To Clean or to Clean and Jerk

I’m a keep a simple type of Weightlifting Coach. I like my Weightlifters to focus on max 1-3 different issues at a time and then move on to the next. I’ve found that throwing too many things all at once can potentially frustrate and confuse the Weightlifter.

Keep It Simple Method

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of novice and intermediate lifters combining the Clean and Jerk during their training. This can be fine if you’re preparing for a competition, but if you’re away from a competition phase, I like to separate the two lifts. Separating the clean and jerk allows the lifter to focus on one movement at a time and maintains the quality of the rep.

In my experience, combining the clean and jerk (outside of a competition phase) fatigued the lifter and diminished the quality of each rep. The lifter either was focused on making the clean or was looking a head to the jerk and wasn’t focused on the positioning during each part of the lift.

This of course will be subjective to the lifter but for the majority of Weightlifters that are learning the sport, I’ve found great success in separating the lifts and keeping the focus as simple as possible.

Train smart,

Team Fusion Weightlifting