Yesterday, my training buddy Jon and I got together for our Thursday “Snatch Session” where we train for our mutual goal of snatching “a wheel” or 135 lbs with good technique. To date, we are hovering around 110, with crappy form. We did get some help though in the form of an 18 year school football player who has been lifting the Olympic lifts with the benefit of expert coaching at his high school.

The level of coaching I have had was some bits and pieces from very good teachers, unfortunately so far, not consistent coaching which is needed for the technical Olympic lifts. So, Jon and I are trying to get some professional coaching so we can nail our goal.

Though referred to not by the name “backward chaining” my first coach, Stephane Rochet, taught me to break down the snatch into progression movements starting from the end of the lift to the begin to get the proper skill set for integration. This was reinforced further by Olympic coach, Mike Burgener of Mike’s Gym.

According to Pro Athletic Training and Development, LLC, the “catch” is the starting point of the snatch. That means holding the bar overhead with the elbows locked out to get a good sense of where you need to be at the end of the lift. From there, master the overhead squat and then snatch high pulls, but not to the catch. Further down the chain, closer to the beginning is the RDL (Romanian Deadlift) with a wide snatch grip.

Next, deadlift into the RDL with the snatch grip. Finally, put it all together! Those are a lot of progressions, (steps) and a lot of reps to master for a technical lift that takes less than a second to perform. We think it is well worth it. The Snatch is a fast, powerful and elegant lift. (Jon thinks it will “pull babes” when we get out lift working. We all have to find our motivation somewhere)!

It’s back to the broomstick and pvc for learning the snatch while I continue to find a coach.

Here are some additional resources if you would like to learn more about backward training to master the Olympic lifts:

The Soviet Model For Teaching Technique

What Would Pisarenko Do?

Different Approaches To Teaching The Snatch

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Filed under: Olympic Lifts

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