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advice to help my snatch (lift)

PowerBuilder

New member
OK. Here's the score. I finally got my book from amazon called Olympic Weightlifting: A complete guide for athletes & coaches by Greg Evertt.

In the section about starting on working the snatch, it talks about the best way to find where your hands should be. It instructs they should be wide enough to hold the bar (against your hip) that when you lift your leg the bar doesn't move. it also discusses the hook grip.

Now, my question is what do i do, now that i've found the right width that the author is talking about, but maintaining a decent hook grip is just not viable, but a traditional overhand grip is?

i'm working on the overhead squat, hang snatch (position), snatch pull & basic exercises to learn the first pull now.
 
The snatch is the hardest and most technical lift you can perform. End of story.

It cant be taught from a book or over the internet.

You need to get yourself to a proper weightlifting gym and get yourself coached if you are serious.

Dont underestimate how long it takes to learn the O lifts. At least a year to get even familiar with them, years to get competent, decades to master.
 
I'm hearing you. i went to the local weightlifting club the other night. because of a the sudden death of their head coach, i was encouraged to come back in 2 weeks when things are a bit normal there & they'll have a new replacement (for a reasonable rookie).

The guy i spoke with told me to work on my overhead squat & basic snatch training till i'm on their floor
 
I would work on your shoulder, hip, hamstring and glute flexibility before even that.

Unless you can sit in a complete ass on ankles squat with the bar directly over your head, not forward at all. If you cant do this you wont have the flexibility and they wont be able to teach you much.
 
Do a lot of shoulder dislocations with a broom handle to stretch your shoulders out.
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Go a wide snatch grip on the broom handle, lock your elbows and pull it around over your head to your lower back, inch your grip in when it becomes easy to do.

Nick if you missed Fat Dave doing this on Saturday hes a freak! He had his hands maybe 13 inches apart elbows locked and was pulling it over his head easy as. I was like o_O WTF Dave...

EDIT: PB im uploading a vid of me doing a 60kg snatch to youtube, ill post it here when its up.
 
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yeah work on the flexibility. snatch is a very hard lift to learn. i used to think doing cleans was technical. a clean is easy in comparison to getting the snatch right. you'll probably learn it in 3 different phases. the 1st and 2nd pull the getting under the bar then standing up. once you get it its quite satisfying. im still learning it and will be for a while.
 
Thanks fellas.

I'm still working on the various aspects of the lift. I feel i could do a couple of decent reps of 40kgs...while my technique may not be that good.

When i first started, i thought the 2nd pull was somewhat of a high pull, which is not actually the case. The first pull (right now) is the easiest part, the 2nd & 3rd pull is driving me nuts, with getting it right in one smooth motion. i'll give that broom stick trick a go for sure!!
 
more of a powersnatch though that vid. the lift is very quick anyway. no way you can take your time doing it needs to be explosive. the whole lift is less than 2 second.
 
This if for Bluey.

Ass/hips come up early. Head goes forward and you lose the power from the hip snap in the second pull. Also you lose your back. The back should remain arched and flexed throughout the whole lift.

1st pull should be more of a squat. Arms are like chains, all the drive comes from the legs. The chest should remain up and the ass should remain low.

2nd pulls should the fire the hips forward as you pull/extend up through the shoulders. The bar should brush an inch or so below where the legs meet the torso, and should never be more then a couple of inches from the body at any time.

I think we all understand the catch phase.

Again this is not something you ca really assist with over the net.

IT MUST BE DONE IN PERSON.
 
Thanks Nick, Ive been slow scrolling through the vid to look at what you mean. My butt comes up first then legs press up which from what youre saying should be reversed? press up with legs then push through with hips.

I know what you mean about 'in person' but youve given me plenty to work on thankyou :)
 
Last nite in training, I paid super close attention to letting my the first pull, in terms of letting my arms dangle & standing up from the squat like position. I also focused on getting the weight mostly on my heels. I feel more confident now about the snatch & C&J

it's this saturday i hit the club
 
on the first pull its like your weight is on your toes. you kinda feel like your going to fall over for it. but it all happens so quick so you dont. http://crossfitexplode.com/yahoo_site_admin1/assets/images/snatch.296162433_std.jpg if u look at the first pic, thats first pull, see the angle his back is? that should stay the same till the legs are almost all the way up, at that point the bar is around waist height, then thats where the second pull is initiated by the thrusting of hips forward and the full body extension. all in all during the pulling phases the bar doesnt go abouve chest height. once the bar reaches its full height thats where you have to jump underneath it. i got some pointers yesterday by a guy who used to compete in his younger days and it made a huge difference. to have someone watch is great. so its kinda hard to explain it in writing. need someone to actually show abnd know what to look for.
 
i've been putting a good bit of focus on the tall muscle snatch lately. It's when you have the bar (with a typical snatch grip) at about chest height, with the bar either touching or pretty close to your chest. You then proceed to sweep under the bar as fast as you can, while keeping your arms straight.

if you follow the link in my sig, their may be a vid to demonstrate
 
yeah i know them. you can train the lift breaking itup into a few different parts. thats jsut one part of it. but there good.
 
Personally I'm not going to train the snatch anymore.

It really aggravates my back injury, I dont need it because I dont plan to compete at O lifting, it is very hard to learn and I dont really want to dedicate that much time to a lift I wont use very much, and finally I dont really enjoy it.

I'm still going to train at phoenix this year but it will only be to clean, jerk, pull and front/back squat.
 
really? well then if it aggrevtes the back then yeah dont do it. i love doing it. lots of satisfaction when i get it right and move the weight. i get bored doing other lifts. the snatch keeps me motivated coz its something to learn and satisfying to get it right.
 
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