Kettlebell Should core be braced throughout the whole of the jerk?

[Opiaswing]

I've been toying with jerks again recently after a bit of a hiatus. I kind of winged it at first with a sort of girevoy sport rack but more hardstyle everything else and I've been getting back pain.

Should core be braced through the entirety of a jerk; including the dips? And should heels leave the ground or nah?

 

[Sean M]

I don’t see how the heels *couldn’t* come off the ground when doing the jerk.

 

[Adachi]

I don’t see how the heels *couldn’t* come off the ground when doing the jerk.

I feel like I'm practicing rooting and my knees and hips snap but my heels are glued to the floor. I've been doing them that way with 40kg strength aerobics, anyways.

 

[watchnerd]

I don’t see how the heels *couldn’t* come off the ground when doing the jerk.

Ditto.

It's a dip-drive-dip.

How do you do the 2nd dip if you didn't go up on your heels on the drive?

 

[LarryB]

No expert, but in the bjj videos Pavel says keep the heels down for PP and that they can pop on the jerk.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Ditto.

It's a dip-drive-dip.

How do you do the 2nd dip if you didn't go up on your heels on the drive?

Semi squat to standing to semi squat?

I dunno … I always had trouble with push presses/jerks because I felt a little wobbly on my toes but I can’t imagine an oly lifter not going up on their toes. With kbells maybe it’s a different ballgame.

 

[watchnerd]

Semi squat to standing to semi squat?

I dunno … I always had trouble with push presses/jerks because I felt a little wobbly on my toes but I can’t imagine an oly lifter not going up on their toes. With kbells maybe it’s a different ballgame.

GS folks lift their heels in jerks, too, just like in weightlifting.

Same dip-drive-dip patterning.

 

[watchnerd]

Should core be braced through the entirety of a jerk; including the dips? And should heels leave the ground or nah?

If your core isn't braced during the drive of the jerk, your force transfer is going to suck and you're going to be leaking power.

 

[Tom Flint]

I feel like I'm practicing rooting and my knees and hips snap but my heels are glued to the floor.

+1.

I’ve always done it this way, and it’s also how it’s instructed in RoTK (which I realise has its ‘idiosynchrasies’). Of course, that’s not to say it’s the right way as there are clearly merits to both approaches, and possibly more so with heels up for power.

 

[shmiggins]

Is it OK that my feet sometimes leave the floor completely in the jerk? Most of the times it's just the heal, but when I'm digging deep and really focusing to keep form extra power comes into play somehow and I find myself jumping and catching the bell in the second dip cycle.

 

[Anna C]

Should core be braced through the entirety of a jerk; including the dips?

Yes.

I kind of winged it at first with a sort of girevoy sport rack but more hardstyle everything else and I've been getting back pain.

I'd recommend picking a style. Let us know which one you want to do. The one that @watchnerd posted above is GS style, not hardstyle.

And should heels leave the ground or nah?

Heels can come up with hardstyle, yes. From the standards, SFG II manual, "Lifting the heels during the first dip and during the catch is not allowed, but the heels may raise during the drive." (So, @Adachi and @Tom Flint, it's OK if the heels don't raise, too.)

 

[watchnerd]

I'd recommend picking a style. Let us know which one you want to do. The one that @watchnerd posted above is GS style, not hardstyle.

I'm a total heretic because I do KB C&J weightlifting style.

Clean straight vertical, rack it like a KB front squat, and then power jerk it.

 

[Anna C]

I'm a total heretic because I do KB C&J weightlifting style.

Clean straight vertical, rack it like a KB front squat, and then power jerk it.

That's more or less a hardstyle KB jerk.

Great example from Jake Garcia, here (except we usually bend the knees for a soft catch on the lowering phase -- he's doing a negative press for the lowering phase):

 

[watchnerd]

That's more or less a hardstyle KB jerk.

Great example from Jake Garcia, here:

Yeah, the jerk definitely is.

But I don't swing clean, I just clean it straight vertical like it's a power clean.

 

[Steve Freides]

I've been toying with jerks again recently after a bit of a hiatus. I kind of winged it at first with a sort of girevoy sport rack but more hardstyle everything else and I've been getting back pain.

Should core be braced through the entirety of a jerk; including the dips? And should heels leave the ground or nah?

Your video would help us. Please use a light enough weight that it doesn't bother your back.

-S-

 

[watchnerd]

Is it OK that my feet sometimes leave the floor completely in the jerk? Most of the times it's just the heal, but when I'm digging deep and really focusing to keep form extra power comes into play somehow and I find myself jumping and catching the bell in the second dip cycle.

How much weight are you jerking?

 

[shmiggins]

How much weight are you jerking?

A 32kg. But my pressing is the weakest of my KB lifts. It's only the odd occasion. Say in a 30 minute LCCJ session I would maybe do it twice