A little over a week ago, we wrote about CJ Cummings squat jerking 170kg. We speculated if Cummings was switching to this jerk style for competition, or just using the squat jerk as a training tool to prep for this year’s IWF World Championships.
It’s getting increasingly more tough to tell. Yesterday, Cummings hit a 160kg, 170kg, and 180kg clean & squat jerk. We’re not going to sit and say they were extremely easy, but Cummings handled the weight really well, and didn’t give any inclination of struggle when the 180kg was overhead. Check out Cummings’ three clean & squat jerks below.
A switch to this jerk style could be a risky move, as we’re less than two months out from the World Championships, but then again, maybe it’s not. Cummings’ highest clean & jerk in competition currently sits at 185kg, which he set at this year’s IWF Youth World Weightlifting Championships. Then, he tried 186kg at the 2017 Junior World Weightlifting Championships, but missed in the jerk.
It’s hard to say which style would be best for Cummings. Check out his 185kg clean & jerk from the 2017 Youth Worlds.
The only real difference we can tell from Cummings’ split and squat jerk is the stability post-jerk. It may just be us, but it appears he’s more stable in the squat jerk, and may have better control of the weight when it gets to maximal numbers. Then again, these are only speculations, as we haven’t officially seen an attempt over 180kg.
Yet, if we look at some of the world’s best squat jerkers, then it would make sense to why Cummings appears better with this style. His strength is there, and more importantly, he has the anthropometrics to match this technique: Short torso, short femurs, and great overhead stabilizers.
Do you think we’ll see Cummings squat jerk at this year’s World Championships?
Feature image screenshot from @teambeaufort_weightlifting.