Common Mistake
The force that’s generated from the legs has to travel through the torso, shoulder, upper arm, forearm, and then the kettlebell opposed to traveling from the legs into the forearm and kettlebell. The latter is the most direct path and no power is leaked.
Are you making this common mistake? Assign this common mistake to your account so you can keep track of things to work on and fix. If you are a trainer, paying members can assign common mistakes to their clients.
Solution
The solution is to employ a proper crunch rack. There is also a straight rack which is employed by StrongFirst but not covered here.
A crunch rack is where the thoracic spine flexes (crunch) and the hips hyperextended as much as possible, there are other ways to achieve the same effect without good hip mobility and that’s explained in Master Kettlebell Racking. The elbow is pulled down to the ilium which is the top of the hip bone. Think of the hip as a hand that needs to push the elbow up.
One should definitely not lean forward, straight or back with a crunch are the optimal ways.
Description
This mistake applies to the jerk and push press where the force from the legs is supposed to drive the weight(s) up. In the push press, the weight is pushed up and then pressed out. In the jerk, the weight is pushed up and then the second dip pushes the person under the weight.
You can see when the elbow is disconnected when there is space between the upper arm and your body.
The cause can be one of the following but all are due to a proper crunch rack not being used:
- Leaning forward
- Shoulder flexion (lifting the arm)
- Staying straight
Drilling the movement, the jerk or push press with a good rack and only body weight is key.
This is what leaning forward looks like.
This is what a disconnect rack looks like.
This is what a double kettlebell crunch rack looks like. This racking position is used for power transfer and resting.
This is what the clean and jerk looks like, in photo 3 we can see how the shoulders are behind the hips and the elbows are pulled down through lat activation. Drilling this in slow-mo can also be of great help in understanding the position.
Related Exercises
Register or Log In and Suggest a new solution to this common mistake.