Snatch Form Check

[edmrobbyd]

Hey guys been doing oly for about a month now, feel like i've kind of begin to understand the balance between power and speed here are a few snatches from one of my training sessions with a 95lb PR around 2:00

[scarboro]

You're barely extending and comfortably controlling the weight simply because its light. Add more weight and see what happens

[edmrobbyd]

You're barely extending and comfortably controlling the weight simply because its light. Add more weight and see what happens

I see this might be because I gague the amounts of power with the light weights, I've been finding i miss lots of snatches when I try to full throttle the bar up. should I always be trying to power it up as hard as possible?

[jbealsrmt]

Hey guys been doing oly for about a month now, feel like i've kind of begin to understand the balance between power and speed here are a few snatches from one of my training sessions with a 95lb PR around 2:00

Well, I certainly envy your position at the bottom of the snatch. I wish I could sit that low in a squat position. I barely break parallel.

One concern I have is that a couple of times when you "lost" the weight, you allowed your back to break pretty significantly. This normally wouldn't matter because you'd just drop the weight so your back wouldn't be under a load. However, because you are not using bumper plates and are trying to lower the weight in a controlled manner, maintaining the stability in your back is vital on failed attempts. I'd suggest finding a gym with bumper plates. If that isn't an option, try really hard to maintain your back tightness and shift the eccentric pressure onto the glutes by breaking at the hips when you lower the weight. That eccentric loading of the back combined with the drastic rounding on failed lifts is asking for an injury down the road.

You're barely extending and comfortably controlling the weight simply because its light. Add more weight and see what happens

Also this... If you are back squatting over 200lbs for reps, you should be snatching well over 95lbs. It looks like you're cutting your hip extension a little short and are easing/muscling the weight up as opposed to driving it up with the full power of the hips. Your grip on the bar should prevent driving it too far. Focusing on pulling yourself under the bar as opposed to pulling/pushing the bar above you might help as a cue.

Hip drive it up and pull yourself under. At least that's one way of looking at it.

If you watch a solid competitor in training, their reps with 50% look essentially identical to their reps at 80%. Often when competitors warm up for a max, you'll notice they drop lower and lower as the weight increases but their hip drive looks the same no matter the weight (until they get close to max effort).

[edmrobbyd]

Well, I certainly envy your position at the bottom of the snatch. I wish I could sit that low in a squat position. I barely break parallel.

One concern I have is that a couple of times when you "lost" the weight, you allowed your back to break pretty significantly. This normally wouldn't matter because you'd just drop the weight so your back wouldn't be under a load. However, because you are not using bumper plates and are trying to lower the weight in a controlled manner, maintaining the stability in your back is vital on failed attempts. I'd suggest finding a gym with bumper plates. If that isn't an option, try really hard to maintain your back tightness and shift the eccentric pressure onto the glutes by breaking at the hips when you lower the weight. That eccentric loading of the back combined with the drastic rounding on failed lifts is asking for an injury down the road.

Also this... If you are back squatting over 200lbs for reps, you should be snatching well over 95lbs. It looks like you're cutting your hip extension a little short and are easing/muscling the weight up as opposed to driving it up with the full power of the hips. Your grip on the bar should prevent driving it too far. Focusing on pulling yourself under the bar as opposed to pulling/pushing the bar above you might help as a cue.

Hip drive it up and pull yourself under. At least that's one way of looking at it.

If you watch a solid competitor in training, their reps with 50% look essentially identical to their reps at 80%. Often when competitors warm up for a max, you'll notice they drop lower and lower as the weight increases but their hip drive looks the same no matter the weight (until they get close to max effort).

I also used to be only able to go to parallel. If you have a job that requires you to sit a lot (ie. student) try opening up your hips with hip flexor stretchs and Glenn pendlay lower body flexibility helped me greatly!

I see what you mean with the losing back tightness unfortunately bumper plate gym won't be a possibility until summer.

