Josh Wells is a Starting Strength coach and he´s been doing Olympic weightlifting for over 26 years. Today I’m going to explain to you based on the experience and knowledge of coach Josh Wells about how to improve foot position in the split jerk as you move under the bar and then recover to the finished position.

One of the things that he’s seen that is probably the easiest to correct is the footwork on a split jerk. The footwork allows you to drop very quickly and it’s more forgiving than a squat jerk or a push jerk. So, it’s very common for everybody todo it. However, the biggest mistake he sees though is one figuring out which foot to lead with and then also what the back leg’s doing. And then there’s even a third thing. The third one is your recovery.

If somebody were to come up behind you and push you, what foot would you catch yourself with? If it´s your right foot, then your right foot’s going to be your lead foot and your left leg is going to be your back leg. So, when you’re doing the split jerk, you’re going to focus primarily on the front leg, whatever your lead leg is. The reason for that is your back leg’s naturally going to go back. You don’t have to necessarily worry so much about that. It’s your front leg. If they’re not focused on that front leg, they’re going to short change it. So, they’re not going to reach out far enough. You always need to reach that front leg out further than you think you should. So, it’s really reach. Notice how much lower you got, and how much further your legs split.

So you’re going to try to essentially slide that front leg as far out as you possibly can. And Josh Wells says “slide” because you don’t want to gallop and get that out there. It takes too much time. You want to get out there as quick as you can like you’re killing a cockroach very quickly. So reach your front leg out as far as you can.

Your back leg is going to go back. With your back leg, you want the knee to be bent. Your front shin will be almost vertical. Your back knee will be in a very nice semi-lunge. And what are your feet doing? Your back heel is going to be turned out. Your front toe is going to be turned in. This makes everything kind of close in on it. Whereas if you do the reverse and open up that back toe, it’s going to open up your hips. It’s not something you want to do, but keeping everything in and centralized into your hips, it’s much more stable this way.

So, from the front on it’s going to look like this:

• Toes slightly in.
• Back heel slightly out.

We’re good. So, you also notice that the front leg went straight forward, and the back leg went straight back. It’s not that you’re going out and you’re not tight ropping it either. Just everything goes straight forward and straight back.

Now, to recover:

1. Front leg comes back.
2. Back leg comes forward.

Always recover that way. If you get in the habit of pushing the back leg first, you’re going to make it go forward. You’re going to walk off the platform every single time.

So, let’s review this very quickly:

• Front leg is reached as far out as you can.
• Back leg is going to go back.
• Your toes are pointed in.
• Your heels are slightly out.
• And then when you recover, first front foot and then back foot.

Work on your footwork before adding it into your jerk with the bar and that way, you don’t have to think about it. If you do this over and over again until you get tired of it, you’re going to set yourself up for success that once you add the bar because you’re not having to think about the footwork.

Bibliographic references:

• Starting Strength. (2025). Improve Your Footwork in the Split Jerk [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/U_gTE_ZEJJA?si=49iYKPpirS2bupEk