Welcome to part 6 of the Snatch Tutorial series. In case you missed them, here are Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5
How you feel after a set of Double KB Snatch.
This is the post that didn’t want to get posted! First of all I lost the bloody video, probably deleted without thinking, and then wordpress herself decided to have a hissy fit for the whole morning!
So, all apologies, here is Part 6: Double Bells.
So far we’ve covered the Snatch in a fair bit of detail, but only wit one bell. However, everything you’ve learned so far is relevant here when we double up. Everything except the rotation from the waist. And the staggered stance. Or the diagonal flight path.
Everything ELSE is still valid….
What I’m trying to say is, make sure you can snatch well before moving up to doubles.
Once you make the jump though you will not be disappointed, it’s a monster lift for developing explosive power and power endurance. If you play contact sports, especially Rugby or any form of wrestling, this will add some real pep you you punch.
Do take care when you first start. You’ll see in the video my first demo started with a we swing to get the bells moving. This was simply because it was cold and I can feel my old back injuries sending out their wee warning s signs. I have another lifter who struggles a bit with his back does the same thing, he always starts his swings/cleans/snatches with a wee pre swing before the first rep. This is not poor technique, it’s simply recognising that going from a dead start (as I do in latter sets in the clip) requires good mobility and a strong back. If the mobility is lacking, or the back isn’t great, the deep initial start position can be problematic.
Then there’s the drop. To start with, segment to the drop into two stages. Bring the bells first to the chest, then down into the swing, as you would if performing the Clean and Press or Long Cycle lifts. Again, this will reduce the load on the back as the bells won’t have as much time / distance to accelerate in. And as we know from watching the Big Bang Theory, Force = Mass x Acceleration. The further the bells drop, the faster they will be traveling at the terminus of the back swing, so a pair of 24’s as in the video will be exerting significantly more than 48kg’s of force as I arrest and reverse the motion. As you get stronger, this is a good thing, but for starting out, not so much.
Here’s the video:
As I mention in the clip, there are many ways to implement the lift, here’s a few examples:
Prior to the heavy main lift, ie your deadlifts. Try 3 sets of 5 reps with 2 minute breaks before a heavy deadlift session.
Stand alone posterior chain work – 10 sets of 3 or 5 sets of 5 will smoke you. I recommend lots of low rep sets for this, it’s not a lift you want to take to fatigue, especially if you’re working heavy.
Finisher, you saw in the video one of the finishers we use, feel free to use it as a kickstart to your own ideas. Maybe: 5 x double snatch, 10 x sit thru, 10 x push up for time….or Press x 5, Front Squat x 5, Double Snatch x 5 for several sets the options go on….
Have fun with this.
I have another Snatch post in the pipeline for you offering some of the less common variations on the lift and a few ideas on how to integrate the snatch into your training.
Regards
Dave Hedges www.WG-Fit.com