The Kettlebell Jerk

What is it good for?

The kettlebell jerk is another overhead, ballistic kettlebell lift that uses more leg power and less upper body strength than the push press.  This means that it is a more powerful lift and will allow you to perform more reps or get a heavier weight overhead than you can with the push press.  The kettlebell jerk will also give you more of a cardiorespiratory training effect than the push press.

So, in addition to all of the same benefits the push press will give you, the jerk will also:

• Reduce the stress on the shoulder joint by using more leg power.
• Require greater shoulder stability for fixation, therefore has the potential to create incredibly stable shoulders.
• Use more of the lower leg, developing power in the calves and increasing stability of the ankle joint.

The kettlebell jerk is similar to the Olympic jerk in many ways, however the kettlebell jerk is not suitable for one rep max lifts, it is best used as a high repetition lift.  One of the main reasons for this is that you cannot dump the kettlebell like you can dump a barbell, so if you attempt a one rep max and fail you go wherever the kettlebell goes – this has led to shoulder dislocation on at least one occasion.  As a rule of thumb you should never try to jerk more than about an 8RM weight and never go to failure – and only experienced lifters should attempt to jerk a kettlebell this heavy.

Where to begin?

Before attempting the jerk, you should master the overhead press and  push press.  This will give you the opportunity to get the bell path perfect, practise the dip in a simpler lift and to teach your body how to fixate the kettlebell properly – all of which are essential for safe jerk technique.

You always want to be sure that you have sufficient mobility to perform the jerk safely.  Ankle mobility is important to allow you to get into the first dip with your heels on the ground - this should be tested before doing the push press.

You catch the kettlebell in a quarter overhead squat position in the jerk, so you need to make sure you can get into this position comfortably with vertical arms – this is more demanding on your upper and lower back mobility and shoulder mobility than overhead lockout position.  A good test is to do a broomstick overhead squat with arms vertical.  If you can’t get to a quarter squat position with perfectly vertical arms then you have some mobility work to do before attempting the jerk.

The first dip

The first dip of the jerk is exactly the same as that of the push press.

The bump

The bump allows you to really use your legs to get the kettlebell up quickly and powerfully.  The bump is similar to the drive in the push press, but goes further – in the bump the heels should leave the ground so that you come right up onto your toes.

The bump is all about transferring power from the lower body into the kettlebell, and this means you want to make sure that the energy from your legs goes directly into your elbow, which is essentially the kettlebell’s contact point with your body.  You should feel the kettlebell get bumped off your hip, and if you’re getting it right you should feel a wave of energy travel from your feet up through your legs, into your hips and into the kettlebell.

It is important that you keep your toes on the ground in the bump and don’t completely leave the floor or change stance as you would with Olympic lifting.  Remember that the kettlebell isn’t well suited to one rep max work – for higher rep work it’s going to benefit you to keep your toes locked on the floor and keep the same stance, jumping around not only wastes energy but because of the odd shape of the kettlebell it will destabilise you.

Begin by practising the bump on its own.  The idea is to get the kettlebell as high as you possibly can with your legs and no input from your upper body, which means you will not get to the point where you’re locking out your arm (if you do, you’re just doing a push press).  You want to be very sure you understand the rack to overhead lockout path from your overhead press and push press work so that once the kettlebell gets as high as your legs can get it you simply let gravity take over and it’ll drop back to rack – your forearm should be vertical throughout the movement, any tilting forward or sideways is dangerous.

The drop or second Dip

Once you’re very comfortable with the bump it’s time to add in the next phase of the jerk, which is dropping underneath the kettlebell (also known as the second dip).  The idea of this is that you use more lower body and less upper body than you would if you were to press the kettlebell out into overhead lockout position.  Your legs are stronger and will take longer to fatigue than your arms and this is why the jerk is a more powerful lift than the push press.

When you drop underneath the kettlebell you finish in the quarter overhead squat position, with your arm locked out vertically.  This is the point at which fixation should begin, you should stop the kettlebell as soon as your heels hit the ground and your arm locks out.  If the kettlebell is wobbling around in that quarter overhead squat position not only is your shoulder going to cop it, but your back is in a reasonably vulnerable position too so could end up injured.

Check out the below picture of Surya (women's 20kg jerk record holder) from the Ice Chamber in the second dip of the jerk:

As with the push press, your ability to stop the kettlebell is partly dependent on having the handle in the correct position on your hand so that it is locked in on your forearm and doesn’t have a free end that can jump around.  This becomes even more important with the jerk because there’s much more movement and stopping the kettlebell is more difficult.

When you catch the kettlebell in the drop you want to make sure that your hips and heel are underneath kettlebell so they can support its weight and you are stable.  This means you will need to focus on getting your hips back far enough in the drop and shift the weight back into your heels.

The drop can be a difficult concept to get your head around, unless you’ve done some Olympic lifting.  So, it’s a good idea to practise the sequence of movements from rack to the second dip without a kettlebell until you feel comfortable with it, then add the bell in.  The “ceiling drill” can help cue you in to drop at the correct time: get someone to hold their hand about 15cm above your head and go through the dip and bump, as soon as your hand hits theirs in the bump that’s your cue to drop into a quarter squat and lock out your arm.

Standing up and completing fixation

After the second dip, the upward phase of the jerk is simply completed by standing up.  You want to hold the kettlebell in overhead lockout position for a moment, and then bring it back to rack.  A lot of people try to drop the kettlebell back to rack as they stand up from the second dip, which robs them of many of the benefits of the lift such as building supreme shoulder stability and means fixation isn’t completed.

