Topic: Video: Clean and Jerk PR

[Paul LaDuke]

I went for a new PR in the clean and jerk on Monday and got it - 125kgs.  Well actually the jerk was a bit of a press, but I know I have the capability of doing it.  My previous best was 118kgs.

Tell me what you think.  I see several things to work on:

1. Set up - my hips are too high, I need to be a bit tighter, shoulders need to be over the bar not in front.

2. Pull - I am not pulling long enough and that causes me to jump forward.

3. Jerk dip needs to be a bit more horizontal but breaking at the hips isn't all bad.  I do get the hips under the bar nicely and drive the bar straight up and back.

4.  Jerk split should be wider laterally (I tend to tight rope) and longer.  The front leg should be out another 3-4 inches.  It is short because the speed of the split is lagging just a little.

5.  Jerk catch needs to be tighter.  


What do you guys see?

BTW, my jerk has improved by about 15kgs since 12/06! Thanks for all the input from many of you to help me improve it.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Paul,

During your dip, your right heel comes off the floor extremely early. You need to stay flat footed throughout the dip.

[Paul LaDuke]

Chris, good eyes!

I broke that ankle very seriously when I was 11.  My parents were told I may not walk again initially but the docs were wrong.  But I do have very limited range of motion in that ankle especially after my 3rd surgery 8 years ago.  I am not sure if that is something I can correct due to that injury.  But it has improved some.  Thanks for the pointer, I hope that it may help others.

[Ryan Marciniszyn]

Whats stand out to me is

1.) Your not finishing the 2nd pull, you are cutting it short. This forcing the bar out front and your jump forward. Also you are diving under.

2.) Part of the bar going forward could be contributed to you back arch changing from start to the point you rack the weight. All the way through it looks you could have you back straighter.

3) Your dip and jerk have improved a lot!

[Ryan Marciniszyn]

Also watch carefully how soon your heels leave the ground during the clean.

[Jim Storch]

Continue to persist. You are getting better.

[Jim Hooper]

Great job Paul.  Two reds is a significant milestone.  Your hard work is paying off.

It will be prettier the 20th time you jerk it, and a thing of beauty when its a workup weight and your PR is 140.  

Little technical flaws in PRs are easy to make too much of.  Its the patterns, if any, in your 85-90% lifts that really convey your current mechanics and what, if anything, you ought to try to change.

If this one is representative of most of your CJs, you need to ease your balance point back an inch or two, and keep it there, right over your ankle joints, as you hit the gas and explode.   (Instead of rocking onto your toes in the amortization, which you did on this particular lift, which is what threw everything forward a few inches and necessitated the forward displacement.)  Its easy to feel and execute, and your bar trajectory, and more important, the CCOG of the system, will shift right back inside the catchable vertical planes.  The forward displacement won't be necessary.  

You do a super job in the active pullunder -- really hauling yourself under as fast as you can mojo into the catch.  That's a very, very good thing.

Keep going.

[Paul LaDuke]

Jim,

Thanks as always for the comments.  Your opinion is always valued.  2 reds will be fun to do when I get the chance to in competition!

I have been working on trying to get a little bit more extension at the end of the 2nd pull.  I need it in my snatch and my clean so I am really trying to work on more pulls and train my body to feel a longer pull.  I usually pull 10kgs more than my workout weight that day for the clean or the snatch.  I also have added more RDLs than my last cycle.  

If any body else has any other training advice to help me finish my pull I would love to hear it.