Of all the Olympic Lifts that I find people have difficulty with, I would have to say the Snatch takes the cake. Often times, explaining to everyone how they need to position their body, time the pull, pop the hips, get under the bar, and lock out the elbows can sound and feel overwhelming for new, and even experienced, lifters.
And then I saw THIS. This slow motion video of a perfectly performed, Olympic competition quality Snatch should help people visualize the step-by-step process we’re always repeating to them.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrWz1bmdSmY&feature=related’]
Notice these things about her lift:
- She positions her feet with her heels shoulder distance apart, toes slightly out.
- Hips are low, chest is up, knees are tracking over the toes, and shoulders are sitting slightly in front of the bar.
- Grip is wide, enabling the arms to be straight and well outside the knees.
- The movement of the bar is initiated off the floor by pushing through the heels, and the chest rises at the same rate as the rear end.
- The knees are pushed out further over the toes as the bar is lifted upward, in order to create a straight line in the pull.
- The elbows are straight as the hips are popped forward to full extension, the body rising slightly upward onto the toes with the momentum.
- Once the hips are extended, the arms are bent in the aggressive shrug and pull. Bar is kept very close to the body, elbows are high and outside.
- As the bar travels upward, the lifter drops down under it with speed and confidence.
- Upon landing the elbows are locked out completely with no need for a press out.
- In this instance, the bar is caught in a full squat, and the lifter is all the way in the bottom of the squat at the same time the weight is caught overhead and locked out.
- The lifter pushes through the heels to stand up, keeping the chest up tall, hips rising at the same rate as the chest. (However, you can see her knees DO drift inward as she stands, which is the only bad thing to note!)
- Hips are fully open at the top, arms still locked out, body stable.
Now watch that video about 20 times, and then get in here and rock out Isabel!
Today’s Workout
Buy in – 5 x 10 reps of KB swing
* Increase weight each round challenging yourself
* Focus on keeping a tight core and fully extending the hips and legs to create momentum on the bell
WOD – “Isabel” (Push yourself towards a new PR as you think about all those tired CrossFit Games athletes who struggled through this WOD on the final day of the competition last weekend!)
Can you get on the Leaderboard?
For time:
30 Snatches
RX – 95/135lbs
Zone 4 – 85/125lbs
Zone 3 – 75/115lbs
Zone 2 – 65/95lbs
Zone 1 – scale as needed
Cash Out– 3 rounds of 10 toes to bar and 2- 5 skin the cats
