Snatch

S8a: Snatch Lift Off: This is a simple progression movement. Stop at the knee, but maintain the proper lifting posture. Yes… we may do this exercise by itself - 5 sets of 5 repetitions, with a challenging weight. Notice the wide grip and that her arms are nearly straight.

S8b: Snatch Lift Off: From this view, notice the position of the arms outside the knees, the flat lower back, that the buttocks is pretty far back, and that the head is up. Notice she is NOT bending her arms to lift the weight off the floor. Her back remains flat and she uses her buttocks and thighs to move the weight. The bar is almost (a couple CMs away) touching her shin bones at the beginning of the lift.

S9a: Snatch Pull from Power Position: Look very closely, and master, the Power position. The Power Position is a fundamental requirement to keep the lift and bar path in proper alignment. The Power Position will be slightly different between this lift and when you work on the Cleans (different web page), mainly because the grip location on the bar is different between the two exercises. Notice her elbows are not bent very much, the bar is resting, and her shoulders are slightly back to maintain proper posture in the back. She is actually applying a small amount of pressure to keep the bar against her body - do NOT let the bar fly out in front of you.

S9b: Snatch Pull from Power Position: This is the same lift from the side view. Pay close attention to the path of the bar in relation to the knees and hips. Notice the shoulder shrug, yet the elbow is pretty much straight. Notice Kelsey is up on her toes at the end, but does not leave the ground. Notice that the word “PULL” is in the name of the lift, but the word “HIGH” is not. When you see wording like this, it means the shoulders will be shrugged, but the elbows will not bend to move the weight any higher.

S10a: High Pull from Power Position: Notice, WHENEVER the word “High” appears: HIGH means we do the shoulder shrug, THEN, we apply the bend to the elbows (in that order). The heavy weights that athletes use on this lift are moved mostly by the speed / momentum of the lift that is generated by the larger leg muscles. The bend in the elbow, for example, is not capable of lifting 225 pounds for most athletes. The bend is there to maintain the speed and mechanical advantage needed for the transition / full movement that you will do later. Notice she is on her toes at the end. Her head is always looking straight ahead or slightly up - NEVER down.

S10b: High Pull from Power Position: Same lift from side view. Pay attention to her body in relation to the bar and floor - where are the hips, lower back, thighs, and hand positioning at every part of the movement? Notice she keeps the bar close to her body - she is actually applying slight pressure with her shoulders and lats to keep the weight against her body. Notice the shoulders are shrugged up, BEFORE the elbows bend.

S11a: Power Snatch from Power Position: Notice that when you see the word “POWER” the athlete leaves the ground (about .5 - 1 inches only) and the bar goes above the head for any lift associated with the Snatch. Always master the Power Position with new athletes BEFORE they lift heavy. Notice this lift does not involve the overhead squat. If you study this video in slow motion you will see that she slightly bends the legs while in the Power Position, she extends upward, shrugs the shoulders, bends the arms, and then “snatches” the weight over her head… all while keeping the bar very close to her.

S11b: Power Snatch from Power Position: The side view often helps you to see the order of movement and different bends in the legs at the various points of the lift: Do the hips move first, the thighs, the elbows… study closely. Watch the “Bar Path” - this means eliminate the athlete and just watch the travel of the bar. Often, a good coach can correct lifting errors by observing the bar path. The inexperienced lifter will “throw” the bar in front of the body, which goes against the physics required for efficient and powerful lifting. The bar swinging out, even just 3-5 inches, can be overcome by using the arms with light weights, but the athlete will fail once the wights increase. Develop good habits and keep the bar close to the body.

S12a: Snatch Pull from the Knee: Notice the head is up and Kelsey always maintains good posture to protect form injury. When you see the word, PULL (without the word HIGH in front of it), it basically means the athlete shoulder shrugs the weight, without bending the elbows.

S12b: Snatch Pull from the Knee: The task when viewing the Side View, is to notice the flatness of the lower back, the posture, and the order of movements. Always watch the bar path - it should be pretty straight and never be pushed / exaggerated in front of the body (cheating that gaurantees lifting failures).

