Snatches: Getting Under

[Troy Archie]

Overheard a couple guys at my gym talking at how lifters from different provinces have a different style of snatches, most notably when getting under the bar. They were noting that the others were diving really hard under the bar, which to them didn't make sense because it made the bar move on less of a straight line and more of a curve, which was less efficiant. Yet time and time again they were getting out lifted by guys half their size. Insight?

[John Alston]

The speed at which top lifters get under the bar is amazing. The final pull in either lift is pulling the body under the bar.
When the feet are off the ground, and the arms pulling, the body must go under.
I don't know what you mean by "diving" under and I can't see why the speed with which one goes under would effect the trajectory of the bar.

[Greg Everett]

Yeah, I'm not clear either what they mean by diving.

Eva Twardoken's father was an exercise physiologist who once wrote an article called something like, "The Quickest Way Between Two Points Is Not Always A Straight Line." It was regarding skiing specifically, but the idea was that in certain circumstances, a curve would actually move the skiier more quickly to the destination than a straight line could. The curve had some cool physics name I can't think of right now.

Funny aside, the genious editors at the magazine that published the article revised the title to be "The Shortest Distance Between Two Points Is Not Always A Straight Line," which is of course not true and made ol' George T. sound like a dipshit.

[Eric Jones]

Any of you here race cars?

Auto racing around a circuit (screw NASCAR) is all about taking the right line through corners to manage momentum and acceleration. The fastest line is the one that allows you to stay on the gas longer and break later, you can't just go in a straight line from corner to corner.

Sorry if this is random, but the parallels are cool.

[Chris Forbis]

Originally Posted by Eric Jones

Any of you here race cars?

Auto racing around a circuit (screw NASCAR) is all about taking the right line through corners to manage momentum and acceleration. The fastest line is the one that allows you to stay on the gas longer and break later, you can't just go in a straight line from corner to corner.

Sorry if this is random, but the parallels are cool.

That's basically how you see if a physics student really understands centripetal force and centripetal acceleration. If they can explain that, and also why (using physics) banking the track in the curves is beneficial, they got it.