Fixing the First Pull: 3 Tips for a Better Snatch

Want to improve your snatch? It all starts with the first pull. Over the past month or so, USA Weightlifting Olympic Lifter and CrossFitter Spencer Arnold has covered a series of essential points — primarily connected to the first pull — on how to improve your snatch and make it more efficient.

Spencer’s first piece of advice? When lifting the bar off the ground, keep it covered. While all of his advice sounds simple enough, you know they don’t call it “Olympic” weightlifting for nothing — every small improvement in technique makes a difference.

1. “Don’t Leave the Bar Naked”

Don’t leave the bar naked…cover it.

The longer the lever that is moving an object, the more weight it is able to displace with less force. This is how catapults in the Middle Ages were able to throw giant stones thousands of yards: Leverage.

Once a week I want to address a common problem most lifters and Crossfitters have with their Olympic lifts. Today the target problem is our inability to cover the bar with our shoulders when snatching or cleaning. A lifter’s best friend is leverage. Just like a see-saw with a heavy weight on one end: the longer the lever, the less power need to be applied to move the weight. This goes back to simple machines in 9th grade physical science. The longer the lever that is moving an object, the more weight it is able to displace with less force. This is how catapults in the Middle Ages were able to throw giant stones thousands of yards: Leverage.

Many lifters take their leverage away when they snatch or clean by transferring their knees under the bar too soon and getting their shoulders behind the bar too fast. You can watch this happen on video by watching a lifter’s knees… With the bar at the top of their knees, their shoulders should be well in front of the bar and their shins vertical.  Anyone watching the lift can see from this point if they are using their leverage well. Watch their knees. If they push their knees under the bar IMMEDIATELY after the bar passes their knees, then they are taking away their leverage. The torso that is supposed to be acting as their long “see-saw” arm is now not so long anymore and their leverage is gone.

To give credit where I never thought I would, my high school physics teacher was right. I can actually apply what he was teaching me to real life. At least to the Olympic lifts, anyway. Cover the bar. The longer and farther you can stay over the bar, the higher your success rate will be and the higher your max numbers will be.

Spencer’s Video Analysis: Leverage

Poor Leverage

Many lifters take their leverage away when they snatch or clean by transferring their knees under the bar too soon and getting their shoulders behind the bar too fast.

At this point of the pull, the athlete’s shins are at an angle, which takes away from his leverage. As a result, Spencer points out that his arms bend a little too soon as his hips bang into the bar, sending it out too far in front. Because he is forced to chase it forward, he lands in his toes; the ideal would be for the bar to travel up his body instead of away from it.

Good Leverage

A lifter’s best friend is leverage.

In stark contrast to the previous video, this athlete is in a good position because he covers the bar well. When the bar reaches the top of his knees, his shins are completely vertical and his shoulder is well in front of the bar, creating the necessary leverage for the lift — keeping his back strong and his heels firmly on the ground. As the bar travels up his body, he stays over the bar as long as possible and delays getting his knees underneath the bar. By the time the bar is at his hip, he is still in a great position with his heels planted and ready to translate his power vertically.

2. “Sweep It Back”

Tonight’s post is one of the most important concepts surrounding the Olympic lifts. The first pull. Many lifters do not understand or know where the bar should be as it comes off the floor or where the bar should be at the knee. It took a long time for me to understand the sweep back of the bar during the first pull and is taking even more time to make it habitual. Literally it is my least favorite part of the Olympic lifts.

Basically, when the bar leaves the ground it MUST track backwards off the ground. It MUST sweep back. Otherwise for the remainder of the lift, the bar will likely be in front of you and your hips.

If the bar does not come back off the floor, two movement patterns tend to result:

1. The lifter will have to jump forward to get under the bar. With the bar out in front of the hips and thus in front of one’s center of gravity, the only option the lifter has is to jump forward to go get the bar OR miss the bar out front. Lovingly nicknamed the Snatch Broad Jump.

2. The lifter will thrust their hips horizontally into the bar, sending the bar in a long arc AWAY from their body. The hip movement looks more like a kettlebell swing than a snatch/clean. The hips MUST move vertically and they cannot do so with the bar way out in front of their hip.

Spencer’s Video Analysis: Poor Position at the Top of the Knee

You want to create vertical power for an efficient bar path.

Even though the athlete lands this 215# snatch off the blocks, Spencer points out that a poor bar path results in a dance move (the likes of which he has not seen since Usher’s “My Way”). When the bar gets out too far in front of the athlete, it forces him to broad jump in order to make the lift.

Ultimately it is of pivotal importance that lifters sweep the bar back off the floor for three HUGE reasons.

1. The bar gets to the hips at the right time with the proper weight in the heels.
2. A proper first pull loads the hamstrings and posterior chain in order to allow the lifter to gain maximal bar speed at the right time.
3. It keeps the bar closer to the body allowing for the most efficient bar track.

3. Don’t Bend Your Arms Early

…Because his arms are bent, he does not have the ability to apply power vertically to the bar. If he did apply vertical power, his arms would just straighten back out and he would achieve nothing.

One of the biggest hindrances to power and vertical bar speed is the early arm bend. For those of you who struggle with bending the arms early, you know the pain this bad habit is. Bending the arms in the snatch OR clean before the bar has reached maximal speed only slows the bar down and changes the bar track.

Spencer’s Video Analysis: The Early Arm Bend

First, the lift as it appears in full speed:

Secondly, a closer look at the lift in slow motion:

What you will notice in these videos is the lifter bends his arms significantly and thus hinders his lift.

Once his arms bend, he struggles to remain in the first pull with his heels on the ground. This is because he has now taken the pressure out of his legs and tried to apply power to the bar with his arms.

Secondly, you will notice that because his arms are bent, he does not have the ability to apply power vertically to the bar. If he did apply vertical power, his arms would just straighten back out and he would achieve nothing. So to compensate for that inability, he moves his hips horizontally into the bar and over-rotates his shoulders behind the bar which causes the bar to swing out in front of him. It all began when he bent his arms early.

“That looks like me! How do I fix it?”

The bottom line: the early arm bend is a power killer and for most will take 10-20kg off your potential.

To be short, the way to fix bad habits is ALWAYS perfect repetitions regardless of weight. However, there are also two lifts that tend to make a lasting impact on this bad habit. The Tall Snatch/Tall Clean are hugely effective as you have no time to bend your arms and are forced to drive hard into the second pull with your shoulders and hips. Furthermore, mixing in pulls with your lifts has a huge impact. What I mean by this is performing a combo where you do a snatch or clean pull for 1-2 reps with perfectly straight arms then perform the full movement trying to mimic the pulls… This combo will create the proper movement pattern with your arms before completing the full movement.

Snatch Pull + Snatch off the Blocks

The bottom line: the early arm bend is a power killer and for most will take 10-20kg off your potential.