So I was fooling around with my snatch today...

[Guinness5.0]

...and man, do I have respect for Oly lifters! This is a humbling lift.

Basically, I'm deloading and figured that it would be a good day to warm up with overhead squats and try to snatch a bit. I'll cut to the chase and say that the bar by itself was a bit of a challenge.

I worked up to a couple doubles with 135 on OH squats and figured I'd be able to snatch with 135 as well. I started with 95 pounds and got it a couple times, but it was all over the place - off balance to one side or the other, or it'd fall forward when I was in the hole. So I tried just the bar and hit a few good ones, but I still had several that would go all crooked on me.

This should be a fun lift to learn. It made for a great warmup - felt nice and loose after 'em and it wasn't as boring as the treadmull or tons of light backsquats.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

Sweet someone else giving em a shot! The one thing I found most useful was trying to stretch the bar apart. When I did that at the top position, it forced my shoulders back and elbows out. Once you get the bar centered and balanced, don't think about your upper body at all, just lock it in to place. I concentrate most on squeezing my abs, seems to help me keep upright better.

Edit: Btw, thread title...hilarious, not exactly what I was thinkin'.

 

[bignate73]

i love power snatches. my best is 115....LOL! i think i would really wreck myself if i had to get under some real heavy weight in a full squat down that low....with the bar over my head. scary. i save that for power cleans. not super strong there either though. but boy are those lifts fun!

 

[Cynical Simian]

I swear you'd do reverse incline dumbbell flyes if they had a more suggestive name.

Good stuff. I might give snatches a shot as a loosening up exercise before back squat warmups sometime.

 

[Jim Ouini]

Yeah these are fun lifts, great warmups too even if my form is horrible.

I gotta work on my shoulder flexibility, I tried some OH squats and besides almost going ass over elbow I also had some twisting thing going on with my left side. And this was just with the bar.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

I tend not to fool around with my snatch, on account of me being a man with an external appendage...

Snatches are a fun lift, though.

 

[Quadsweeps Sister]

...and man, do I have respect for Oly lifters! This is a humbling lift.

Basically, I'm deloading and figured that it would be a good day to warm up with overhead squats and try to snatch a bit. I'll cut to the chase and say that the bar by itself was a bit of a challenge.

I worked up to a couple doubles with 135 on OH squats and figured I'd be able to snatch with 135 as well. I started with 95 pounds and got it a couple times, but it was all over the place - off balance to one side or the other, or it'd fall forward when I was in the hole. So I tried just the bar and hit a few good ones, but I still had several that would go all crooked on me.

This should be a fun lift to learn. It made for a great warmup - felt nice and loose after 'em and it wasn't as boring as the treadmull or tons of light backsquats.

Well damn, after reading though and talking about your road to the big 600 yesterday; bands, box squats and all kind of PL'ing crazyness - you're adding in the OLY lifts?!!

I can hear you shoulders screaming now.... helpmehelpmeeeeeee!!!!...j/k

..but someone is going to have to come and wrap you up in a body shaped ice mummy pack after your next PL,OLY,BoxSquat,Band workout. Go for it!!!

 

[fortunatesun]

An easy way to get the technique down is to use the Soviet model for teaching snatch: break down the lift into parts. It's easier to learn one segment at a time and add than to do the whole lift.

They use the "backward chaining" method. Begin with the last part first and then work backwards.

So you'd start with an overhead beginning where the bar would end up after the 3rd stage or basically where it would be if you were beginning a shrug. Then you just progress backwards: hang snatch, snatch pull, power snatch, power snatch overhead squat, full squat snatch.

To be honest, I could have spent a lot more time practicing the individual components. I'm sure it's one of the reasons my snatch is also rather lame. But if you have 15 min. to do a rundown on all the components in this way I think you'll get a clearer mental picture and it will improve your basic motor response.

 

[Guinness5.0]

QS/FS:

Hehe yeah, I seem to be all over the place. The Oly's are something I want to learn, and a deload day seemed like a good time to play

My shoulders felt fantastic after this, but with these weights I wouldn't expect much strain. I was thinking that spending a few minutes practicing technique and learning the assistance stuff (BTW FS: I have read about the method of which you speak) prior to my work sets would be an excellent warmup. Then down the road I can really focus in on the Olys if I feel like it.

 

[Behemoth]

just love some snatch...