Thursday, January 29, 2009

Snatches and their variations

Thursday January 29, 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session:

Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)

Snatch, Snatch Pull, OH Squat and Snatch Balance (kg):
20 x 5 x 5 OH Squat
20 x 1 x 5 Snatch Balance
30 x 1 x 5 Snatch Balance
30 x 1 x 5 Snatch + 4 Snatch Balance
35 x 1 x 6 Snatch + 5 Snatch Balance
35 x 2 x 3 Snatch + 2 SnatchBalance
40 x 2 x 2 Snatch + Snatch Balance
45 x 1 x 4 Snatch
45 x 1 x 2 Snatch Balance
50 x 1 x 2 Power Snatch
40 x 2 x 3 Snatch
40 x 1 x 4 Snatch
45 x 1 x 3 Snatch
45 x 1 x 2 Snatch
50 x 1 x 2 Snatch
70 x 4 x 5 Snatch Pull
40 x 4 x 2 Hang Power Snatch

Back Squat (lbs)
135 x 1 x 5
165 x 1 x 5
190 x 5 x 5

I added the bar-only OH squats and snatch balances up to 45kg. These are a must for me to get used to the awkward catch and drop under positions. The back squats were very difficult this evening and only a few hours later my body was sore. Here are some of key coaching cues given to me tonight:

  • Push shoulders and traps upward when locking out the snatch with fully extended arms.
  • On the snatch balance, I should use a more explosive hip drop and less arms.
  • When snatching, the bar should be held with the wrists flexed towards the body.
  • During the 2nd pull, I should fully extend before dropping under.
  • The arms should be like ropes, the lifting is done with "big legs".

Total Volume: 14500 lbs

7 comments:

Martin Schap said...

Those are some good coaching cues. Are you doing the back squats under the supervision of your coach also? The SquatRx videos have some excellent cues that have been helping me as I only train alone these days.

Franklin said...

I have watched the SquatRx videos (which I should probably review again) and read Starting Strength. Last night I had one of the other lifters spot me on a few of the sets and he said my form was spot on (although they were very difficult following all the squat snatches I did).

Sometimes Coach Fuller will want me to leave my lifting shoes on or go barefoot .. last night was barefoot.

Martin Schap said...

I bet they were tough after a hard snatch workout. 195 is fairly serious poundage too. I used to *always* squat barefoot, but now that I am preparing for a competition I have been wearing shoes more often. Also the shoes are nice because the floor of my weightroom is slab on grade. It is usually pretty cold in there to the point that after about 10 minutes I lose feeling in my toes...

Colin said...

Though the list of lifts was never going to end!! Great work Franklin

p.s. I hope that can't be misinterpreted in any way ;)

Franklin said...

Colin,

Hey, hey thanks! A lot of lifts for a lot of volume with lighter lifts to really work technique. Its good to try and lift heavy now and then but especially for beginners, 95% of the lifts should be performed where the technique is okay but still room for lots of improvement.

I have now experienced seeing this with one of the female lifters at the club. Four months ago when I started I watched her lift and her form was awesome. She had been at it for a year at the time and was stuck at fairly light weights. Now for at least the last month, she PRs a kilo or two in each lift every week while maintaining superb form .. quite inspirational to say the least.

Aaron Friday said...

Franklin, what is a snatch balance?

Franklin said...

Aaron,

The snatch balance a.k.a the snatch drop is performed by holding the bar behind the neck on the top of traps with a snatch grip and then quickly dropping under the bar into a full squat while extending the bars out fully .. practicing dropping under the snatch. There should be a minimum pushing upwards with the arms .. just enough to allow the lifter to drop under the weight as quickly as possible.

When I first started doing these, a few months ago, even just the bar alone freaked me out .. only recently have I been able to add some weight. This assistance lift and a good dose of OH squats (which are really nasty) are essential for me for improving my snatch.

I remember when it seemed that I would never learn to snatch a 24kg kettlebell efficiently. As tough as that was for me, the barbell squat snatch is even more demanding and consequently will take much more time to learn .. a year of practice with light weights is not unreasonable to get to the point where ones technique is good enough to actually determine how much I one can really snatch.