Power Snatch Your Way to Improved Athletic Performance

Updated 04.02.2012
The Power Snatch will help improve athletic performance by increasing your vertical jump and boosting 0-5 meter short term speed.

This post explains the different steps during the movement, how to practise the lift and finally how to do it.

There will be pictures for most steps in the movement pattern and I’m going to post a good video at the bottom that shows the power snatch carried out in action.

Power Snatch Movement Progression

Step 1: Let the bar touch your shins, take a wide grip…called –surprise!– the snatch grip. The torso should be about 45° to the floor. Pointer: don’t lead with the ass, but with the head and shoulders. English: don’t let the hips go up, you stay at 45° until the body straightens out.

Step 2: Lift snappy but not yet totally explosive…that comes as the bar starts to clear the knees. Keep the lower back locked tight and arched, shoulder blades retracted (lower back tight, upper back tight).

Step 3: As you clear the knees, explode upwards…this is where the body starts to straighten out. Think “jump” and “throw”. The bar travels up in a straight line, meaning it does NOT hit the thighs and get bounced out and away from the body!
All the best lifters move the bar up in a straight line.

Step 4: Now don’t forget the shrug!

Step 5: There’s a row in the movement, too!

Step 6: Dip&Flip: the catch. Now you kind of pull yourself under the bar, dip under by bending the knees and flexing the hip (sticking your butt back) and at the same time you flip the bar overhead, to the locked out position. That’s it!

Power Cleans have a higher correlation to the 0-5 meters, whereas Power Snatches transfer better to the vertical jump.

But both lifts are great for both qualities, and both lifts should be practised and used in the sports periodization: usually closer to the in-season or the main event, when you want to convert the strength you built previously into speed-strength, or “power”.

Many coaches shy away from power snatches, claiming they “take too much time to learn.”
Weeeel, I beg to differ.

You can be ready to use these babies after some 20 minutes. They might not be perfect –that comes with repetition– but you will get the training benefits out of them and reap the explosive rewards!

A few pointers:
Anything powerful or fast, like power snatches, power cleans, or sprinting and plyometrics, should always be performed when fresh, meaning at the beginning of the week and at the beginning of the workout. Because you’re training for power, the rule of thumb is never more than 6 reps per set. In the case of the power snatch, it’s normally more like 1-3 reps, more often than not.

Power Snatch Demonstration

This video I found for you explains and shows the lift really well:

P.S.
What if you’re not an athlete? The power snatch is rather technical, but it can be good fun, athlete or not. It will provide variety for your training, keeping both the body and mind fresh. And you know? By doing some explosive lifts for a change, you might well shock the body into making progress once again!

Mark

6 Comments

• Yavor says:

  February 5, 2012 at 6:48 AM

  Good stuff buddy! I first got hooked on oly lifts after watching Rocky 4 – Ivan Drago was doing power cleans if I remember correctly.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwvoTDoO9Hg

  Reply
  • Mark says:

    February 5, 2012 at 8:00 AM

    Hey Yavor!

    Always good to have you!

    Yeah power clean and power snatch are great tools that need to be used correctly to achieve max results: everything at the right time, in the right place, in the right way and the right amount!

    Mark

    Reply
• Mitchell - Home Fitness Manual says:

  February 5, 2012 at 8:07 PM

  Mark, great post. I think that while a beginner should focus on building strength and learning proper form, once they hit an intermediate level, it’s important to become familiar with Olympic lifts, such as the Power Snatch. I think too many people fail to see how these lifts can propel the body to “next-level” strength gains.

  -Mitchell

  Reply
  • Mark says:

    February 6, 2012 at 8:37 AM

    Hey Mitchell,

    you got it: right on the money!

    Thanks man!

    Mark

    Reply
• Sõl says:

  February 6, 2012 at 2:10 PM

  Great post!

  Been wanting to work up to these.

  So this would be the first snatch movement you should learn?

  Reply
  • Mark says:

    February 6, 2012 at 8:20 PM

    Hey Sol! Good to have you Brother!

    Yeah Power Snatch? Any day, don’t worry about the full version, not unless you’re an Oly Lifter!

    Thing is this: the power Snatch can be learned in 20 minutes. The full Snatch takes years to get down perfectly. And nobody needs to do them apart from the Olympic Lifters, you get all tyhe benefits from the Power Snatch too!

    Mark

    Reply