Weak Jerk

Unfortunately my jerk is much weaker than my cleans. My PR for Cleans are 175 and my jerk is 155. What can i do to improve my jerking? I know for sure i have some some flawed technique like i’d drive it forward when i jerk. Does presses help? I’ve only pressed up to 90 lbs. any tips would help. Thanks id appreciate it!

If you’ve got flawed technique then you need to work on that. My max jerk increased 10kg with 25minutes of having my technique fixed.

A video would be good.

As nkk said, just work on form under a watchful/knowledgeable eye.

Re assistance, it depends on the issue(s). Push press and jerk balance are a couple of common ones.

Press can make jerks worse if done too much and/or with poor form ie slowing down your lock out and affecting bar path/body position.

[quote]herragex3 wrote:
Unfortunately my jerk is much weaker than my cleans. My PR for Cleans are 175 and my jerk is 155. What can i do to improve my jerking? I know for sure i have some some flawed technique like i’d drive it forward when i jerk. Does presses help? I’ve only pressed up to 90 lbs. any tips would help. Thanks id appreciate it![/quote]

Son, you can only press 90 lbs overhead. EVERYTHING is weak. Work your damn presses!

Yes, if you have technical flaws fixing those technical flaws will give you a great boost in your PRs. So fix them ASAFP. However, if you can’t press even 100 lbs overhead you have BIG foundational weaknesses in your training. You MUST get those fixed to be any good. Olympic weightlifting is just about technique, although that is central. It’s also about STRENGTH, and you lack it.

[quote]Charlietr wrote:

Press can make jerks worse if done too much and/or with poor form ie slowing down your lock out and affecting bar path/body position.[/quote]

While I agree with that, the man can’t press 100 lbs overhead. I call this a basic fundamental weakness. Friends who have only started training 3 months ago are now overhead pressing 125 lbs for 5 using Stronglifts, and they’re gangly motherfuckers who are about as disadvantaged for OH pressing as you can be. I trained a tiny little girl to snatch grip push press 100 lbs overhead inside 3 months.

If a newb and a 120 5’8" lb girl can do that, he needs to get working quick.

Jerk is all about technique and hip/leg power. Personally, my technique is so poor on Jerk that my best Jerk and for that matter Push Press are somehow WORSE than my best overhead press. I don’t even know how that is possible…

amayakyrol: you’re probably pushing the bar out in front instead of directly overhead. Probably have the timing wrong. The bar should be at or passed your nose before your arms start pushing. Once I started doing that: instant 15lbs on my jerk.

You might also not be extending enough, dipping down enough, have a crappy split, a bad overhead position, or any number of things. A big guess of mine though, is the timing. And bar path, especially if your push press can’t match your OHP.

Oh, I have terrible timing and absolutely no shoulder flexibility.