I will try to fully extend the hips I just find when using full power it knocks me off my balance a bit (only been actually oly lifting for about a month so)

[jbealsrmt]

I also used to be only able to go to parallel. If you have a job that requires you to sit a lot (ie. student) try opening up your hips with hip flexor stretchs and Glenn pendlay lower body flexibility helped me greatly!

It isn't so much the sitting for me. I used to be very flexible with a good deep squat position, but 3 years of squatting low-bar/Rippetoe-style with less mobility work did away with that. lol

I just find when using full power it knocks me off my balance a bit (only been actually oly lifting for about a month so)

You might be swinging the bar a little. Some technique work with hip/hang snatches might help with that. Maybe even some snatch-grip high-pulls to learn pulling with a straighter bar path. I'm honestly not a coach so I hope someone more knowledgeable chimes in on that one.

[edmrobbyd]

It isn't so much the sitting for me. I used to be very flexible with a good deep squat position, but 3 years of squatting low-bar/Rippetoe-style with less mobility work did away with that. lol

You might be swinging the bar a little. Some technique work with hip/hang snatches might help with that. Maybe even some snatch-grip high-pulls to learn pulling with a straighter bar path. I'm honestly not a coach so I hope someone more knowledgeable chimes in on that one.

yea i think your right i'm failing to break at the elbows i think! will try doing some high pulls with broomstick

[olyw8lifter]

yea i think your right i'm failing to break at the elbows i think! will try doing some high pulls with broomstick

Do the high pulls with a bar, but do them focusing on keeping the bar close. Think of brushing your belly/t-shirt on the way up and touching the chest above the nipples. This usually works very well, so long as you keep your elbows up instead of back.

[jbealsrmt]

so long as you keep your elbows up instead of back.

lol "Back" as in T-Rex style... I have been known to do that as the weight gets heavier and I chicken out of pulling myself under the bar. It's funny as heck to watch on video. Today would have been a good example... A crossfit discussion turned into someone bragging about their 100kg clean. I pulled a GSP and said, "I'm not impressed by your performance." Jokingly said that I could easily clean 100kg and I don't even train olympic lifts (haven't even been to the gym in about 2 months). They took the bet...

40kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg, 95kg, failed 2 attempts at 100kg with t-rex arms... I should have had it no problem, but it felt heavy and I was too chicken to pull myself under the bar (not used to heavy weights after so much time off). Crossfitters had the last laugh. For shame......

Elbows up, not back... Or else you'll look like a weak t-rex dropping the bar because you can't get it high enough. It's also a good way to develop a nasty tendonitis!

[strengthsthetic]

lol "Back" as in T-Rex style... I have been known to do that as the weight gets heavier and I chicken out of pulling myself under the bar. It's funny as heck to watch on video. Today would have been a good example... A crossfit discussion turned into someone bragging about their 100kg clean. I pulled a GSP and said, "I'm not impressed by your performance." Jokingly said that I could easily clean 100kg and I don't even train olympic lifts (haven't even been to the gym in about 2 months). They took the bet...

40kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg, 95kg, failed 2 attempts at 100kg with t-rex arms... I should have had it no problem, but it felt heavy and I was too chicken to pull myself under the bar (not used to heavy weights after so much time off). Crossfitters had the last laugh. For shame......

Elbows up, not back... Or else you'll look like a weak t-rex dropping the bar because you can't get it high enough. It's also a good way to develop a nasty tendonitis!

less than bw, son...

[jbealsrmt]

less than bw, son...

Sad, I know... The difference is that I don't walk around claiming to have an impressive clean. I know it sucks. I'm getting back into the gym now despite my knee still sucking and will work on Oly stuff.

[BadSnatch]

Start closer to the bar, shoulders more over the bar. Set yourself up first. Give a slight pull on the bar, hold that for a second then break the bar off the ground. When you're more consistent you can mess with a dynamic start.