S13a: Snatch High Pull from Knee: Again, whenever you see the word “High” it means shrug the shoulders first, THEN bend the elbows. As discussed before, the bend is used more to keep the momentum / speed of the movement than it is to allow the arms to force the weight overhead - the arms apply some force, but are mostly the guide to get the weight overhead. The athlete’s arms are rarely strong enough to move a weight that the legs lifted. Even at elite lifting levels, the weights moved with legs far outweigh the weights moved with arms.

S13b: Snatch High Pull from Knee: Follow the basic guidelines for the side view: Notice the order of movement for her body - Study it closely. Watch the path of the bar and how she keeps it close to her body. Notice she is up on her toes at the end of this lift, but does NOT leave the ground. We only leave the ground on the “Power” movements or when you see the word, Power, in the title of the lift.

S14a: Snatch Pull from the Floor: When you see the word PULL by itself, it means STOP at the shoulder shrug. On this lift, you are combining what you learned on the Snatch Lift Off and the Snatch Pull from the Power Position.

S14b: Snatch Pull from Floor: Notice the elbows stay pretty straight. Shrug the shoulders.

S15a: Power Snatch from Above the Knee: When you see the word POWER, it means the athlete will leave the floor, about half an inch to maybe an inch for most, and the weight is going over the head for all of the Snatch lifts / progressions. If the athlete has mastered all previous progressions, this lift should reasonable to learn.

S15b: Power Snatch from Above the Knee: As always, the Side View allows the athlete to see the order of movements: thighs, hips, shoulders, and elbows. Notice Kelsey’s posture throughout the exercise. She protects her lower back and keeps the bar close to the body throughout the exercise.

S16a: Snatch Balance: Watch the starting position. Pause the video at various points and reflect on Kelsey’s positioning. Although a little challenging for newer lifters, this exercise is an excellent progression lift to teach the athlete how to do an overhead squat, as well as teaching the athlete to get the bar extended and back behind the ears.

S16b: Snatch Balance: Pay particular attention to the position of the bar and weight when the shoulders are extended - the weight is pressed back slightly by pushing / extending the arms into the bar (ACTIVELY push the bar away from you and slightly behind).

S17a: Power Snatch w/ Reset, then Overhead Squat: Athletes should not be attempting these more complex lifts unless they have demonstrated the coordination and strength on the other lifts / progressions. Notice the hips and shoulders rise together - practice this coordination.

S17b: Power Snatch w/ Reset, then Overhead Squat: Pay attention to the word “Reset” in the title. There is a difference between this lift and the next lift where we do not reset. Notice her shoulders stay in front of the bar during the pull phase. Remember, the shoulders are in front of the bar during the start position and lift off.

S18a: Power Snatch to Overhead Squat: Notice the difference between this lift and the previous one. She does not “Reset” - she drops into the Overhead Squat.

S18b: Power Snatch to Overhead Squat: Notice the bar is behind the ears when it is extended overhead. This position is uncomfortable for new lifters, often due to lack of flexibility / mobility in the shoulder. Athletes and coaches could design other progression lifts to help prepare for this lift. An example could be Overhead Squats, where the athlete starts with the weight overhead in the proper position and just works on the balance needed to do an overhead squat.

S19: Snatch Miss Forward: We all have a bad lift. When that situation arises the athlete must know how to get away from the lift in order to prevent injuries. For the Snatch Miss Forward, simply give the bar a slight push forward (the direction it is already going) by locking out the elbows as you push away. As you extend the arms, move your feet to escape out the back.

S20: Snatch Miss Backward: The Snatch Miss Backward is a little more dangerous. Notice she bounces forward to get away from the bar. Try to push the bar slightly behind you by extending your elbows / straightening your arms, then get your body in front of the bar. You can imagine that a weighted bar landing on one of your calf muscles would be traumatic. Practice this procedure under safe conditions so you can understand it / do it when you have a problem during a lift.