.[/quote]
Oh hell yeah dude, I have been following his videos in Finland on his Facebook page. Seems like a fun group of lifters hehe. You should train with them!
But yeah, it could be good because the bar has to travel a shorter distance, but it could be bad because 1) more potential for an elbow injury IMO, and 2) like tork94 said, the spring/bend of the barbell is a HUGE factor in a successful jerk at around 160kg and upwards. That wider base will most definitely dissipate the bend a little bit.
I was reading on the sprotivny press (http://sportivnypress.com/) about the 2009 Chinese nationals where there was a relatively high amount of elbow dislocations (3 I think) in the jerk which was fairly unusual for the jerk (I guess not so unusual for the snatch) and a wide grip was discussed as the culprit. I’m not strong enough to advise anyone against it especially since Dabaya uses a fairly wide grip.
[quote]rell816 wrote:
I was reading on the sprotivny press (http://sportivnypress.com/) about the 2009 Chinese nationals where there was a relatively high amount of elbow dislocations (3 I think) in the jerk which was fairly unusual for the jerk (I guess not so unusual for the snatch) and a wide grip was discussed as the culprit. I’m not strong enough to advise anyone against it especially since Dabaya uses a fairly wide grip. [/quote]
I’ve read from John Broz that having your elbows propped up (as if in a tight front squat, instead of down and more relaxed) can also be more injurious.
Because it requires a f0ck load of flexibility to rack the bar with a wide grip with heavy weight. You have to dip and drive MUCH MUCH straighter as the bar will roll down your shoulders if you tilt.
Most people are not flexibile enough to do it, so it’s all a trade off.
Koing