Exercise Profile
- Target Muscle Group
- Exercise TypeOlympic Weightlifting
- Equipment RequiredBarbell
- MechanicsCompound
- Force TypePush (Bilateral)
- Experience LevelIntermediate
- Secondary Muscles
Abs, Adductors, Biceps, Calves, Forearms, Glutes, Hamstrings, Lats, Lower Back, Shoulders, Traps, Upper Back
Target Muscle Group
Quads
Snatch Overview
The snatch is a full body exercise that is commonly performed in Olympic weight lifting and athletic training facilities.
The snatch is an extremely explosive movement that involves nearly every muscle in the body to move the barbell in a vertical line from the floor to overhead.
Snatch Instructions
- Position the bar over the knot on your shoelaces but not touching your shins.
- Setup with your feet in a shoulder width stance, toes pointed out slightly, and your hands in a snatch grip.
- Drop your hips and drive the chest up while looking forward.
- Keeping the bar close to your body, begin to push the floor away and shift your knees back.
- As the bar passes your knees, shift your knees forward into a power position with your torso upright.
- Explosively jump straight up and shrug the bar aggressively.
- As the bar passes your head, flip your wrists and allow it to rotate around your elbows.
- Drop underneath the bar into a squat and catch the bar overhead with the elbows locked out.
- Reverse the movement by flipping the wrists, unbending the elbows, and catching the bar at the crease of your hip before lowering to the floor.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Snatch Tips
- Olympic lifting is about efficiency, not just brute strength.
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Use this simple jingle to help groove the necessary positions for the snatch:
- Starting position
- Knees back
- Knees forward
- Jump and shrug
- Think “slow off the floor, fast into the hips”.
- Ideally you want the movement to take place in a vertical fashion. Don’t think about pushing the hips forward, think up.
- Work on overhead squats and snatch grip behind the neck push presses initially before moving into the snatch, this will ensure that you’re already strong in an overhead position.
- When initially learning the snatch, start from the hang (middle of the thigh).
- Toe angle is highly individual - experiment to see what feels best for you.
- Drive through the whole foot - you want 3 points of contact: big toe, little toe, and heel.
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