Barbell Jerk (Clean and Jerk): execution technique, which muscles work, benefits and standards * Crossfit

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 barbell push is included in the training program by more experienced and trained athletes, however, many beginners try to perform the push (unfortunately, often incorrectly) in their training. In our today's article, we will share with you a method of teaching the correct execution of the barbell push and help to minimize the risk of injury.

What we have today according to plan:

Why should you do a barbell push?
Exercise technique
Mistakes of novice athletes
Official sports standards
How to achieve an increase in power indicators at a point?
Crossfit complexes with a barbell push.

Why is this exercise needed?

As a child, even before I seriously began to get involved in sports, I really loved watching 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 heritage, and their phenomenal results continue to motivate athletes from all over the world even after decades.

Weightlifters perform the barbell clean and jerk in competition, and their main task is to lift the most weight. In CrossFit, we pursue slightly different goals, doing the jerk primarily to increase tonnage and overall training intensity.

I don’t know about you, but for me the complexes that contain the barbell push are the most difficult because of the decent working weights and the need to follow the correct technique without question. If you read the total tonnage for a workout, you get a huge number. But after completing all the complexes, no matter how difficult they are, a feeling of satisfaction comes, since I realize that I have worked 100%.

The following muscles work during the barbell push: the quadriceps, glutes, spinal extensors, and deltoids. Therefore, I recommend correctly distributing the load during the week, for example, not doing heavy weightlifting exercises in one workout and heavy deadlifts and front squats on another. Thus, your muscles simply will not have time to recover, overtraining will come, 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.

Barbell push technique

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

The standing jerk is a technically challenging exercise, and professional weightlifters have been honing the technique for years. The jerk of the bar implies a huge range of motion, and the movement itself consists of several stages: ripping the bar off the floor, undermining, squatting, pushing and squatting "scissors". 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 a separate stage. Start practicing them with minimal weights until the coach is happy with your technique. Then you can start pushing, again starting with low weights.

Breaking the bar off the floor

Starting position:

Feet shoulder width apart;
Hands hold the bar slightly wider than the shoulders with a "lock" grip;
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;
Move the shoulders slightly back, the gaze is directed forward.

Our task is to lift the barbell off the floor with the help of a powerful effort from the legs and back and give it the proper acceleration in order to throw it onto the chest. Raise the bar just above the knee, while the bar should be as close to the shin as possible.

Undermining

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

Subseat

When the bar is at the level of the solar plexus, we begin to squat under it, while starting it with the movement of the shoulders to the chest. If everything is done correctly, about halfway down the squat, the bar should "fall" on your chest. We sit with her on our chest in full amplitude, get up and fix ourselves. We have a couple of seconds to gather strength and prepare for pushing out. During the push of the bar, the elbows should be kept turned away from each other in such a way that the bar is not on your chest, but on your shoulders.

Ejection + scissor squat

With an explosive movement of the legs and buttocks, we begin to push the bar upward, while performing the "scissor" squat. Some weightlifters perform the split squat, but due to the anatomical features of most people, the scissor 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 barbell lunges. As soon as we have caught the balance point, we put the back leg to the front and fix ourselves in this position. The barbell can now be dropped to the floor.

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

Common beginner mistakes

The pushing out 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. Do not confuse the clean and jerk with a schwung or an army press, here we are not shaking our shoulders, we are breaking the laws of physics.
Do not snatch and jerk in regular sneakers or sneakers. Spend 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 squat with a barbell in two workouts, simply by switching from sneakers to weightlifting shoes. The clean and jerk progress was also not long in coming.
See a sensible trainer. You will hardly be able to put on the correct push technique on your own, only with a look from the outside can you make adjustments to the technique, relying on the individual anatomical features of the body.
Pay particular attention to stretching your hands and elbows. When the bar is placed on the chest and the elbows are pulled forward, the joints and ligaments are under enormous stress. Use static-dynamic exercises to further strengthen your ligaments and tendons.

Standards

Next, we have prepared for you the official standards for the barbell push for the year, approved by the FTA of Russia.

Table of standards for men (amount: jerk + snatch, kg):

Weight category	Combined event (kg)
	Adults						Boys 11-15 years old
	MSMK	MC	CCM	1	2	3	1 jun	2 jun	3 jun
34 kg	–	–	90	82	76	70	64	58	52
38 kg	–	–	105	96	88	80	72	64	56
42 kg	–	–	120	110	100	90	80	70	60
46 kg	–	–	130	119	108	97	86	75	64
50 Kg	–	180	150	137	124	110	96	82	68
56 kg	255	205	170	154	138	122	106	90	74
62 kg	285	230	190	170	152	134	116	98	80
69 kg	315	255	205	185	165	145	125	106	87
77 kg	350	280	235	210	187	164	141	118	95
85 kg	365	295	250	225	200	175	151	127	103
94 kg	385	310	260	235	210	185	162	137	112
+94 kg	–	315	265	240	215	190	167	142	117
105 kg	400	320	270	245	220	195	–	–	–
+105 kg	415	325	275	250	225	200	–	–	–

Table of standards for women (amount: jerk + snatch, kg):

Weight category	Combined event (kg)
	Adults						Girls 11-15 years old
	MSMK	MC	CCM	1	2	3	1 jun	2 jun	3 jun
34 kg	–	–	80	72	66	60	54	48	42
36 kg	–	–	85	77	71	65	58	51	44
40 Kg	–	–	90	83	76	69	62	55	48
44 kg	–	120	100	92	84	76	68	60	52
48 kg	165	130	105	96	88	80	72	64	56
53 kg	180	140	115	106	97	88	79	70	61
58 kg	190	150	125	115	105	96	86	76	66
63 kg	205	160	135	125	115	104	93	82	71
69 kg	215	170	145	135	125	113	101	89	77
75 kg	225	180	150	138	127	116	105	94	83
+75 kg	–	185	155	143	132	121	110	99	88
90 kg	230	190	160	150	140	130	–	–	–
90 kg +	235	195	165	155	145	135	–	–	–

How to progress on the clean and jerk?

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

Do the following exercises:

jogging barbell to separately work out pushing the bar above itself;
overhead squats and front squats to strengthen the squat;
heavy lunges with a barbell on the shoulders to facilitate getting up from the "scissors";
pause jerk - this exercise involves a 1-3 second delay in the half squat or full squat before completing the exercise;
deadlift from plinths, hyperextensions with additional weights and your favorite abdominal and oblique abdominal exercises to help you hold your core more clearly while getting up from the squat and avoid injury in the lumbar spine.

Crossfit complexes

The table below contains several CrossFit workouts containing a barbell push. 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 exercise performance, huge tonnage and complex load on all muscle groups.

Clean-Jerk-Run	Perform 10 push-ups and a 400-meter sprint. 3 rounds in total.
Three one	Perform 10 barbell jerks, 20 barbell squats, and 30 deadlifts. Only 5 rounds.
2007	Perform 1000m rowing and 5 rounds of 25 pullups and 7 jerks. The task is to keep within 15 minutes.
Blood grace	Perform 30 barbell jerks, 30 barbell jump burpees, 30 pull-ups, 30 sit-ups, 30 squats, 30 jerks (off the floor) 60kg barbell