Snatch
- Works
- Quads, plus biceps, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, shoulders, traps and triceps
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Level
- Intermediate
- Type
- Compound
How to do it
Setup. Place your feet at a shoulder width stance with the barbell resting right above the connection between the toes and the rest of the foot.
- With a palms facing down grip, bend at the knees and keeping the back flat grab the bar using a wider than shoulder width grip. Bring the hips down and make sure that your body drops as if you were going to sit on a chair. This will be your starting position.
- Start pushing the floor as if it were a moving platform with your feet and simultaneously start lifting the barbell keeping it close to your legs.
- As the bar reaches the middle of your thighs, push the floor with your legs and lift your body to a complete extension in an explosive motion.
- Lift your shoulders back in a shrugging movement as you bring the bar up while lifting your elbows out to the side and keeping them above the bar for as long as possible.
- Now in a very quick but powerful motion, you have to get your body under the barbell when it has reached a high enough point where it can be controlled and drop while locking your arms and holding the barbell overhead as you assume a squat position.
- Finalize the movement by rising up out of the squat position to finish the lift. At the end of the lift both feet should be on line and the arms fully extended holding the barbell overhead.
Cues
- Wide grip, bar over the toes.
- Push the floor, bar stays close.
- Extend hard, then pull under.
- Catch overhead in a full squat.
Common mistakes
- Hips shooting up first.
- Bar looping away from the body.
- Soft elbows in the catch.
Where to start
Sets3-5
Reps1-3
Rest3 min
A starting point, not a law. Pick a weight you could lift two or three more times than the top of the range. When every set hits the top of the range, add a little weight.
Go easy, or pick an alternative, if you have a sore shoulder, sore wrists and a cranky lower back. Pain that's sharp or gets worse set to set means stop.