For Coaches: Teaching the Push Press and Push Jerk to a Group
Updated: Oct 15
Ask a class of twelve to push press and you will see twelve different dips. Some sit back like they're starting a squat, some fold forward at the hips, and a few barely bend their knees and press with their arms. Add the push jerk and it gets messier.
The push press and push jerk are two of the most useful overhead movements we teach. They show up on strength days and in metcons, and they share one foundation, so if you teach them in the right order, the first makes the second easier to learn.
Here's how I teach both lifts to a group in about fifteen to twenty minutes, and what I watch for from the side.
IN THIS ARTICLE
Start With the Dip, Not the Bar
Everything in these two lifts starts with the dip and drive. If the dip is wrong, nothing after it will be right, so I start here with a PVC pipe or an empty barbell in the front rack.
The dip is short and straight down. Think of it as a quarter squat that stays vertical: knees travel forward and slightly out, heels stay down, the torso stays tall and the weight stays over the middle of the foot. Depth is usually a few inches, not a real squat. The drive is an aggressive extension of the hips and knees that sends force up into the bar.
Dip and hold. A three-second pause at the bottom of the dip. Walk the room and check heels, torso angle and knee direction.
Dip and drive to the toes. Five reps, finishing tall on the balls of the feet with the bar still sitting in the rack.
Dip, drive and let the bar pop. The bar should leave the shoulders by a few inches from leg drive alone, with no help from the arms.
Add the press. Now the arms finish what the legs started. That's a push press.
That order teaches athletes that the legs are the engine. Skip straight to the press and the arms take over.
The Push Press: Legs Start It, Arms Finish It
Once the class owns the dip and drive, the push press comes together quickly. I keep two positions in mind. In the rack, the elbows sit slightly in front of the bar, not as high as in a front squat, so the bar rests on the shoulders and has a straight path upward. Overhead, the bar finishes over the middle of the foot, biceps near the ears, head through the window and midline tight.
The bar path should be straight up, which means the face has to get out of the way. I teach athletes to tilt the chin back slightly as the bar passes, then push the head through once it clears the forehead. The common faults I see in a group, roughly in the order they show up:
Dipping forward. The chest drops and the bar drifts out front. Cue the knees forward and the chest tall.
Pressing too early. The arms bend before the legs finish. Go back to the bar pop drill so they feel the bar get light.
Soft finish. The bar ends in front of the face. Ask for a head-through and a one-second lockout hold.
Heels up in the dip. The weight shifts to the toes. Pause in the dip and have them wiggle their toes.
Turning the Push Press Into a Push Jerk
The push jerk uses the same dip and drive. The difference is what happens after the drive. Instead of pressing the bar all the way to lockout, the athlete pushes themselves down under it, catches in a partial squat with the arms already locked, and then stands up to finish.
The simplest way I've found to explain it: in a push press, you move the bar. In a push jerk, you move yourself. I build it in three short steps.
Landing position first. From standing, athletes jump and land in a quarter squat with the feet slightly wider than their jumping stance and a PVC locked overhead. This teaches the receiving position and the quick foot movement.
Press under. With the PVC already overhead, they drop into a partial dip while pressing up to lockout. This introduces the idea of punching the arms while the body moves down.
Full push jerk. Dip, drive, punch under, land, stand. Start with PVC, then the empty barbell, and make sure the arms lock out at the same moment the feet land.
Coach's cue: Drive up hard, then punch yourself down. Arms locked when the feet hit.
Managing the Room: Lanes, Loading and Time
Teaching lifts in class is as much logistics as technique. I set up lanes or a horseshoe and have everyone face the same direction, so I get a side view as I walk the line.
For time, a simple structure works well: about eight minutes of teaching and drills with PVC or empty bars, then ten to twelve minutes of building. A sample strength piece might look like this:
Push press. Five sets of three, building to a moderate weight and resting about ninety seconds. Coach one fault per athlete per set, not three.
Push jerk. Every minute for eight minutes, two reps, starting light and adding weight only if the landing looks the same as the warm-up reps.
I also tell the class upfront that the push jerk usually allows more weight than the push press, but only when the landing is solid. If the catch is soft or the bar lands in front, the athlete stays at their current weight. Loading is a reward for good positions, not a goal on its own.
What I Learned the Hard Way About Overhead Days
Early in my coaching, I taught the push jerk by demoing it once and letting everyone go. I thought a clean demo would be enough. Half the class ended up doing fast push presses with a little knee bend at the end, and I spent the rest of the hour chasing them. The next time, I broke it into the drills above. It cost five extra minutes, and the whole group looked better. I'm still learning to slow down at the start so the class can go faster later, and overhead days are where that lesson first landed for me.
The other lesson is about mobility. Some athletes cannot get the bar over the middle of the foot yet because of shoulder or upper back restrictions. For them, forcing a full lockout under load isn't worth it. Keep the weight light, try a slightly wider grip, or switch to a dumbbell variation for that session. If an athlete reports pain rather than tightness, send them to a qualified physio before you keep loading the movement.
Build the Foundation Once, Use It for Years
The push press and push jerk are worth teaching well because they come back again and again. Good dip-and-drive habits carry into the thruster, the split jerk and even wall balls. Bad habits carry over too.
Keep the order simple: dip, drive, press, then dip, drive, punch under. Watch from the side, coach one fault at a time, and let loading follow position. If your athletes want more focused overhead and engine work outside of class, point them toward Sphere Programming so their extra sessions support what you're teaching on the floor.
Your turn. I'm still learning as a coach too. If you run this differently in your gym, share it in the comments below. I read every one and would love to learn from you. If it was useful, tap the heart so more coaches find it.
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Coach Fritz Bautista · Head Coach, ATHLETESPHERE
CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2) ✓ · CrossFit Programming Certificate · MBA Graduate · Digital Marketing Certified · Coaching athletes from all walks of life online
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