The push jerk drives the bar overhead with leg power and catches it in a quarter squat. Learn dip, drive and catch without a foot split or elbow chaos.
The push jerk drives the bar from the front rack overhead with a short dip and powerful leg drive and catches it in a quarter squat – both feet stay on the ground, no split. It is one of the foundational movements in CrossFit training and the base for the clean & jerk.
The honest answer: the push jerk is not a press. You do not push with your arms, you dive under the bar. It pays off: in a study of 18 trained men the one-rep max for the push jerk was 95.6 kg, slightly higher than the push press at 89.7 kg – the split jerk reached 103.0 kg [1]. That means: if you move under the bar, you move more weight.
When forces were compared at the same load (80 % of the push press max), push press, push jerk and split jerk showed no meaningful differences in the measured forces in 16 trained people [2]. That the legs do the main work in all three variants is practice standard and not part of the measurement. The participants had just over two years of weightlifting experience on average [2] – transfer to beginners is an assumption.
Realistically: the sequence sticks with an empty bar after a few sessions; solid with weight takes weeks (experience).
Bar on the shoulders, elbows high in front, feet about hip-width. The dip is short and vertical: knees forward, torso upright, about a hand's width deep.
Milestone: 3×5 dips, the torso stays vertical.
From the dip, extend hips, knees and ankles explosively. The bar lifts off the shoulders. Use an external cue – an image from outside: "jump into the ceiling", not "tense the legs". This focus improves execution and retention according to a meta-analysis [3].
Milestone: 3×5, the bar leaves the shoulders.
While the bar rises, push yourself under it: legs bend into a quarter squat, arms extend, the bar lands over the shoulders. Feet land at about the starting width.
Milestone: 3×5 with a stable catch, arms straight, the bar resting over the shoulders.
Dip, drive, catch, then stand. Do one rep at a time, each one back into the front rack. The bar falls forward and away if something goes wrong.
Milestone: 5 clean single reps with a stable stance.
Add weight in small steps (practice: only if technique holds). The bar stays close to the body.
Milestone: 3×3 with stable technique at a weight that feels demanding but not borderline.
Shoulder and back are CrossFit's most common problem zones: a meta-analysis of 9,306 participants found 3.20 injuries per 1,000 training hours, most often at spine (26.8 %) and shoulder (25.9 %) [4]. In Olympic weightlifting the injury rate is, according to a recent review, about 2.4 to 3.3 per 1,000 training hours, most often at knee, lower back, shoulder and hands or fingers (powerlifting: 1.0 to 4.4) [5]. In a prospective study of 109 CrossFit athletes, 45 % of shoulder injuries (9 of 20 cases) were associated with Olympic weightlifting [6].
In practice: learn to bail the bar forward before the weight gets heavy, and train with bumper plates on a level surface. Never hold the bar if it tips behind you. Shoulder or wrist pain is a stop signal.
This guide explains and motivates but does not replace supervised training. Have a coach check your technique before you go heavy.
Master the dip. Many athletes press the bar up without using the dip. A simple drill: do 5 dips with an empty bar, each rep with a two-second pause at the bottom. You feel how the legs "load" the bar. And one comfort: in a small study of 32 men (CrossFit novices and competition-experienced athletes), CrossFit experience explained performance in two test WODs best, ahead of VO₂max or anaerobic peak power [7] – short, frequent technique sessions beat rare weight records (experience).
In the push press your feet stay put and you press the bar overhead; in the push jerk you move under the bar and catch it in a quarter squat. In one study the max for the push jerk was higher at 95.6 kg than for the push press at 89.7 kg [1].
Both are legitimate. The split jerk moved the most weight in one study (103.0 kg) [1] but is technically more demanding. The push jerk is the better start for many.
About a hand's width (practice value): short, vertical, without the hips moving back. Too deep a dip costs time and momentum.
With an empty bar until 3×5 are clean. Then small steps. We do not quote a fixed percentage without a source.
Loose grip, elbows high, the bar on the shoulders, not in the hands. If it stabs: reduce the weight and practise front rack mobility separately.
Learn the Power Clean: Bar From the Floor to the Front Rack