Snatch!

[the People's Champ]

I finally got the guts to perform a snatch today!

I started these like I would a power clean. I had the bar below the knees, back straight, and head looking up at a 45 deg angle.

I started out with the bar first to get a feel, and with some exercises, it was too light to handle. I added 10's to each side after the first set, then did a number of snatches (didn't keep count because I was so elated that I was doing snatches), followed by an overhead squat. after a couple of sets with the 10's, I added another pair of 10's since I thought I was able to lift more. with this amount of weight, I was somewhat able to keep and hold it up there, but there were a couple of occasions where I had to drop the weight back to the starting position.

Things that I had noticed doing this, when the weight is at its peak, my arms are locked out, but my shoulders drop a little bit. I think I am dropping too fast to compensate for the weight going up. Also, with the weight in the air, and my ass dropped, I am not in a proper squatting position. my knees are past my toes, and sometimes it feels like I am fighting to balance the weight. I get about a 50/50 success rate with this lift. any comments, questions welcome.

I am just happy that I had done these with relative ease.

 

[coolcolj]

welcome to the club

snatches are a lot of fun, when you get it right the bar feels really light and it just feels great.
I don't get this feeling with cleans.

Make sure you don't smack your chin/forehead, damn I did those a bit when I first started

 

[edgecrusher]

Firstly, you always want to keep your scapula elevated when the bar is over head. Don't just hold the weight up there, press into the bar. Next, it sounds as though you have tight calves, that is why you can't get into a proper squat position. Other then that, i can't offer any more tips without seeing you actually perform a lift. Good luck though, the snatch is a difficult and trying exercise, but if done correctly it gives rewards unrivaled by any exercise.

 

[coolcolj]

jump your feet out wider for the catch

watch OL, they start the lift narrow and then jump out wider for the catch, especially if your shoulders and flexibility are not good.

 

[the People's Champ]

edgdecrusher probably hit it on the nail with my tight ass calves. I do atf squats, and I DID warmup with a couple of light sets of atf squats to ensure that I could go deep on the lift.

and as far as watching olympic lifters, sorry bud, unless you have a link to some vids, there are no OLs where I work out so I won't be doing that anytime soon. seems like I am the only one at my gym that does any O/P lifting.

that said, I am just going by feel.

 

[coolcolj]

well there used to be a good vid url in my vert jump topic, but its gone now.


see here for some simple vids

http://138.9.1.58/athleticperformance/Exercise Video Description Menu.htm

oh and the girl is using bumper plates, they're not real 45s

 

[Bigsatan13]

I did a snatch today too. She fucking loved it. Right after we got home from the gym!