If you struggle with pressing out the jerk, chasing lifts forward, or feeling like the jerk just doesn't make sense, you might be struggling with a key element of the jerk, timing. 

You can have perfect footwork, balance, and dip and drive mechanics, but if you don’t know how to get under the bar fast, your jerk will always lag behind. 

Luckily, there’s a fantastic drill to help you isolate and feel this key phase of the lift, the Tall Jerk. 

P.S. If you prefer to watch the video version, click here or at the bottom of the article!

What Is The Tall Jerk?

The tall jerk is a drill designed to isolate and feel the punch-under phase of the jerk. If you’re not familiar, then it can help to understand one of the most important keys to the olympic lifts:

“Legs move the bar up, arms move the body down.”

In the jerk, the legs should do most of the work to elevate the bar to around eye level to forehead level. However, after this, when the bar has reached its maximum height and is momentarily weightless, you must use your arms to punch yourself down under the bar. Most people however simply fall under the bar which is too slow and is likely causing all of your timing issues. 

In the Snatch and Clean, this is more widely understood as people call it the “Third Pull” in which you pull yourself under the bar at the peak of its height, however, for many this can be tough to apply when it comes to the jerk.

This is where the Tall Jerk can help. 

How To Perform

To perform the Tall Jerk, start with the bar on your front rack position with your jerk grip. Press the bar to about eye/forehead level, then quickly punch yourself under into your split position. 

There should be no assistance from your legs to elevate the bar, which means the kind of weight you can use for this exercise is inherently limited by how much you can shoulder press. 

Some coaches may program this intending for you to both press the bar to eye level and calf raise to the top of your extension, and while this may mirror the actual movement that should happen during the jerk, I’ve found it is more limiting than it is helpful. 

Check out the video demo here!

Implementation

The Tall Jerk is one of my favorite movement primers for the jerk which you can read more about here, but it can also be used as a stand-alone exercise before your upper body strength workout like I frequently program on the Skills & Strength days in my 5-Day OlyStrong Weightlifting Program. 

As I mentioned earlier, this exercise is limited by what you can comfortably shoulder press, and therefore you should plan to keep these to no heavier than about 40% of your jerk for 3-5 sets of 2-5 reps. 

One benefit to this drill is that because it is so light, it requires little to no recovery and can be performed as often as needed to see an improvement in your jerk. 

Hopefully, this clarified some things for you and maybe even gave you a lightbulb moment with your technique. 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!