In order to be able to finish the upward phase by simply standing up you want to make sure you get your arm into exactly the right position for overhead lockout in the second dip.  It’s very common for people to have their arm forward, in the second dip and then get it into a vertical position as they stand up, which is less than ideal in terms of stability and shoulder fatigue.

Returning the kettlebell to rack

The final phase of the jerk is returning the kettlebell to rack.  Ideally, in order to further reduce the demands on the shoulder, you want to eliminate any eccentric contraction by letting the bell fall back to rack position – a controlled drop.

Start by lowering the kettlebell slowly to make sure you know exactly where it should be going and can get it directly back to rack without and forwards or sideways detours.  Then, get progressively faster.

Brushing the front of your shoulder with the kettlebell as you let it fall back to rack will help you keep the kettlebell close to your body and on a safe path back to rack.

As you get more advanced, you can come up onto your toes to meet the kettlebell as it’s dropping (thereby reducing the distance it has to travel before reaching your body and further taking the load off your shoulder), absorbing the shock with your legs, then re-setting your rack position.  Don’t come up onto your toes too early, wait till the kettlebell has dropped about a third of the distance before going up to meet it.

Letting the kettlebell fall back to rack will allow you to preserve your shoulders and therefore get more reps out.  If you are looking to lift heavy, you will need to be able to let the kettlebell fall because you will get to a point where you can no longer lower it eccentrically (the weight is too heavy) and you don’t have the option of dumping it as you would with a barbell (see the video in the next section with Pavlos jerking the 90kg bell).

Stringing it all together

You can use the weight shift in your feet, or the movement of your hips, to tie all of the phases of the kettlebell jerk together and shape them into one flowing movement:

So the weight shift in your feet will go like this:

• Heels in the first dip
• Toes in the bump
• Back to heels in the drop

You can also think about the movement of your hips:

• Forward in the first dip
• Up in the bump
• Back and down in the drop

Breathing for the kettlebell jerk

As with the push press, breathing for the jerk is dictated by the need to maintain an elbow-body connection in the first dip in order to be able to effectively use the lower body to power the lift and the need to relax at the appropriate time to be able to generate more speed (more speed basically equals more power).

So, the best breathing pattern for a kettlebell jerk is an anatomical one as it enables you to use your legs most effectively (see the video below of Pavlos Georgiadis’ jerk record with the 90kg kettlebell and note that he is using an anatomical breathing pattern).

You can start out with a simple pattern when you first learn to get the hang of it:

• Exhale during the first dip
• Inhale as you bump the kettlebell up
• Exhale as you return the bell back to rack
• Inhale in rack to reset

The ideal pattern, which you can start with or try once you’re comfortable with the above pattern, is:

• Exhale during the first dip
• Inhale as you bump the kettlebell up
• Exhale as you catch the kettlebell overhead in the second dip
• Inhale as you stand up
• Exhale as you return the bell back to rack

Then, when you’re more advanced you can add as many breaths as you need in rack position and overhead lockout to get the pace you want.

Technique tips for the kettlebell jerk

A lot of the mistakes people make with the push press are mistakes they would make with the overhead press and push press, so a really helpful tip for the jerk is simply to get the overhead press and push press right first.

Some other things that will help:

• The easiest way to learn the jerk is the break the movement down into its 5 phases (dip, bump, drop, stand up and drop the bell back to rack), go through each one individually and then string them together slowly, getting progressively faster as skill develops.  Do this without a weight first, then add in the kettlebell.
• Fixation should begin at the second dip, this is the point where you really want to focus on stopping the bell - this is essential for safe lifting.  Ensure you lock the arm out fully when you catch the kettlebell overhead in the second dip, the arm lockout and the heels hitting the ground should happen simultaneously.
• It is important that the elbow maintains contact with the body during the first bump to ensure efficient power transfer from the legs into the bell.  One of the most common mistakes people make with the kettlebell jerk is losing that elbow body connection in the first dip through a break in the hips and incorrect breathing patterns.
• The more you relax into the first dip the quicker and more powerful your bump will be.
• Once your legs start moving in the first dip they should continue to move without stopping until you finish standing up.  Stopping at any time will reduce your efficiency and power generation.

Double Jerks

The only real differences between singles and doubles with kettlebell jerks are:

• Double rack position and overhead lockout position give you less wiggle room (you can’t rotate or shift your weight to one side) so have higher flexibility and mobility demands.
• You need to be aware of exactly what your double rack position is (handles stacked or not) so that you can let the kettlebells fall back to rack without damaging your fingers.

Getting kettlebell jerks into your training

The kettlebell jerk can be used in training like the overhead press and push press to provide an overhead component in your training regime, for balancing out upper body pulling movements and in complexes like the clean and jerk.

The jerk is perfect for high repetition lifting because it’s so efficient and spares the arms as much as possible.  It’s great for developing power endurance in the legs, stability in the shoulders and when done at a decent pace has an intense effect on the cardiorespiratory system.  This means the jerk is great as a supplement for many athletic pursuits, especially when it is balanced out with a clean in long cycle or with swing or snatch training.

The slow motion video of Denisov doing clean and jerk below is great for analysing jerk technique as well as clean and jerk - this is a video that's always worth coming back to if you really want to break down these lifts and study perfect form.