How to Snatch

When learning how to snatch and clean this article is going to use a top-down model, this method is not inherently better than a bottom-up model, however, it might have an advantage when teaching people who already have a background in lifting weights or powerlifting. I think people with a more general background will tend to move the bar in a conventional deadlifting fashion, which can cause problems in the way the bar is thrown (creating more horizontal force rather than vertical).

The Correct Grip for the Snatch First, we need to understand where the bar should be held for the snatch, the bar will be held with a wide grip, that's going to sit approximately in the crease of the hip - which is formed when the knees are slightly bent and the torso is hinged forward - the arms should be wide enough that the bar sits at this muscular point with no bend in the elbows. The lifter should practice moving the bar away from them and lightly making contact with their hip crease while keeping their arms straight, and this light contact should not be painful.

As the lifter becomes more advanced in practicing the snatch or runs into issues, experimenting with narrower and wider grips is encouraged. This should take place over several weeks as a suitable grip can take time to assess whether it is working well or not.

Secondly, the bar should be held with what's known as a hook grip, this is when the thumbs are wrapped around the bar and the fingers are wrapped around the thumb (as if you wanted to punch someone and break your thumb). A tip I have found to make this grip more reliable is to only grip the thumb up to just before the first knuckle. The hook grip should be in place during the pulling and throwing (the extension) parts of the lift and keeping it is optional when catching either a snatch or a clean

The Overhead Position

The bar should be held overhead with 3 main principles in play:

1. The bar should be stacked in a balanced position over the body, ideally, if you were to view the lifter and bar from a direct side view, you could draw a line from the middle of the bar through the middle of their foot from standing, all the way into a full overhead squat. To achieve this, the lifter should aim to have the bar sitting just behind the ears, or you could say right behind the base of the skull.

2. This position should be active (apply vertical force) and locked out, meaning you are actively pushing through the main joints of your arms, and shoulders in a strong flexion, elbows into full extension, and actively pushing through the wrists and hands.

3. The head can drop forward a little, but the eyes should remain staring at a focal point straight ahead.

A new lifter should practice pressing into this position with the bar resting behind the neck. They should set their fundamental posture (ribs and hips together + chest open), stand straight through their lower body, and press into the above position for 3-5 reps, emphasising steps 1. and 2. The Overhead Squat

The overhead squat is the receiving position in the snatch, a weightlifting ‘catches’ the bar here, before recovering (standing up), the lower (if the bar is caught low, this implies that at a given weight, it doesn't have to throw as high, furthermore, heavier weight cannot be thrown as high as a lighter weight, therefore heavier weights must be caught lower) and more stable (balanced) this position is, the higher chance of success when attempting heavy weights.

To simplify what is aiming to be done here is that we are combining the overhead position with a basic bodyweight squat:

Bar behind ears + actively locked out + posture active + balance in midfoot + pushing equally through knees and hips + sitting as low as possible.

A new lifter (or for a great warmup for the more complete lifts) could practice this movement for 3-5 reps, emphasising their overhead position and squat fundamentals.

The Turnover (what the upper body does in the snatch)

The turnover is what the lifter does, to transition from throwing the bar with the lower body in the pulling phase to the overhead squatting phase.

There are two broad principles in doing the turnover effectively:

1. Keep the bar as close as possible to the body throughout the movement.

To keep the bar close, the lifter should set their fundamental posture (ribs and hips together + chest open) stand straight through their lower body, then pull the bar up with their elbows high (keeping the elbows above the wrists as long as possible) and aiming to brush their body with the bar.

2. Moving the bar as fast as possible after being thrown by the legs, into a well-executed overhead position (and squat).

This motion must be done as quickly as possible, particularly with heavier and heavier weights, when going through the different stages of snatches (muscle, power, squat) the lifter will quickly exceed what the upper body could do on its own and can put the shoulders in a compromised position with too much weight.

When practicing the turnover, the lifter should do the above and practice for sets of 3-5 reps, using their upper body only but keeping a strong straight-line posture and balance.

The Extension (how the lower body throws the bar) the “Second Pull”

Now we need to learn how the lower body throws the bar before turning over and receiving in the overhead squat position.

When the bar reaches around the lower-mid thigh in the pulling phases, we then start the final acceleration of the bar produced by the lower body in the lift. What is trying to be achieved is, is the production of as much vertical (mostly) force as possible for the bar to be thrown high enough so that the lifter can turn it over and receive it in the overhead squat position.

To produce a maximally powerful vertical force with the body requires a rapid contraction of the muscles that control the joints of the lower limbs, this is known as a “triple extension” of the hips, knees, and ankles (dorsiflexion). The movement that is most like in natural terms outside of the sport is a vertical jump - a vertical jump with the bar in the hands.

To practice this initially, a new lifter should set their fundamental posture (ribs and hips together + chest open) and stand straight through their lower body. Then squat down with the bar until it is just above their knees (as close as possible to the body without touching at this point), and lean over so their chest is ahead of the bar. Then as they rapidly perform a vertical jump, they simultaneously bring the bar into their hips with straight arms, once the jump is complete they can continue the upward momentum of the bar with a shrug of the shoulders.

