This week on TECHNIQUEWOD, we’re going to share how you can improve your jerk performance using the Tall Jerk exercise.
This movement might be totally new to you, but it’s a great way to learn proper arm drive so that you can drop under the barbell more quickly when receiving the jerk. It can also help you split your feet faster and more accurately, which will certainly help you to jerk more weight overhead.
A key point to remember when performing the Tall Jerk is that the height of the bar shouldn’t change that much during the lift. Instead of driving the load upward overhead, your goal on every single repetition is to drive your body down, shooting your feet into the split position as quickly and precisely as possible.
You also don’t need use much weight during this movement. A few sets of 3-5 reps of Tall Jerks with an empty barbell before your heavier work sets of clean and jerks is more than enough to tune your form and improve performance. Just remember to focus on the speed of that drop, and place your feet precisely.
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The Tall Jerk can also be used as an assistance exercise, after your primary strength movements. But again, you won’t be able to put much weight on the bar, which is very a good thing. Some of the most effective weightlifting movements allow you to work technique very hard, without needing much load. That lets you practice the lifts more often while also requiring far less recovery time, which is a great thing if you want to make progress faster.
If you have any questions about the Tall Jerk, just leave them in the comments below. We’d love to help out.
Move well,
Doug
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This looks like it will be a big help for me. Looking forward to adding this to my workouts. Thanks.
it will definitely help a TON. More practice without much stress to the body. That’s a good thing. Good luck.
[…] How to fix your Jerk: Tall Jerk – This movement might be totally new to you, but it’s a great way to learn proper arm drive […]
Definitely love this exercise for warm-ups too. I think it’s one more CrossFitters need to do. It is acceptable in most classes/competitions in the sport to catch a jerk and then perform a press out. I think if more people can incorporate this sort of technique work we can drastically improve the jerks we see in CrossFit, no pun intended. Ha!