I’ve recently became interested in starting to power snatch. I would like to eventually be able to do more olympic lifts but the snatch is a little risk for me with my wrist right now. After watching the video I think I need a wider grip so that the bar is higher up my legs at the starting position. I ended up snatching 135 for a few singles which I thought was pretty good for my first time ever. I assume once you start getting heavier you need to get a deeper squat position, how do you go about this? Do you practice over head squatting or do you just practice sinking lower under the bar with lighter weights before trying it with heavier weights?
[quote]illgixxer wrote:
I assume once you start getting heavier you need to get a deeper squat position, how do you go about this? Do you practice over head squatting or do you just practice sinking lower under the bar with lighter weights before trying it with heavier weights?
[/quote]
Overhead squatting, yes. You want to aim for a nice tight low bottom position that you will hit every single time.
Then I did drop snatches to teach me to get my ass under the bar.
Start with the bar in a high bar back squat position holding it with a snatch grip.
Then drop yourself under it into that tight bottom position catching it with your arms locked out.
Weight doesn’t fall any faster than a stick so you might want to practice with a stick or with just the bar:
Then you can practice hang snatches (hip drive - then drop):
You do want to use hip drive on your cleans and snatches - but the aim isn’t to pull the bar as high as you can - it is to pull it to the right height for you to fit your ass under it. So… Around shoulder height for snatch and around hip height for clean.
And get your hands out wider!! The bar should sit in the crease of your hip (right above your junk). So, get the bar there, then take a grip that keeps the bar there. That is where I would start you at for a snatch grip!!
thanks guys I’ll try some over head squatting and a wider grip next time I’m at the gym, probably tomorrow. One thing though, I have the worst DOMs I’ve ever had in my traps, it’s so uncomfortable. How often do you guys snatch? I thought olympic lifts you could do very frequently?
you do adapt, though. I oly lift most days and don’t get any DOMS from it at all. unless… i do high reps (triples) at weights light enough such that i need to lower them. lowering them is work. dropping them eliminates the negative so bye bye DOMS.
