Everybody has vices they have fought with and struggled with since they can remember. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul writes about the thorn in his side. All of us have those thorns. Mine is the elbow wobble in the jerk. Since I can remember I have always struggled with movement in my elbows during the clean and jerk. I have not competed in a National competition without getting a red light for a little wobble in the elbow.
Recently, we have pinpointed where some of that wobble comes from. I have never struggled getting the bar to arms length. Furthermore, after a lot of footwork drills, I have managed to get the bar to arm’s length in good position over my head. However, I rush the recovery. I rush my foot movement from the split back to standing. In rushing my recovery my elbows always wobble. It pretty much boils down to two weaknesses.
1- A weakness in pressing and overhead strength that is preventing my capability for stability overhead.
2- Discomfort with a bar overhead. I want to drop it as fast as possible. I am always impressed by men who jerk a world record and stand there for more time than necessary with the bar overhead. Not this guy…
Here is a new combo lift that we have developed to help these weaknesses. Disclaimer: It’s probably not anything new or earth-shattering to any of you. But it’s good.
Push Press for ME reps at 80-95% of Push Press + Split Jerk + Hold Split for 3-5 seconds and recover slow.
It’s hard but effective. Give it a shot.
Example
Oh and Go Dawgs!