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CLEAN & JERK

In the clean and jerk (C&J), the bar is also lifted to full arm's length overhead. However, although it is considered one event, the C&J is really two lifts that must be completed one immediately after the other. In the clean, the bar is raised (pulled) in an explosive motion from the floor to a point of rest approximately at the level of the shoulders. (The rules permit lifting the bar within a zone from the chest above the nipples to a position above the shoulders, as long as the arms are in a fully bent position with the bar resting on the hands in the latter case).

The second part of the C&J, the jerk, consists of bending the legs and then extending both the arms and the legs to bring the bar to full arm's length over the head in one explosive motion. In order to make the lift easier to perform, athletes typically drop into a "split" position, or merely bend their legs quickly while the bar is rising in order to catch the bar at arm's length. Since the athlete is lifting the bar in two stages in the C&J, heavier weights can be lifted in the C&J than in the snatch.

The best lifters in the world in the lighter weight classes can lift as much as 3 times their bodyweight in the C&J. The best superheavyweight lifters in history have lifted nearly 600 lb./272.5 kg. in this lift. Often referred to as the "King (or Queen) of the lifts", the C&J is the greatest single test of overall strength and power known.*

*taken from The Weightlifting Encyclopedia, by Artie Dreschler