Snatch things I've learned

     I've been CF'ing since Sept 2011.  At some point in the beginning, I was attending a box that didn't emphasize the Oly lifts and I remember after class trying to replicate what I'd seen online.  I was 40, had limited mobility, limited fast twitch speed (coming from endurance running), and no understanding of the lift at all.  The coach said , "Travis, put the bar down before you get hurt."

     Since then I've picked up some things that I think many of you will know, some will not, and of course there are many more things that are important to add to this.

     1. Hand width is determined by where you want the bar to contact your body.

For years I was never really sure about what hand spacing to use.  I primarily would figure out what mobility I had available to overhead squat and then I'd put my hands there for the snatch.  I was not aware that my hand spacing was going to determine my contact point and my contact point needed to be the pocket or power position.

So I went through a long period of inconsistency and periodically smacking my junk with the bar.  Finally I was coached for under a minute and it made sense.

     2. There is always bar contact.  Sometimes its more violent than others.

I learned to love the "sound" of the bar and weights as the contact was made by my hips.  For a while I argued that I was more of a "brusher" than a "bumper" with the bar.  What I came to understand is that if you are truly very very powerful, maybe brushing the hips works for you.  But the rest of us need the mechanical advantage of an aggressive contact with the bar because we aren't super powerful.  AND, you will always come to a point that you are at the limits of your strength and must then rely on technique to go to the next point.

     3. Standing tall with your correct grip will put the bar in the pocket and when you bend the knees and dip to the power position, the bar will still be in the same spot-the pocket.

Donny Shankle taught me this.  There is literally no change in where the bar sits from standing tall to dipping into the power position. Too many people stand tall with the bar and immediately start bending forward, bypassing the 1st position.  When training from the hang you should be able to stand tall, bar is in the right place, stay tall and dip, now you are in the high hang, bar still in the same spot.  If you want to move into a mid hang, then there is a bow that takes place while the dip is maintained.

    4. The 1st pull off the ground is the load, the 2nd pull (passing the knees up to power position) is the explode, the 3rd pull is the whip back under.

The tempo is definitely different for each as is the mindset.  1st pull I think about building tension/energy.  2nd pull I think about violent explosion as I pull the bar into the pocket.  3rd pull I think of the fast change of direction like when a whip cracks loudly in the air.

     5. The snatch takes courage.

This speaks for itself.  Anything that takes courage also takes a serious mental approach EVERY time.  You can't be somewhere else and snatching, you must be present and you must treat the lift seriously.

Why I think Rich Froning snatches in Nanos

     Lots of snatch PR's post the extra note of "in nanos".  It's VERY rare that someone boasts of a clean and jerk "in nanos" though.  I suppose it happens.  But let's talk Rich and how he snatches exclusively in nanos.  By the way, Rudy Nielsen of Outlaw had a funny quote at a camp that I loved:

"I'm sick of hearing people say they hit a lift "in nanos".  That's like Michael Jordan saying he dropped 40 points wearing a pair of Christian Louboutin's!!  If he would've had basketball shoes on he would've done even better!!!"

When attacking the Clean ladder at the 2012 Games and the C&J ladder in 2013, Rich wore Oly shoes...

      Enough about Rich, let's talk about me.....I snatch "better" in flat shoes.  I have been hitting PR's lately in my INOV8 192's.  They have a 0 mm drop from heel to toe and weigh 192 grams (or 6.8 oz).  That makes them flatter than nanos (4.0 are a 4 mm drop) and MUCH flatter than Oly's which are usually 16.5 mm.

     When I went to the Donny Shankle seminar I was coming off of a 178.2 lb snatch the week before in my INOV8's.  Up till then I was stalled at 165 for a WHILE.  I was ALWAYS catching on my toes in my Oly shoes for some reason.  Donny broke it down by telling me I didn't know how to pull right in Oly shoes and needed to practice.  (I've been practicing for years Donny....I suck)

I couldn't figure it out, I just thought my calves are tight or maybe I'm not moving fast enough to get my heels down.  And then the day in mid Jan where I just kept adding weight in my flat as a board INOV8s and I kept making lifts....I even did a heat check and pulled under 185 that day but missed... badly....

