This month at the studio, the clients of Primal Fitness Pittsburgh are in a little competition with each other. At the end of the month, the person who has completed the most snatches during all of their workouts will receive a nice little health and wellness basket for their hard efforts. We like spreading the love here at the studio, and the added bonus of the competition makes for some serious lifting sessions with our small group. Of course, this also opened up some interesting teaching points when it comes to getting this whole snatch lift mastered.
The snatch is arguably one of the most demanding lifts in terms of cardiovascular endurance, let alone strength. That being said, you won’t learn to appreciate the conditioning that goes along with this lift until you understand HOW to perform a snatch well. There are three areas you have to focus on in order to get this lift perfected. 1) Mobility, namely in the shoulders. 2). Hinging- the hips being the epicenter of your power production. 3). Strength to sustain the weight overhead and to execute subsequent reps. Rather than get into the nitty gritty via too much text, check out these videos below for a solid little tutorial on the hardstyle snatch! The first video will cover the kettlebell arm bar and halos for mobility work, and the second will discuss the hinging component to this lift.
Now that we have mobilized our shoulders, let’s get into this hinging component for the single and double snatch.
A few weeks ago, I demonstrated how to do 20kg kettlebell snatches for reps. Putting our mobility and hinging to the test here, watch the video below for some heavy snatches. Notice the hike, hinge, and tight grip at the top of this snatch. That kind of technique is what you want to focus on to get your heavy kettlebell moving for multiple reps of snatches.
I hope these two videos served you well in terms of getting your snatch technique down well when you practice. Let me know how you’re doing with these lifts and feel free to email me at janelle@primalfitnesspittsburgh.com with any questions you may have about your kettlebell training. Keep up the great work! Until next time. . .
Master your instincts!
