As the title says, stop doing snatches.
I see at least 3 or 4 social media posts a day with people doing snatches, and the form is terrible. You’re going to hurt yourselves.
Ultimately, the snatch is kind of a worthless lift, unless you want to win a gold medal. This lift takes YEARS of practice, patience and training to simply get the form proper. Again, you’re going to hurt yourselves. Stop celebrating getting weight over your head.
I see too many people trying to lift the weight overhead with their shoulders and rise with said weight, which is terrible form. Essentially, to accomplish an efficient, and safe snatch lift, utilizing the shoulder muscles is poor form.
The key muscles in this lift are the glutes, hips, and lower back. Those groups drive the weight, with a bit of trap help, to about the nipple level of the lifter. It is at that point, that the bar should remain at a stasis from the ground, while the lifter drops into a solid overhead squat stance. The arms extend, the core tightens. The bar shouldn’t move vertically until proper balance is achieved, and only then can the lifter can utilize a clean overhead squat to rise the weight to a complete lift.
Simply throwing the weight over one’s head and extending one’s arms is a recipe for disaster. I’m just saying. Research proper form, because most of you aren’t doing it right and I don’t want to see you pop your shoulder from bad form. I’ve done it, twice. It’s not fun.
Here’s a great video on how to learn a proper snatch
Be safe, and lift heavy.
-RLB
