No Shortcuts: Better Thy Snatch

Dec 27

Dec 27 No Shortcuts: Better Thy Snatch

My Oly lifts are soft. I'm putting in time, but my body and my brain aren't talking to each other yet. In honor of my big ol' soft serve of a snatch lift, today's list is a smattering of the wisdom I've been finding to supplement weekly training.

1. Girl, Keep Those Arms Straight!

Today's WOD was a "Death by Power Clean." I'm sure I earned many cues, but the one lobbed at me over and over again? Arms! Arms! Arms! They bend early and often and aren't doing me any favors.

One of the biggest hindrances to power and vertical bar speed is the early arm bend... Bending the arms in the snatch OR clean before the bar has reached maximal speed only slows the bar down and changes the bar track.

2. You're Not Competing So Don't Train For It (Yet)

This stuff is hard enough. While I value learning everything in proper Olympic fashion, my motor skills don't match my ambition. There are some aspects that of the lift that can be left out for now.

There’s no need to start from the floor unless you plan on competing. Learning from the hang position on a dumbbell or barbell variation will always be much easier.

Read more from "Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Snatch"

3. Get a Grip

I was coached on this during my last session. I moved my hands wider, and voila, it helped.

When a lifter is snatching with a grip that’s too narrow, a problem occurs that’s a little hard to describe in words. That narrow grip limits the athlete’s ability to keep the bar close to the body, and you’ll almost always see an excessive gap between the torso and the bar as it travels upwards.

Icon Credit: Weight Lifting by Scott Lewis from The Noun Project