With the push jerk, you will be able to move overhead as much as 30 percent more weight than with the push press. Similar to the push press, the push jerk employs the hips to create upward momentum on the bar, but the athlete then pushes against the bar with the arms and dips a second time to receive the push jerk in a partial squat. With the arms locked out, the legs complete the lift. After mastering the push jerk, you will find that it will unconsciously displace the push press as your method of choice when going overhead.

For the jerk, as in the snatch and clean, certain parts of the body have to move out of the way of the bar so it can travel up straight. In other words, these parts have to move around the bar. In the jerk, of course, the head is the only obstacle. Also, the distance from the shoulders to overhead is a much shorter than that from the ground to the shoulders or the ground to overhead.

A teaching progression breaks down the full movement into small steps. Oftentimes, the progression can also serve to offer scaling options of the Rx’d movement along the way. This simple and structured approach can be applied to teaching any movement and is a tool that all coaches should have in their back pocket.