Learning to Snatch

[Rick Barker]

Greg-

I've been going through your snatch learning progression and wanted to see what you think. I think the snatch balances look good, but the mid-hang snatches I'm not sure about. I have a tendency to pull with my arms too soon, so I mixed in some snatch pulls with the mid-hang snatches to try to iron that out. What do you think?

OHS + Snatch Balance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDxzJLB2PS8

Mid-hang Snatch Pull + Snatch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxBxK4tb8tk

Thanks,

Rick

[Greg Everett]

OHS/SB looks pretty good, although when you're getting set, you get a little weird with the chest/upper back. Don't get crazy rolling the chest up quite that much and make sure any lift of the chest is supported with air in the abdomen.

Pull/Snatch - Get your head up. You're not going to break your neck extending your C-spine, and it will strengthen the arch of your back as well as make it easier to find and hold a proper focal point.

First pull isn't bad. Second one you're so focused on the hips that you quit early with the legs and you slide forward. Push against the floor while you snap the hips open. The pulls on the snatches are better. At this point I would add some weight and not worrying about doing the pulls anymore unless the snatch strays from what you're currently doing.

[Rick Barker]

Greg-

Thanks a lot for your detailed response. I really appreciate the help. I will keep my head up on the pulls/snatches. It seems like I've gotten "raise the chest" so ingrained in my mind that I don't support it in the abdomen. I'm glad you pointed that out, and I'll work on that too.

Thanks a lot,

Rick

[Rick Barker]

Greg and anyone else-

Just some snatches for critique. I'm pretty new to weightlifting (1 word).

Rick

60 kg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqDOS1WA1dA

65 kg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeBeWytL5ZE

60 kg again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1_BAjt8fP0

Thanks for any advice,

Rick

[Greg Everett]

Not too bad, but a few things to work on:

First, get more flexible. Right now you can't set a really solid position on the floor, and that's going to make you soft during the lift, which means less acceleration. As you get more flexible, push your knees out more to the sides inside your arms to open your hips up a bit in the start position and get your back arched as much as possible.

Need to be more aggressive with your finish at the top. Snap the hips and punch the feet right back to the floor as you turn the bar over. There should be no floating in the air. You need to turn your elbows out to the sides more and pull yourself down with your arms--right now you're just kind of falling under the bar and your elbows are dropping down and in rather than moving up and out, which will make the pull under slower.

But it's a good start. Time now to start refining it.

[Rick Barker]

Thanks so much for the help. I'll work on those things and post again sometime if I think they have improved significantly.

Rick