To simplify what this is:

Setup (posture locked in + Squat down with bar in the hands just above the knees with chest ahead of the bar) + Jump + hip contact → shrug

When practicing the extension, a new lifter should do 3-5reps per set of these jumps.

The Hang Muscle Snatch (the extension + turnover + overhead position)

Now the lifter should integrate what they've learned so far, the only ingredient to add here is an understanding of timing. We can think of timing at this point of the lift as not wanting the upper body to interfere with what the lower body is trying to achieve. So we want the turnover to happen after the extension NOT together.

Muscle lifts are defined as any snatch or clean where there is no squatting phase.

To simplify this is what the muscle snatch from the hang will be:

Jump + contact → turnover into a strong overhead position

The legs should stay straight after the jump to maintain this as a muscle snatch; cue: the world's worst ground shock.

Dropping under the bar (pulling yourself into a squat with the bar)

Now the lifter must understand how to transition from throwing (or pulling or jumping the bar) into receiving the bar in the receiving position (the overhead squat).

A good way to learn or teach this is to stand in your fundamental squat position, then from here shift the foot stance narrower by half a foot width (maintain the same toe angle). This is now the pulling or jumping stance, and the lifter's job after the extension is to shift the feet down and out into their normal squatting stance.

The drill to practice this is to start in the pulling stance with straight legs and the fundamental posture set, with arms hanging down at the sides. Then practice stomping straight down into a low and balance squat, throwing the arms up at above shoulder height simultaneously. Probably the most important aspect to focus on at this point is that it's mostly about squatting down as most lifters will start throwing their feet much wider than their normal squatting stance The Hang (Squat) Snatch (the extension + turnover + overhead squat)

Again, the lifter should integrate what they've learned so far, so instead of just turning the bar over into the overhead position like in the hang muscle snatch. The lifter should now stomp down and fixate the bar overhead in a full squat.

To simplify this is what the snatch from the hang will be:

Jump + contact → turnover + squat

At this point if successful with everything prior, the lifter will be able to do this but usually, they will start making faults in technique. It's good to focus on fundamentals;

targeting proper posture balance closeness of bar position overhead closeness of turnover timing of arms extending vertically stomping down rather than out.

Snatching from below the knees

This next step involves 2 main adjustments to prior understanding:

1. Position of the body relative to the bar

We can now introduce how the body should look when lifting the bar in the pull. The position of the torso influences how the bar is thrown in the extension of the snatch. We can think of the torso as the final lever that throws the bar, to throw the bar vertically we must have leverage on it, therefore the top of that lever (the shoulders) should be over the bar. The middle of the shoulder joint is the end of this lever, yes the arms are connected to the bar too, but they are acting mostly like ropes during the 1st and 2nd pulls of the lifts.

To illustrate where the ideal position could be, we can imagine opposites and their effect on how the bar is thrown.

If the shoulders are way in front of the bar, this lever now creates a huge rotational force on the bar, thus causing the bar to swing in a large arc and not be pulled behind the ears with minimal horizontal movement.

If the shoulders are behind the bar, this lever's relation to the bar is now far less influential, the power generated from the minimal rotational force is now much lower, and the extension now doesn't create enough force to throw the bar where we want to catch it.

To further explain how to more easily find this position, we can think of where approximately the middle of the shoulder joint is in a way that the lifter can feel. We can think of the deepest part of the armpit at this point. So, when we try to set up in the correct position from below the knees and as we move the bar up in the pull while doing the powerful extension and making contact we maintain leverage on the bar by

keeping the armpits in front (not too far) of the bar

2. Timing of the explosive extension

We now need to know at which point the lifter needs to do the explosive extension (jump) to throw the bar when moving the bar from below the knees or floor. The most natural point to do this, which can take into account people with different limb lengths is to start the extension at the point where the shins go vertical when moving the bar in a squat-like motion (while keeping it close + armpits in front of the bar). The Hang (Squat) Snatch from below the knees

Again, the lifter should integrate everything they've learned up until this point.

Setup in a squatting position with the bar below the knees as close as possible without touching and with the armpits in front of the bar

→ Push through legs maintaining this position until shins are vertical. → Jump + Contact → Turnover + squat

Snatching from the floor

Now the only ingredient left in learning how to do the full (squat) snatch is how to set up correctly from the floor.

The most important aspect is setting up the bar in the correct position in relation to the foot. We want the bar for most people to start at the joint where the toes connect to the feet (the MTP joint). When we have the bar over this point we then set up the body in the same way as from below the knees.

The Full (Squat) Snatch

So the important aspects are,

the fundamentals (active posture + balance in feet)

→ position of the bar in relation to feet → Armpits in front of the bar → moving the bar in a squatting motion until the shins are vertical → Explosive vertical extension + contact in hips → Turnover + Stomping down into a squat.