A very common question we get asked is regarding how Chinese coaches decide an athlete’s jerk style. The answer, as briefly as possible, is there isn’t exactly a choice. Most Chinese weightlifters will train all three, sometimes even in equal proportion depending on the stage of development and training phase. The lifter then goes with the lift that most consistently yields the highest results.
But we wouldn’t be very helpful if we left it at that. Let’s go into why a lifter would train each lift even after they have settled on their chosen jerk style.
In most Chinese schools and under most coaches, the “default” jerk style is still the split, meaning power and squat styles are taught as a means of improving the split. This is for good reason--an excellent split is probably more technically demanding than an excellent snatch or an excellent clean.
As a result, the power jerk becomes an accessory, meant to teach two things primarily: completing the extension, and timing the push of the arms and drop under. These are two extremely neglected components of every jerk, and we see serious errors here in about 80% of the athletes who come to us.
Secondarily, the power jerk can help to teach a balanced split jerk, where the body’s center of gravity does not move fore or aft of where it started (an all-too-common mistake among even high level lifters). However, this task usually falls to the split jerk, which provides instant feedback as to where the bar ended up relative to where you started.
Interestingly, power and squat jerkers are sometimes seen using the split as an accessory as well. In a recent training hall video, Tian Tao can be seen warming up with split jerks in the background. Here, the reasons are more variable. Sometimes the coach simply wants to introduce a novel stimulus and keep the brain active (split jerkers who switch to power for a while and then switch back can attest to the benefits here).
Other times, the power/squat jerking athlete may do something better with the split than they do in their preferred style. In my own athletes, I have seen the split jerk help my power jerkers with the timing: the split jerk requires more thinking between extension and drop under. Getting the extension right in the split jerk makes extending in a power jerk much easier (and vice versa, interestingly).
Sidenote: Contrary to popular expectation, it was my coach’s view (and gradually my own as well) that most of the time, those who cannot split jerk and must power jerk are just clumsy or did not learn the split under a watchful eye. There are exceptions, notably in the athlete who can’t withstand the shearing force in the front knee when landing a split, but these are rare. In the amateur Western weightlifting world, it’s my opinion that most power/squat jerkers just want to look like their heroes.
This is all to say that most of us would benefit by including every style and being especially conscious of where we are technically lacking and how each style can transfer back to our home style. But you are probably not a native squat jerker, no matter how much you want to believe : )
This post was written by my coaching partner, Coach Zhang. I don't offer any online coaching right now, but he has a small number of spots available. Email him at eddie@coachpapayats.com Ask him some questions even if you're not interested in online coaching.