Clean and Jerk Part 3—The Burgener Files

In Part 1, Coach Mike Burgener taught a group of athletes the grip and receiving position for the clean. In Part 2, he showed them how to put speed on the bar as they clean it to the rack position. Part 3 finds the CrossFit Olympic-lifting expert teaching the split jerk.

A good split jerk looks like a quarter lunge, where the back heel is off the deck with the weight in the ball of the foot. The back leg will be slightly bent, and the torso will be erect. The width of the feet in the jerk should be exactly the same as their width in the front squat, creating a solid base to support big weight.

Coach Burgener drills the positions, then has his athletes jump to the proper receiving stance. From there, they recover with a vertical torso.

In Part 4, Coach B has the athletes pick up their PVC pipes and go through the full split jerk.

8min 26sec

Additional reading: Mastering the Jerk by Bill Starr, published June 15, 2009.