The Snatch - Part 1

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The Snatch – Part 1

Introductions

The snatch is arguably the most technically involved movement you can perform in the gym.

The bar travels from floor to overhead in one fluid motion. There’s little scope for error. But awesome when it goes right.

Before we get started!! Let’s go over the very basics. We need to know how to hold the bar.

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Grip placement

Snatch grip placement is far simpler than people make it. Your grip width is whatever it takes to rest the bar in your hip crease with straight arms and a tight upper back. It should stay in this position with a mild hip and knee bend.

This should be a knuckle-down grip with relaxed arms and an active upper back. The wider you go, the higher up on the body it will contact, and vice versa. Too high and you’ll smack your pubic bone, too low and you’ll whack your thighs (or worse, IYKYK).

This grip width should also translate to the overhead position – you need to be able to hold the bar well overhead with that same grip…

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Overhead squat

As a beginner, the overhead squat will be the bane of your existence. It’s among the most demanding things you can do with a barbell, for mobility and stability alike. It requires a few traits that we continue to work on forever as weightlifters:

• Upper back mobility and stability
• Shoulder and tricep strength
• Proper hip mobility and control
• Back and core strength and control
• Ankle mobility (to let the knees move forward and maintain torso position)

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Building up to an elite-level overhead squat will probably require as much practice as it takes to get elite-level anywhere else in weightlifting. The effort is constant, and will involve a lot of work.

At the start, just work from the top down and focus on pausing every overhead squat you ever do. Use this time to build mobility, and focus on constant upward pressure on the bar. Hips back and down, chest out, bar behind your head. Theoretically, at least, it’s that easy.

There’s no hack here. Just lots of time, reps, and practice.

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Turnover

The turnover happens between the pull and the overhead squat. It’s one of the most important parts of the snatch (and the clean) –it’s where all your work on elevating the bar pays off. It also demands that you keep your upper back tight and extended, let the shoulders rise, and pull the bar up / yourself down.

This means a lot of messy upper back and shoulder movement. If you’re limited here, you want to work on it ASAP to build the movement freedom and familiarity to get it right. If you’re tight around the shoulders, it will feel uncomfortable and you may end up letting the bar out front(literally never a good thing).

Get your shoulders moving. Olympic weightlifting movements for the snatch like empty-bar muscle snatches and high pulls from the hip can help develop this movement. It’s a key part of the snatch and needs to be practiced– stretching around the lats, triceps, traps, and chest should let you move a little more freely.

Missing safely

Before you learn to lift, you need to learn to not lift. There’s nothing more worrying than someone who doesn’t know how to miss. We’ve all shared sideways glances when someone holds the bar too long in a snatch that goes behind, or a low-elbowed clean.

Weightlifting is pretty simple: either you’ve got it or you haven’t. There are grey areas but, as a beginner, it’s important to err on the side of caution. If you get your ego out of the way, missing safely is the easiest thing in the world: give the bar a push and jump out of the way and the bar will go straight down towards the floor.

There’s no punishment for missing a lift. I, myself, am an expert at missing lifts. The point is that – make or miss – you should come out ready to do another good lift. This doesn’t work if you dislocate a shoulder or drop the bar on yourself because you didn’t let go in time.

The same goes for straps. We make “open” straps with a wide(single) loop around securement method for safety reasons. Traditional gym straps that loop around the wrist and multiple times around a bar are a safety hazard, they won’t come undone in time. It’s common to see people get injured with these types of straps as they don’t ‘let out’ when you open the hand.

If you’re using good straps, you can let go and the strap will open, letting the bar fall freely from your grip.

Be willing to jump out and get the bar away. That’s all it takes to be safe.

Anyways.. H&S induction over. Time to learn to lift...

...in part 2.

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