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Push jerk

Also called power jerk, barbell push jerk.

What is a push jerk?

A push jerk takes a barbell from the shoulders to overhead using a short dip and leg drive. You bend the knees again to receive it on straight arms in a partial squat, then stand. This second knee bend distinguishes it from a push press.

Exercise illustration: Front-rack dip and overhead catch with a second knee bend and parallel feet.

How do you perform a push jerk?

Set up

  1. Set a bar on rack hooks just below shoulder height and clear enough space overhead and around your feet. Start with a light bar; practice safely releasing a missed overhead lift onto a clear platform with a coach.
  2. Take a grip a little wider than your shoulders, unrack the bar onto your shoulders and step clear. Stand balanced with the elbows slightly in front of the bar and brace your torso.

Execution

  1. Dip a short distance by bending the knees while keeping your torso upright and the bar resting on your shoulders.
  2. Drive forcefully upward through the feet to send the bar overhead. Move your head clear of its path.
  3. Quickly bend the knees again as you fix the elbows straight. Receive in a partial squat with the feet under you and the bar balanced above your base of support.
  4. Steady the bar, then stand fully upright. Return it to your shoulders with a light load you can control, or use your practiced safe release onto a clear platform.

Common mistakes

  • Pressing slowly through the whole lift

    Use a light weight and practice the drive followed by a quick second knee bend.

  • Catching with bent elbows

    Reduce the weight and move beneath the bar sooner. Do not turn the catch into a prolonged press.

  • Landing with the feet extremely wide

    Choose a receiving stance that lets you balance and stand comfortably.

Where it fits in a session

Practice this near the start of the session, after your planned warm-up and before tiring assistance work.

Use short sets and return to a settled front rack between attempts. Stop if the second knee bend disappears, the elbows remain bent or the bar drifts beyond your base of support.

Muscles worked

Front
Front — Schematic surface view. Some muscles are partly visible or not shown.
Back
Back — Schematic surface view. Some muscles are partly visible or not shown.

Primary

Secondary

Select a muscle name to locate it.

Schematic surface view. Some muscles are partly visible or not shown.

Variations

  • Exercise illustration: Front rack, dip, split catch with straight arms overhead and recovered stance.
    Split jerkReceives in a front-to-back split stance.
  • Four-frame anatomical illustration of a barbell push press from the front rack through a short dip and leg drive to an overhead finish, with the shoulders, arms and legs highlighted.
    Push pressUses the first dip and drive but finishes with straight legs.
  • Anatomical illustration of a standing barbell overhead press, drawn as two frames side by side. On the left the figure stands upright with feet about hip-width apart, holding a loaded barbell across the front of the shoulders with the elbows under the bar and the forearms vertical. On the right the same figure has pressed the bar to straight arms above and slightly behind the head. The bar is lifted from the front of the shoulders rather than taken out of a rack, and the figure is standing, not seated. In both frames the shoulder muscles are shaded red over the front and side of each shoulder; in the overhead frame the shading continues down the back of each upper arm over the triceps. The rest of the body is drawn in plain grey.
    Overhead pressPresses without leg drive or a receiving knee bend.

Frequently asked questions

Is a push jerk the same as a power jerk?

The names overlap in common coaching usage. Here, both refer to a non-split jerk received above parallel. A squat jerk deliberately receives much deeper and is a separate movement.

Can I start it with a clean?

Yes. A clean followed by a push jerk is one version of the clean and jerk. This page starts from a rack so you can practice the jerk on its own.

Do the feet need to leave the floor?

A small move into the receiving stance is common, but do not chase a high jump. Practice the dip, drive and move under with a light bar.

Sources

  1. Mohammed A. Miniato; Prashanth Anand; Matthew A. Varacallo. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Shoulder. 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/books/NBK536933/

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