Split Jerk - How to Series

There are a couple of important aspects to your split jerk jerk technique. You should hold the barbell in a clean or front squat rack position to begin. Your entire hand and all of your fingers should be on the bar. Having the bar sit on your fingers will cause an excessive stretch in your wrist which can quickly become painful.

Your feet should be at the same width as when you set up for the clean or a conventional deadlift. If you are just getting started and are unfamiliar with where this position is you can perform a countermovement jump with a walking start (click here for an example). Your feet should naturally place themselves in the optimal position right before you perform the jumping phase. You can pause at this point and take note of this position to use later.

Your dip should be roughly 10% of your height, for most people this will be 5-8 inches. During the dip portion you should have the goal of keep your weight in your mid foot and heel as much as possible. Your upper arms should be perpendicular or as close as possible to the ground. This arm position will help you keep your torso in a upright position as you initiate and perform the dip. A key objective during the dip is to keep your shoulders stacked over your hips and heels.

There are two common styles of the dip. There is a quick and controlled short dip and a longer dip. The short dip is beneficial for shorter and/ or very explosive athletes. This method best capitalizes on the stretch reflex at the knee and can provide a very large amount vertical force. The long dip method is used by athletes with longer legs who naturally will need to go deeper. The long dip method can also be beneficial for lifters who are aren't as explosive but can maintain a vertical torso because it allows them to recruit a greater muscular force.

As it sounds the split jerk technique is requires you to catch the jerk with a split (aka lunge) stance with one leg behind the body and one foot forward. Your feet should step directly forwards and backwards with as little deviation in width as possible from the dip width that they started at.

To give yourself the best opportunity to succeed with the split jerk you want to receive the bar over your shoulders and traps. Concentrate on keeping your shoulders over your hip as you dip, and being quick out of the bottom of the dip. When you receive the bar you will want to have your weight as evenly distributed between your front and back foot as possible, 50/50. This will require you to focus on moving your body around the bar as you push yourself into the receiving position.