How to Snatch
The Snatch is one of two Olympic weightlifting exercises. It’s one of the most beautiful and impressive resistance training exercises you can perform. It’s also a great exercise choice to build lower body power, athleticism and boost athletic performance. In this article, we will discuss how to snatch so that you can start adding this exercise into your arsenal.
Who Should Perform the Snatch?
The snatch is a highly technical weightlifting exercise. Olympic weightlifters and athletes can benefit from learning this exercise. Still, this movement requires good mobility, strength and a commitment to learning proper technique. If you have mobility restrictions, injuries or just don’t have the desire to learn this movement, you may not want to include it in your exercise program. Instead, you can try any other power exercises to substitute like dumbbell snatches, box jumps and plyometrics, kettlebell swings or speed deadlifts.
Set up
To set up for the snatch, position yourself in front of a barbell with bumper plates on either side. Start with feet at about hip width, with your middle of your feet right underneath the bar. Sit down to the bar by bending your hips and knees. Position your hands in an overhand grip at about one and a half times shoulder width. You will need to grip the bar with a wide grip. Keep your arms straight but loose. Turn your elbows out to the sides. Tighten your lats. Bend your knees and push your knees out to the sides. Your shins should lightly contact the bar. In the start position, your knees should bend forward of the bar. Your shoulders should be directly over or slightly in front of the bar.
First Pull
Now, keep your weight centered over the middle of your feet as you extend through your quads and bring the bar into your hips. As you extend your knees, your knees should move back and out of the way. While you want to keep the bar very close to your body, you should not bruise or bloody your shins as you extend the bar up your legs. You should not be fully upright at the top of the first pull. Instead, you should still lean over the bar at the top of the first pull. Your legs should be fully extended at the top of the first pull. The bar should make contact with your hips which helps you perform the next part of the lift.
Your knees will automatically re-bend during the transition between the first and second pull. However, this phase happens automatically.
Second Pull
During the second pull, you keep the body close to your body while using your traps and upper back to pull your shoulders and elbows up and in close to your body. The bar should remain close to your body during this phase as you accelerate the bar upward.
The Catch
During the catch phase, you jump under the bar in a deep squat as the bar continues to rise upwards. You Catch the bar in a fully extended overhead position in either a deep or shallow squat position. You then stand up with the bar overhead to finish the lift. Demonstrate control over the bar in an overhead position before guiding it back down towards the floor. Once the bar passes below shoulder height, you can drop the bar to the floor.
How to Learn the Snatch
Learning the snatch requires practice and commitment. Start learning this movement in phases with a broomstick or PVC pipe. Once you have mastered the movement, you can start using a barbell and increase your loads as you gain competence.
You can also learn this movement by breaking it up into parts. Continue to practice each part separately and together to begin learning good technique. Beginner lifters often start by learning a power snatch, hang snatch, or hang power snatch and gradually progress towards the full movement.
Common Mistakes
Keep in mind that you will make mistakes while learning this movement. I definitely made a ton of errors while still learning this movement! The key is to continually practice your technique and aim to improve over time.
Many people make the mistake of letting the bar drift too far from their body during the second pull. This mistake is usually caused by a mistake in a prior phase in the lift such as the set up or first pull. Make sure you set up with the proper position and use your quads to power the first pull.
Another mistake in the snatch includes bending the arms too early. Starting the second pull before making hip contact with the bar will steal your power and compromise your ability to snatch heavier loads. Go back and practice making contact with your hips at the end of the first pull before you start pulling with the traps and upper back into the second pull. Remind yourself to be patient and start and finish the first pull with your leg power.
Finally, many inexperienced lifters over rely on the arms to power the movement. While the arms and upper body do contribute in the snatch, the legs are the powerhouse of the movement. Remind yourself to use your legs and rely on powerful knee extension and some hip extension in the first pull and to continue using your legs until you complete the snatch.
Final Thoughts
The Olympic weightlifting snatch is a superb movement to build muscle power and speed. Hopefully this article helped you perfect your snatch technique so you can begin to reap the rewards of this exercise.
What do you think? Please let me know in the comment section below.
