The Snatch – 7 Common Faults and How-to Fix Them

The Snatch – 7 Common Faults and How-to Fix Them

Ahhhh the snatch. Until CrossFit this move was reserved primarily for olympic weight lifters. Nowadays when you ask a CrossFitter what movement they feel is the most challenging this ranks top of their list. In order to help our athletes better understand the movement we explain it below (yea, yea. I know that explanations are available on the world wide web but this way you don’t have to go searching for it) and we then note some common faults and how-to fix them. Our hope is that the information you find here will help you along your way and encourage you to work with your coach until your weakness becomes your strength.

 

Happy snatching!

 

 

So let’s break it down:

  • The snatch starts with your feet hip distance apart (make 2 fists and put them in between your feet. That’s your hip distance). This is where you will have the most power transfer.

  • Your grip should be wide enough that when you are standing and holding the bar you should be able to lift your knees and not have the bar touch your legs. Make sure your grip is even. Use the smooth lines as an indicator for where your hands should go. Shoulders should be slightly in front of the bar.

  • From the ground, your butt should be down yet you should be able to feel tension in your hamstrings and your chest should be up (as if you were wearing a name take and you want to present it to the wall in front of you.) So basically a wide grip deadlift position

  • When you are ready to lift, push the ground down with your heels and keep the bar close to you. You want to come up to a position where the bar is resting in the hip crease.
  • At this point you stand up squeezing your glutes (all about the hip extension!). At this point the bar is virtually weightless. So IMMEDIATELY high pull and punch the ceiling

  • Drop underneath the bar to catch it.

  • Stand up to complete the movement
  • Voila!

If you’ve ever snatched before you know this can be waaay easier said that done. You get what’s suppose to happen but when it comes time to put it to action shit gets cray. So that’s where the tips below come in. Let’s talk about some of the common situations that end up happening when going for that perfect snatch.

 

1. The Starting Position

    • What Is It?
      • A good setup is key. In life and in your snatch. We touched on it above and it’s worth mentioning again. Several aspects can be improved if your set-up is corrected.
    • How-to Fix It
      • Start by resting your hands on your knees. Then slliidddeeeee them down your shins until your finger tips touch the top of your shoe laces. Feel the tension in your hamstrings? Perfect! This is your starting position.
    • Homework
      • Just make sure you set up like this every time

 

2. Lack of Full Hip Extension

  • What it is?
    • You’ve probably heard your coach at one point or another talk about “hip extension.” But WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! Okay I personally did not get how important this is until I had been doing the CrossFits for quite some time. This just means that your legs (ankles, knees, hips, glutes squeezed) are fully locked out. This should happen immediately BEFORE you pull on the bar.

  • How-to Fix It
    • Be patient. Wait until your legs are fully locked out before pulling
  • Homework
    • Work on high pulls from the high and mid hang positions using a moderately heavy weight.
    • Standing with feet underneath hips and a snatch grip, dip and then fully extend (so stand up and squeeze your butt) and then high pull.
    • Try 5 sets of 10 reps starting from the high hang position. Once you are proficent here move to the mid hang and then finally working your way to the floor.

 

3. Pulling Too Early

  • What Is It?
    • You’re so strong that you just use your muscles to pull that weight overhead- which can mean you’re losing power if there is a bend in the arms, then straight, then bent again. Just like a rope you want it to be taunt until the exact moment. (As you can see below, my elbows are bent [meaning I’ve started to pull] before I’m at full extension)

  • How-to Fix It
    • Drill work from the hang.
    • This doesn’t give you the opportunity to bend your arms early because the bar starts where the arm bend is needed.
  • Homework
    • Practice your high pulls
    • With a moderate weight start from the high hang.
    • With your feet under your hips and keeping the weight in your heels and the outsides of your feet take a slight dip (about 10% of your height)
    • Stand up and immediately bring your elbows to the ceiling
    • Try 5 sets of 10 reps

 

4. Not Using the High Pull

  • What Is It?
    • Often times athletes know the goal of getting the weight overhead and so they do that with straight arms. This results in the bar being waayyyyyy too far away from the body. And as the weight gets heavier that becomes impossible

  • How-to Fix It
    • Practice your high pulls
    • See above
  • Homework
    • Starting with the bar, focus bringing your elbows to the ceiling and pulling the bar to about nipple level
    • Make sure you are keeping the bar close! It should be grazing your chest
    • Hold it here for :05
    • Relax
    • Repeat this for 5×8
    • Gradually add weight

 

5. Bouncing the Bar Away

  • What Is It?
    •  So sometimes athletes get what they are suppose to do when they extend their hips, except they have a tendency for the bar to go out instead of up. As if you were humping the bar- which makes it go away from your body

  • How-to Fix It
    • Practice your high pulls
    • Practice keeping the bar close
  • Homework
    • Complete high pull drills above with the addition of tucking your knuckles (think about showing your top knuckles to the ground)

 

6. Improper Landing: Landing On Your Toes, Landing Too Wide OR The Starfish

Landing on Your Toes

  • What Is It?
    • As humans we are primarily quad dominate. Athletes have a tendency to land on their toes- which makes for an unstable landing and can cause the bar to fall forward. And you can injure yourself. Just look at how upset my face is here. Landing on your toes can also happen if you have tight ankles too.

  • How-to Fix It
    • Think about landing in the begining of a squat
  • Homework
    • Snatch drops.
      • These are when you start with a bar on your back, feet underneath your hips, wide grip.
      • To execute movement you punch the sky and move your feet out to drop underneath the bar.
      • Start small. Instead of dropping into a fully squat to catch the bar just drop as low as you are comfortable. Think of your heels as stakes (that you would use for a tent. or a vampire) so you really want to drive those stakes (heels in this care) into the ground
      • Focus on your hips being back here, knees out. Landing in your heels and keeping the weight in your heels and the outsides of your feet
    • Complete 4 sets of 8-10 reps. Start with the bar and gradually add weight
    • And stretch those ankles and calves errday for good measure

 

Landing Too Wide

  • What Is It?
    • When you move your feet are wayyyyyy wider than you would ever actually do an overhead squat for your catch

  • How-to Fix It
    • Drills, drills, drills! First of all do an overhead squat. Now with your feet just as they are use chalk to draw a line along the outsides of both feet. This is where you should land. Make sure your feet are under your hips when you start. Snatch. Before moving your feet in check your feet
  • Homework
    • With lines drawn for proper foot placement on your landing use light weight to perform 5 sets of 8-10 reps in order to train your muscle memory

The Starfish

  • What Is It?
    • When you fully extend those hips but not your knees- resulting in an awkward catch position that is reminiscent of a starfish

  • How-to Fix It
    • Think of sitting in a chair when you catch the bar. Hips back. Sometimes I tell people to think of it kind of as if they were sticking their booty out to twerk. Hey- it works.
  • Homework
    • Snatch drops. See above for your how-to and sets x reps

7. Incorrect Overhead Lockout Position

  • What Is It?
    • When you catch the bar over head with bent arms- and then press it out. Or you don’t press it out and just stand up with it 🤷🏻‍♀️

  • How-to Fix It
    • Punch the ceiling!
  • Homework
    • More snatch drops. Focus on that punch

 

The above are just some of the things that can go wrong when snatching. Hopefully one of them resonates with you and helps you the next time you lift. As always, when in doubt ask your coach. They are there to help you. I’m also available in the Miami area and online if you need so please do reach out with any and all questions. What I’m saying is you’ve got options so it’s only a matter of time until you have a better snatch.