Kettlebell Technique Advanced | The Kettlebell Snatch

Kettlebell Snatch

The Kettlebell Snatch epitomises everything that’s great about kettlebells. To perform an efficient Kettlebell snatch requires many of the elements of fitness including, strength, speed (read, power), flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, and explosiveness. One you’ve nailed the Kettlebell snatch, it will never look laboured and always look powerful!

Are you ready?

You need to have mastered the swing and the Turkish get up (TGU) before you attempt snatches. Snatching a Kettlebell to a high position is a very fast and dynamic movement. You will need to have good hip flexibility and the power through the hips that the swing will give you in order to gain the required momentum to achieve this position. The TGU will give you the all-important shoulder stability required to stabilise the Kettlebell when it arrives at the top end of the snatch position. I can’t over emphasise this last point enough, when a Kettlebell arrives overhead in such a dynamic fashion, you will need to have a solid and confident end position in order to stabilise the weight!

First things first…. 

The High pull

Why do it

Before you start snatching, you need to master the high pull. This is covered in our Basic Techniques sessions but is repeated below for completeness.

How to do it

1. Place a kettlebell slightly ahead of your feet.
2. Then think about pushing your hips back as if sitting back on to a bench, making sure that you crease at the hips whilst maintaining a straight back position. Your shoulders should be back and down. You will then be in the correct starting position. If you’ve got it right then you should be feeling a stretch in your hamstrings, just like in the swing.
3. Grasp the kettlebell with one hand.
4. Swing it back as you would the swing. Then powerfully snap the hips forward to initiate the forward swing of the kettlebell.
5. Now, as the kettlebell starts to come up, at the point where it reaches about chest high, pull your elbow back by bending your arm and retracting your shoulder blade. Think of it as trying to elbow somebody in the face behind you. The kettlebell should remain straight in front of your fist and not flip over or down, in other words, kept under control. Once in the pulled back position, thrust it forward again and continue with the downward swing and repeat. Be sure to control the arc on the way down. As per the swing, you don’t want to project the kettlebell out too wide.

The Kettlebell snatch.

How to do it

1. As per the swing and the high pull, start with the kettlebell slightly in front of you to help initiate the first swing.
2. From this position, Grab the kettlebell with one hand and hike it rearwards. Then immediately come to full extension as per the swing. However unlike the swing this time as the kettlebell starts to come up, you bring your elbow back as if to elbow someone in the face behind you. Already familiar to you because you’ve mastered the high pull, haven’t you?
3. Now as the kettlebell passes your face your arm will be bent. The kettlebell however is still travelling in an upward path. As it reaches just above head height you will need to aggressively ‘punch’ the arm straight so as the kettlebell lands gently on your wrist. Get it right and it will land with a ‘kiss’ as opposed to a ‘bang’ It is important to keep the kettlebell arc close to your body and not to allow it to go too far out in front of you. You can do this by keeping your shoulder pulled back into its socket.
4. Once locked out in the top position, make sure that your shoulder is pulled down into your socket.
5. On the descent, flick the bell round as you start the downward path. Be sure to maintain only a slight arc on the return, in other words, don’t let the bell run too wide. This is all about economy of movement and safety.
6. Pick up the slack of the kettlebell as it starts to move under you and drive it back before explosively starting the movement again.

This takes practice but so long as you progress from swings to high pulls to snatches you should master it fairly quickly.

Breathe out on the full extension and in on the downswing.

 Two styles! Hard style and cork screw.

There are two styles of Kettlebell snatches. I have been taught in both styles and would therefore like to talk to you about the advantages and disadvantages of both methods.

Punch through or RKC hard style!

As taught by Pavel Tsatsuline and his RKC instructors, this is the method I was taught initially and is the method I still use for maximum repetitions in any 5 minute snatch test. It’s a more aggressive style of snatching and involves flipping the bell over at the top of the movement and then punching through the handle with speed therefore allowing the Kettlebell to ‘kiss’ the forearm gently as it lands. This method, without any doubt, uses more effort than the cork screw method and is therefore not best suited to longer duration Kettlebell snatching. However, it is fast and aggressive!

Cork screw style

The cork screw style as taught to me by Steve Cotter of the IKFF team is a more relaxed style of snatching although of course the explosiveness is the same. Here instead of flipping the bell over the top as it reaches its top position, the bell rotates around your hand as you push up through the handle. With this method the handle of the bell will always remain the highest point even as you punch through at the top position of the snatch. It is the preferred method for the majority of people involved in Kettlebell sport.

Which method is best?

No such thing and entirely dependent on what you want to achieve. If I was going for maximum numbers in a 5 minute snatch test, I would use the RKC style. If I was competing in a 10 minute competition style snatch whereby only one hand change was allowed, I would use the cork screw style.

Caring for your hands

Kettlebell snatches can be very rough on your hands, especially when snatching big numbers. The problem here is the transition from the two extreme positions, especially on the downward path. One way to remedy this and to prevent the build up of callouses on the hands, is to drop the Kettlebell into your fingers as the Kettlebell starts to descend. This has the effect of by-passing the fleshy palm area where callouses usually form. This may seem a bit unnerving at first as you are momentarily releasing your grip on the Kettlebell, but with practice it becomes second nature.

In conclusion.

• Remember, if you are just getting into kettlebells, don’t start here. Learn the swing and the TGU first, this is vital.
• Start with a light weight initially and practice until you are reasonably happy with your form. My advice would be to never snatch any weight that you can’t do a good TGU with first.
• Learn with your predominant side initially but then as soon as possible train equally on both sides.
• Train outside if possible so as you can release the Kettlebell if you get into difficulties. Better a hole in your lawn then a wrenched shoulder. Also, please note, if you are are over 6 foot tall and live in a regular house, performing snatches with the RKC style will result in some ceiling damage!!
• Have a towel handy to keep your hands and the Kettlebell handle dry.
• Remember, your criteria for increasing the weight is dependent on your ability to confidently perform a TGU with that weight. This will keep you and your shoulders safe!
• Always perform a good mobility warm up first, moving through all your joints. You can use: neck flexion, extension and lateral flexion, side bends, hip circles, forward flexion and extension, leg swings, shoulder circles, shrugs, squats and lunges.