.
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: Read more…
.
Here is some more feedback from various experts on weightlifting pulling
style (some names have temporarily been withheld until such time that the
persons concerned join our list):
1. This letter was sent to me by one of the most famous Eastern European
lifters, a legendary world champion and one of the few in the world who ever
managed to snatch twice bodyweight in the heavier divisions:
The topic of the week [on the weightlifting pull] was very interesting to me.
I do have only one problem with the flatfooted pull. As they say, “the
flatfooted pull will give you flatfooted results”. We certainly don’t want to
get that. We do know for a fact that the lifters are trying their best to get
to fully extended position before get under the bar. I do not see it
happening, by staying on your heels. Another small detail – if you go to an Read more…
.
The discussion on weightlifting pulling styles that I have been enjoying with
Istvan Javorek on IWF list continues:
Istvan Javorek:
In addition, I would like to share some of my ideas from my upcoming book:
The Step-by-step phases of the classical Snatch and Clean & Jerk exercise are:
- Start
- Pull to squat or split:
- First phase of pull with leg extension
- First phase of pull with trunk extension
- Second phase of pull: spontaneous knees bent
- Second phase of pull: straight-arms, elbows turned out
- Second phase of pull: final leg-trunk extension
- Second phase of pull: central of gravity on straight vertical line, body
weight between balls of the feet and heels, slightly more toward the heels
- Second phase of pull: hit the barbell on flat foot Read more…
.
Here is some discussion from the IWF list between Istvan Javorek and myself
on the weightlifting pull:
Mel Siff wrote:
<I have just completed several hours of normal and slow motion viewing of
video tapes of several recent weightlifting championships, including the
European and World Championships from 1999 onwards in an attempt to assess if
most of the world’s top lifters indeed use the allegedly more efficient
pulling with little or no plantarflexion (heel raise) method vs the style of
pulling with prominent plantarflexion, as has been claimed by some present
day coaches. What I saw was that most lifters still pull with a significant
degree of plantarflexion, so it would be interesting to know why this is so,
assuming that this method should be regarded as archaic and inefficient.
This suggests one of several things:
Alternative # 1 The majority of modern lifters are lifting in an inefficient
manner and would improve their totals if they changed to the more flatfooted
pulling style?>
Istvan Javorek:
It would not help changing a consecrated athlete’s technique, but would be
more detrimental to his/her performance, due to “confusion” in neuromuscular Read more…
.
For those who may not yet have studied some photographs of the flatfooted and
plantarflexed pulling styles as used by some of the world’s top lifters, go
to the following files in our Supertraining Files section:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/files/Pulls1.jpg
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/files/Pulls2.jpg
It was written:
> Also pulling is not as big a problem as other matters of technique,
> such as the jerk. Although clean and jerk performances have fallen
> since the 1980s, there are two two snatch records that have exceeded
> the old world records and lifters on average seem to have a higher
> snatch: C&J ration than before. As for the C&J, it is rare to see a
> lifter fail to rack the bar so the pull is rarely the limiting factor
> in the C&J.
Mel Siff:
> [The pull is a crucial aspect of lifting, especially in the snatch, since
> it decrees where and when you are able to drop under the bar to
> catch it and stabilise most efficiently. One cannot compare the lifts today Read more…