Maintaining Proper Back angle on Snatch & C&J

[Irwyn Ince]

Hi,

This is my first post to this forum. I spent the last year at the CF gym I was a member of focused primarily on powerlifting. I'm now working out in my garage and trying to focus exclusively on weightlifting. I'm currently in the second week of the "Starter Program for Catalyst Athletics Online Workouts."

Here's a link to one of my snatch lifts on this past Saturday, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzuETO1G50E. The lift at 155lb was a PR, but I know there's plenty wrong with it. The primary thing I'm noticing is my inability to maintain my back angle and keep my chest up (this happens w/ the C&J also). At a certain point my back is almost parallel to the floor.

What would you recommend I do, or what supplemental exercises should I incorporate, in address this issue?

Thanks!
Irwyn

[Greg Everett]

Coming from powerlifting, you're going to likely find that your somewhat posterior chain dominant - when squatting and pulling, you'll tend to lift the hips faster than the shoulders to move more of the load to the hips instead of the knees. In order to correct it, you need to balance your leg strength by emphasizing squats and pulls/deads with an upright posture.

Aside from the obvious like more front squats, nice upright back squats and forcing yourself to pull with the upright posture, you can do pause back squats, halting snatch and clean deadlifts to the knee making sure you end up with the proper back angle when you stop at knee level, and do your lighter snatches and cleans with a fairly slow pull to mid- to upper-thigh, forcing the proper posture, before exploding.

[Irwyn Ince]

Thanks!