Josh Asks: What changes, mainly in the starting positions of the lifts, will people with long legs/short torso have to make compared to people with short legs/long torso? To what extent will these variations alter the execution of the lifts as well?

Similarly, if an individual has an excessively large stomach, clearly the bar path won't be as vertical because the bar must travel around their gut. Aside from the obvious (losing weight) what tweaks can I make as a coach to help someone in that situation still train the O-lifts as effectively as possible?

Greg Says: Regarding the starting position, changes will not necessarily need to be made. Usually the issue becomes one of needing greater hip flexibility to allow the back to be set in the proper arch. The lifter’s trunk will be unavoidably leaned farther over, i.e. smaller angle relative to the floor, but the actual relationships of the barbell to the foot and the shoulder to the barbell can almost always be kept the same. This assumes we’re talking about someone who is not of extraordinary height; once you start getting significantly above six feet tall, the starting position can be very problematic. But as an example, I have a 6’ 4” athlete who starts in a good position and is able to navigate the bar past the knees with good posture.

The main difference you’ll see with longer legged lifters in the early phase of the lift is a greater tendency for the knees to extend at a faster rate than the hips, i.e. the hips will rise faster than the shoulders and the bar. This movement is not necessarily problematic if it’s minor and controlled, and it some cases, it will be necessary to get the bar past the knees. Some of this can be helped by making sure the knees are pushed out to the sides in the start and first pull to get the knees back without needing to drop the shoulders and lift the hips. A wider stance may be helpful as well. Also ensuring the athlete is developing adequate strength to lift the bar in the desired posture through upright squatting and pulling strength work will help prevent unwanted or more dramatic shifts in back angle.

Regarding lifters with large guts, it’s less of an issue than you might imagine. Watch superheavyweights lift and you’ll notice that they have no problem keeping the bar in close. When you extend the body aggressively in the pull, much of that body mass moves up and somewhat out of the way rather than hanging down as it does when the individual is standing at rest. There is also the rearward lean of the trunk in the finish position that moves the abdomen back farther. Additionally, if that mass is largely adipose tissue, the bar can easily compress it as it comes into the body. Finally, the bar needs to be kept as close to the body as possible; if the body is bigger, that doesn’t mean the bar needs to be farther away from it. It’s just farther away from the skeleton as it would be in a thinner athlete.

Watch this video of Viktors Scerbathis snatching and you can see an example.