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The Snatch - Learning the movement complex and progressions

PowerBuilder

New member
The Snatch - Learning the movement complex and progressions

brianmac.co.uk

Here are the exercises we use to teach our athletes how to Snatch. We first breakdown each part of the lift before having the athlete attempt the Snatch as a whole. Many years ago, Strength & Conditioning Expert Mike Boyle taught me that it is much easier to have your athletes learn the lifting progressions in order to perfect the movement pattern before you put it all together. It speeds up the learning curve and makes certain that the athlete does not get into bad habits when performing the lift. Use the following exercises in your weight training routine. This will ensure that you take the necessary steps in learning to execute the Snatch properly, as well as derive strength and power benefits from the movement progressions themselves.

Snatch

Stand with the barbell in your hands with a hook grip, feet at hip width, shoulders back and chest up. Make sure that the chest is over the bar. Keeping arms straight and eyes fixed straight ahead raise the bar by moving the hips backwards while maintaining a slight but fixed bend in the knees. Stop once the bar reaches the top of the knees or when the flexibility in the hamstrings runs out. Quickly return to the starting position by driving the hips forward and standing up straight. The goal of this exercise is to get the athlete used to the starting position as well as understand the need to drive the hips forward to create momentum.

Snatch to Power Shrug

Stand with the barbell in hands with hook grip, feet at hip width, shoulders back and chest up. Keeping arms straight and eyes fixed straight ahead raise the bar by moving the hips backwards while maintaining a slight but fixed bend in the knees. Stop once the bar reaches the top of the knees or when the flexibility in the hamstrings runs out. Quickly drive the hips forward, as the hips reach full extension, explosively shrug the shoulders and rise up onto the toes. Here the goal is to expand on the skills of the previous exercise and begin to implement the correct upper body technique. Many athletes begin bending their arms at the elbows, lifting the weight with their arms. Instead the focus must be on shrugging the shoulders and keeping the weight close to the body.

Snatch to High Pull
Perform this drill as you did the previous exercise. Once you are up on the toes, continue to elevate the bar to mid-chest height by bending elbows and continuing the upward movement of the bar. Be sure to lift elbows up and keep the bar close to the body. When performing the high pull, it is important to keep the arms straight until you achieve triple extension. Only upon full extension of the ankles, knees and hips should the arms begin to bend at the elbows. Premature flexion of the elbows is a very common mistake among young athletes and will result in improper execution of the exercise. Muscle Snatch

Standing erect with the barbell held with a snatch grip and feet at hip width. Slide bar upwards along the body to near shoulder height. Once at shoulder height rotate elbows underneath the bar and continue to move bar upwards by pressing it into a catch position. Descend the bar in reverse order. I have found that teaching the snatch is much easier if you first break down each of the movements and teach them as partials or stages of the entire lift. Once your athlete has perfected each individual movement, they will find performing the whole snatch a much simpler task. Also, if you have an athlete struggling with a particular stage of the lift, you can use these exercises to clean up their form.

Muscle Snatch
Standing erect with the barbell held with a snatch grip and feet at hip width. Slide bar upwards along the body to near shoulder height. Once at shoulder height rotate elbows underneath the bar and continue to move bar upwards by pressing it into a catch position. Descend the bar in reverse order. I have found that teaching the snatch is much easier if you first break down each of the movements and teach them as partials or stages of the entire lift. Once your athlete has perfected each individual movement, they will find performing the whole snatch a much simpler task. Also, if you have an athlete struggling with a particular stage of the lift, you can use these exercises to clean up their form.

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For a while now i've been really trying to work on my snatch. I've really found it hard to link all the pieces together. this article makes a lot of sense. The snatch high pull is a major missing link
 
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