Guys, can anyone who is experienced with power snatches and hang snatches give me some pointers about them? I can do power cleans with great form but snatches give me a great deal of trouble. Also, if there are any websites, books, or videos that would help please post. Thanks guys.
If you’re already doing power cleans with good form, it shouldn’t be too hard to pick up the snatch. The pull is very similar except you use a wide grip. What’s giving you trouble…shoulder flexibility? You might want to try overhead squats and drop snatches to help prepare you shoulders. Check out Arthur Dreschler’s “Weightlifting Encyclopedia.”
I can give you a few pointers on executing the hang power snatch. First, make sure you have adequate shoulder flexibility to do them, the best way I’ve found to do this is to take a snatch grip with an unweighted bar, press it up over head and do overhead squats. This movement also helps you get the feel of what the end of the movement should feel like.
Next do snatch pulls. Take a snatch grip and execute an explosive pull, graze the bar up your thighs on the way up, drive your traps upward, dig your feet down and back, and extend up on your toes at the end. For a power snatch you’ll probably need to get the bar to eye level. After you feel comfortable with this movement reduce the weight and do the complete hang snatch. If you do the overhead squats and snatch pulls correctly the movement should naturally come together, you’ll just have to concentrate on dropping under the bar when the bar is at the correct height. It’s just a movement that takes a lot of practice to get the hang of. For more advice their is an olympic weightlifting forum on goheavy
Get Arthur Dreschler’s book “The Weightlifting Encyclopedia”. It’s got tons of Olympic lifting info (including tons of variations). It also has diagrams. It’s a great book.
Look for JV Askem’s site at olympus. You can also search under “cable bar guy”.
This is all you need
Krakkerz is right. Forgot about JV’s site! But the book is great too
Don’t forget the video companion to Arthur Dreschsler’s book, it’s good to actually be able to see the lifts. And JV’s got a cool site, lots of good stuff on there.
Thanks for all the help guys. I’m going to order one of the videos and get to it. Kelly, I tried doing some hang snatches yesterday and during the concentric part of the lift, when the bar got just above eye level, my left elbow would bend slightly on nearly every rep. If you’ve got any more advice please post. Thanks again guys.