Stance and Feet movement

[John Kaupp]

I have been noticing lately that I am a narrow squatter. Heels about shoulder (maybe less) width with toes turned out. Lately, I have been leaving my feet basically in the same position as my pull when catching the bar on snatch and cleans. Today I was working on staying upright in the start and my snatches felt great; good speed, easy turnover, easy lockout and standup.
A few things came together today like letting the traps hang loose so they can factor into the second pull. Foot movement was almost non-existent getting under the bar, and this felt faster than I have in a long time. Anybody else do this and do you do as well with heavy or near max weight. I was doing singles with 80 and my PR is 92.5. I feel strong in this position right now and stable as well.

[Greg Everett]

Your squat stance is determined by the relative lengths of your upper and lower legs and the anatomy of your hips and ankles. If you have long lower legs relative to your upper legs, the correct squatting stance for you may be quite narrow (although shoulder width or nearly so is not what I would consider narrow). So if that's the case, you'll see little difference between your pulling and receiving foot positions (most like the biggest difference will be greater external rotation of the feet in the receiving position).

You're right that quick feet is a good thing - just be careful that you're not getting lazy on the pull. That quickness and minimal elevation should be the product of timing the 3rd pull well and pulling under extremely aggressively, not reduced power in the 2nd pull.

[Dave Ogilbee]

I think I may be on the opposite side of the spectrum John. Lately i've been trying to work a lot on technique/positioning in the receiving position, more so in the snatch than anything. I've found that my feet tend to have a natural inclination to position in quite a wide stance (with toes out at about 40 degrees or so). Reminds me almost of a wide penguin walk . My OHS foot position isn't quite this obscure, so I'm fairly sure that this is something that needs correcting.
Greg, what would the best method for looking into fixing this? My guess would be foot drills with some Snatch Balance perhaps?

[Greg Everett]

Dave -

Yes, return to the basic foot drills, then snatch balance, then tall snatch, then snatch - something like that. While doing all those, you can throw down a couple chalk lines along the outside edges of your feet in your correct stance to give you something to check against and to guide you.

[Kris Reeves]

Greg -

Does this mean - in the case of correcting technical flaws - the full movement should not be performed until the drills are looking really good? Ie. Follow a progression like you listed above, not proceeding to the next until it is perfect? So, if that means several sessions (maybe, weeks?) the full lift may not be performed?

Or, are the foot drills, tall snatch, etc. performed in addition to the full lift (even though the lift may have some issues)?


I ask, because this thread prompted me to really take a look at my snatch receiving position and I noticed on heavy attempts (heavy for me anyway) that my left foot is about an inch behind my right foot. Width is fine, just that my feet are not equal.

This is not a problem on power snatches or OHS, but I do notice it on heavy snatch balances as well.


Thanks,
Kris

[Greg Everett]

Kris -

No, keep snatching, just add the corrective drills in when you can.

[Kris Reeves]

OK. Cool...Thanks for the reply!

[Dave Ogilbee]

Greg -

Thanks for the advice, I'll start working drills next session.
Off-topic: Your book came in the mail, looking through it answered a TON of questions. Definitely the best source i've found for working on Oly lifts.