Dr Mel Siff Blog

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Mel Siff:

<If one could Press a heavy load, then one could easily jerk at least that
same amount and usually about 20kg more, so that many big pressers could
defeat a lifter who had a good snatch, but a weak jerk.>

A member wrote:

<<Not necessarily, in my humble opinion. A jerk and the press aren’t that
closely related as they seem to be.

Obviously if your press is larger, so is your jerk. But superior technique is
a must for a big jerk. My current 1RM press is 65 kilos and my 1RM jerk is
75. Obviously technique has a lot to do with it. I have a relatively strong
press considering my experience in weightlifting but as you can see, the jerk
is a lot about technique and agility in the legs. As an example is a lifter
in the gym where I train who has a 80 kilo press for 2-3 reps and has a max
jerk of 135 kilos. His massive load in the jerk comes from technique.>>

Mel Siff:

*** Note that I stated “usually”, not “always”. My remark was based on many
years of competitive and refereeing experience with the Press. And to back
this up, here are some randomly chosen Presses and C&Js of a few top lifters
from the good old Pressing days up to 1972:

M Nassiri (56kg) 112.5 — 150.0
Y Miyake (60kg) 122.5 — 152.5
W Baszanowski (67.5kg) 140.0 — 170.0
Pete George (75kg) 120.0 — 157.5
Tommy Kono (82.5kg) 142.5 — 165.0
A Vorobyev (90kg) 145.0 — 170.0
Yuri Vlasov (90kg) 187.5 — 210.0
David Rigert (90kg) 185.0 — 207.5
Louis Martin (90kg) 150.0 — 185.0
L Zhabotinsky (Superh) 187.5 — 217.5
V Alexeyev (Superh) 230.0 — 235.0

In fact, in most divisions below Superheavy, there was at least a 20-25kg
difference between Press and C&J. One simply cannot base one’s opinions on
observations made on gym presses and jerks outside the competitive setting.
As I have stressed several times before, the Olympic Press is very different
from the Military Press and any other types of press, so what you consider to
be a typical Olympic Press might not resemble that movement at all.

Your comment about superior technique being “a must for a big jerk” seems to
corroborate this conclusion, because you are implying that the jerk involves
more technical skill than a legitimate Olympic Press. This could not be
further from the truth, since a genuine, explosive Olympic Press can easily
involve more skill than a Jerk.

If you have not been coached by someone who has competed in the Pressing days
(up to 1972), it is very unlikely that you or your heavier lifting
colleague in the gym have mastered the correct way of doing the Olympic
Press. One can Olympic Press far more than one can military press.

That could well explain the difference between his 135kg jerk and his
apparently miserable Press of 80kg – he might be executing a rather slow
military style press without using pretensed back extension and body sway.
If that is the case, then his press is not at all bad, but if he is using
proper Olympic pressing technique, then something must be seriously amiss.
That large difference between his press and jerk may also be due to a weak
press, not necessarily a strong jerk. What is his bodymass, by the way?
What about his snatch?

Dr Mel Siff
Denver, USA
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/

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Tags: Agility, Dr Mel Siff, Facts And Fallacies Of Fitness, Heavy Load, Jerks, Lifter, Lifters, Massive Load, Mel Siff, Military Press, olympic press, Pressers, Super Training, Superheavy, Supertraining, Tommy Kono, Vorobyev, Weightlifting, Yuri Vlasov