I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the split jerk is the most challenging of the olympic lifts and requires more practice to master than any other lift. 

There is no issue more common than an incorrect dip and drive, whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced athlete, the dip and drive is the MOST important phase of the lift to focus on. 

The most common mistake in the dip and drive is leaning forward or collapsing at the bottom of the dip. This throws off your bar path and can lead to chasing the bar forward, lack of power in the drive, and just looks silly. 

If this is something you struggle with, then I highly recommend using the Pause Jerk + Jerk complex in your training. 

P.S. If you’re interested in learning the olympic lifts for free, then make sure to download my free Weightlifting101: Beginner Guide + 6-Week Program here!

How To Perform The Pause Jerk + Jerk Complex

To perform the Pause Jerk + Jerk, start with the bar on your front rack, hands in your jerk grip, and feet in your ideal dip and drive stance. Initiate the dip and pause at the bottom, then take note of your position and make any corrections. If you are leaning forward at the torso, have let your core collapse or chest cave in, dipped too low where you have shifted balance forward onto the ball of your foot, or find any other issues, make these corrections, then finish the drive, land in your split, and once again pause here to make any corrections to foot placement or balance, then recover. 

Whatever errors you need to fix in the pause rep, make that your cue for the second jerk without a pause. If you leaned forward cue yourself “chest up”. If you dipped too low cue “short dip” etc. 

Check out the demo video here!

What Is The Pause Jerk + Jerk Complex?

This complex is a type of complex called a variation complex in which the first lift is designed to correct a technique error with the hopes that you can carry this improved technique into the following lift. 

By pausing at the bottom of the dip, you can correct any issues including a forward lean, collapsed core, improper dip height, and even more basic issues like foot placement, all before finishing the rest of the lift as normal. Then, you can take the feedback you received from the first rep and apply it to the second. 

This has two benefits, first, you are able to reap the benefits of improved technique through the use of variations, but secondly, and more importantly, you are able to immediately apply this technique to the competition version of the lift. This helps make sure you are not wasting time in your training by just training with variations in the hope that you see carry over to your competition lifts. 

How To Implement The Pause Jerk + Jerk Complex

This complex can be used as a stand-alone portion of training, a lighter drill, or as a movement primer before normal jerks. 

As a movement primer, simply perform the complex for 3-5 sets during your warm-up sets to whatever your top sets are for the day. This should help you feel better about your technique before your normal, heavier jerks. 

As a light drill, shoot for 3-5 sets between 55-65% if you are spending a lot of time correcting technique each set. 

For more experienced lifters, you can push this as a main variation in your training program. 3-5 sets of the complex between 75-90% of your best jerk is a good range, with most between 75-85%, and few who could do 85-90% for this complex. I recommend sticking with it for at least four weeks and aiming to increase weight each week, assuming your technique looks good!

Hopefully, this helped! Feel free to give this a try and tag me in your video @bigbendstrength! If you ever need a free form check on your videos, you’re always welcome to join my free discord here and drop your video in the #form-checks channel. 

By the way, I’ve got a free beginner weightlifting guide and a 6-week program! If you’re new to the olympic lifts, then check it out here!

And if you’re looking for a weightlifting program designed to help you set PRs, improve your technique, and get strong af, then check out a FREE WEEK TRIAL of my 3 & 5-Day OlyStrong Team at the link below!