[fat Loss]

A Big Lebowski reference is certainly in order, as you're about to enter a world of pain my friends.

The single and/or double kettlebell jerk is a full body explosive-power and endurance movement.

The jerk is a staple among Girevoy Sport (kettlebell sport) practitioners. They either compete in short cycle (one clean followed by consecutive jerks), or in long cycle (one clean for every jerk). The goal is maximum reps in a certain amount of time (typically ten minutes). The amount of strength and mental toughness that many of these athletes exhibit is what initially drew me to the jerk. These indomitable behemoths (poor choice of word perhaps, because some weigh even less than the amount of weight they were jerking!) seemed almost impervious to fatigue and damage, as they constantly hoisted 64kg over their heads, rep after rep.

It is imperative that you have a certain degree of shoulder mobility and overhead stability before attempting to jerk a kettlebell. The Turkish Get Up and military press are both prerequisites for the jerk. So be sure to spend plenty of time developing your stability and mobility with the overhead grinding movements first, before progressing to the overhead power movements. If you get hurt because you were overly ambitious, you only have yourself to blame!

Start with a single kettlebell, eventually working your way to double bells. In the sport style kettlebell jerk, the rack position will be slightly different. We will focus more on the sport style jerk, because I feel that once you have learned and become proficient at the sport style jerk, it is simple enough to transition to a hardstyle jerk, but not necessarily the other way around.

Clean the bell(s) up, remember to loosen the grip so that the bells rotate freely around the forearm with little impact.

Opening the hands and loosening the grip will allow you to secure a false grip on the bells and reposition the handles. If you are only using a single bell, then don't worry about the repositioning yet, but if you are using two bells, then you actually want to place one handle a bell on top the other so that they are over laced. Now the false grip is where we tuck our fingers into the bell handles, rather than have a full grip around them. This gets our fingers out of the way so they do not get smashed between the handles of the bells. The other option is to just overlap (not intertwine) your fingers as well, see what feels more comfortable for you. It is more of a preference thing than a mandatory nuance; just don't crush your fingers between the bells, as I can tell you from experience, that the feeling is anything but pleasant. Many GS(girevoy sport) practictioners may also even interlace/intertwine their fingers as they get tired in order to stop the bells from yanking their arms out, as the rack position is also the rest position competing in kettlebell sport, so you will quickly learn to get the rest anywhere you can find it! Obviously you must unlace your fingers before continuing into another jerk.

In the picture above I have my fingers overlaced.

Now notice that in my rack my hips have come forward to support my elbows, again making this as much of a rest position as possible. My glutes are still engaged in order to protect my back. This rack position may feel unnatural at first, as it takes some getting used to.

Now what we want to do in this rack position is try to get our elbows down to our hip bone, push our hips forward, keep our glutes engaged, and keep our hands very close to our center line. Our knees should also be locked out in this position. With one kettlebell is it simple for most people to get their elbow to their hip, however, due to various body structures, it is simply not possible for everyone to get both elbows to the iliac crest when using two bells. Do not sweat this genetic disadvantage too much if you do not have the optimum arm to torso ratio to get your elbows to your hips, just choose better parents next time! What you can do instead, is rest in the "side rack" position, where you lean and shift the weight over on side of the hip, maintaining contact with only one elbow. Just be sure to come back to your center line before initiating your jerk. The whole reason we want to get our elbows as close to our hips as possible in the first place, is so that we may distribute the weight load to the hip rather than the back.

To start the jerk, you have to take your first dip. The first dip is where you will get your power from. Bend your knees approximately 120 degrees, while still keeping your feet flat on the floor. Now, remember that this is a dip, not a squat! The knees will in fact come forward, and that is what we want.

Once your first dip is loaded, begin to forcefully extend your knees as if you are attempting to "jump the weight up", you may even come onto the balls of your feet. Simultaneously begin to push your chest through the bells, in an upward and outward motion (like you are suddenly becoming very proud of yourself). This sharp thoracic extension is known as a "chest bump" and assists in accelerating the bells upward.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1825548999213&set=a.1775441066546.102591.1254914965

Next you need to "catch" the weight. This is where the second dip comes into play. But be careful of the terminology, because the second "dip" is now actually more of a squat, as you want to shoot your heels and your butt, backwards and down to come under the weight, locking the bells out overhead. Timing is of importance here, and it will take much practice to perfect this movement. You want the second dip to be incredibly fast. Straighten your arms under the bells as you shoot your heels and butt back. You should finish in a somewhat quarter squat position, with everything in nice alignment.

Keep the bells locked out overhead, as you stand straight up to finish the rep.

To drop the bells come up onto the balls of your feet yet again and push your hips forward, as you let the bells drop down without resistance right to your hips. Do not attempt to control the descent of the bells, as prolonging the eccentric portion of the movement will only waste energy and fatigue your upper body. Your arms are used to simply guide the bells right back into the rack position. Let out a sharp exhalation as the bells come into contact with your body so that you do not get the wind knocked out of you, and also bend your knees to absorb the impact.i

Tagged with: [fat loss]

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