Coach PapaYats

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Jerk tutorial by Nestor Colonia, Asian and World medalist

At 2015 World Weightlifting Championship, I had conversations with Coach Lin from Chinese Taipei (coach of Kuo Hsing Chun) and Vietnamese National Head Coach. They both stated that Nestor's jerk was technically most impressive in his weight class (over two Chinese lifters and a very strong North Korean).

I asked Nestor last year to explain major points of his technique.. Of course, if you know my style, you know I prefer visual cues rather than endless verbal exchanges of weightlifting slang.

The focus of this short video is dip and drive, full extension in knee and hip joints is a must before scissoring legs (in Polish split is sometimes called scissors and I think it's a powerful description). After you extend forcefully your hips and knees, the ankles typically take care of themselves, and how high you actually go on toes is not that important.

The other mistake I see often is change in elbow position during the dip and drive. Arms should be relaxed, and there should not be any changes in upper body until extension of legs is finish. Only when you are on tip toes, you start pressing. And you press fast at this point.

Basic remedy is the No Bar Jerk, presented at beginning of this video. If you're not doing it correctly, you sure as hell not jerking heavy weights correctly.

Two ways of incorporating this exercise:

  • at home in front of the mirror, hundreds of reps until you get it right each time
  • at the gym, between sets of your jerks, sets of 3-5 should be enough