     In any case, Donny wouldn't allow us to use anything but Oly shoes.  I made 160 at his camp and missed 165 and he immediately told me to drop weight and work on technique.  Meanwhile everyone else was PR'ing their lifts and I'm over in the corner at 70%....

     So I came to the realization that in my flat shoes I am able to stay back longer on my heels.  I wasn't being "tipped" forward onto my toes.  So when coaches talk about being patient and staying back on the heels while the shoulders are still over the bar through that 2nd pull, I guess I'm just too weak to do it or in too much of a hurry.

     In the bottom, Oly shoes will make up for a host of mobility issues.  I don't have those problems and look fine in my bottom position with flat shoes.  So the trade-off for me is that I have a better pull and the bar stays closer and I'm not chasing it.  ALSO, my feet move much faster in the 192's due to the weight.  The Reebok 2.0 lifters are a whopping 408 grams (14.6 oz) and I use INOV8 335 fastlifts which are 335 grams or almost 2x more than my 192's.

Ok so back to Rich.  I think that his feet move faster into landing position and he can stay back longer in his pull to generate more power with nanos.  That's what I think.  And as far as me being able to snatch more in Oly shoes.....I can't.  I'm a crossfitter though and if I can snatch in metcon shoes, then isn't that better anyway?

Oh and today I hit 179.4 on my snatch!

Donny Shankle weightlifting seminar

     Let's start with a list of Donny's coaches he's had in his career: Zygmunt Smalcerz, Ivan Abadjiev, Mike Burgener, and Glenn Pendlay.  It makes you realize very quickly that Donny is a WEALTH of info and experience.  (And his stories were awesome.)

     One of the most important things I took away from the seminar:  THE DARK AGES- This is where time can pass without any PR's off the floor and it can last a LONG time sometimes, but it is building your strength still and with consistency you will break through.  He discusses being stuck at 170 kilos on his C&J for (I thought he said) years!!!!  And then he broke through and picked up 10-15 kilos in the coming months!  It makes me see that misses, that plateaus, are all part of the building process and they are not spinning your wheels but are adding to your ultimate progress.

     He had 12 keys:

1. Vertical strong back-He called this "the golden rule".  Everything seemed to come back to this.

2. Hips low-this he tied deeply into mobility

3. Use your hips (violently) to move the bar.  Bar contact was VERY important to him.

4. Move your feet quickly

5. Eyes forward (helps tighten up back) "And there's nothing down there that's going to help you"

6. Bar close to body

7. Relax-do not fight the bar

8. Fast under

9. Be aggressive-key to everything else 

10. Stay off your toes-or bar is controlling you

11. Gear.  When he asked Coach Abadjiev, "Uncle, what about wraps and sleeves and all that gear people wear?".  His reply, "Donny....if it make you lift more...use"

12. Warmup (peaks and valleys was a cool lower back warmup he did that is like an inchworm push up and then a back extension stretch), aside from that he did a pretty standard warmup

SNATCH positions plus (cues)

From hip-Bar stays on hip as knees bend, chest up and shldrs back just behind the bar.  Most people drop the chest as soon as the knees bend, don't (coordination & speed)

Above knee-keep knees bent as you take a bow, keep knees bent as u come back up, slide & drag (power).  He talks a lot about the slide and drag.  He really wants to hear the bar slide and drag on your thighs as it moves to the pocket.

Below knee-trigger of hamstring tension at midpatella causes hips to drop (center of gravity)

Floor- begin how you intend to finish.  This was good because he said that your set up position should look like your finish position except your arms are overhead with a bar in it.  Line up youbar over 1st shoe eyelet.  (All rise)

JERK

5 points of bar contact (throat clavicles shoulders)

Control dip & not forward, wt back

coordinating bar oscillaton is key on this

Think back knee down and that will cue you to really drop under.  Too many people keep the back knee too straight.
He did agree that the back foot should make contact 1st but said he tries not to cue that.

Feet should land about 3 steps of spacing apart.  Chalk the floor and see where you land

CLEAN

Front squat- 1st make sure you have a good front squat

from the Hip-bar contact is high on thighs with a knee bend wherever the bar falls when you are holding at the hip

from above knee-keep the knee bend and take a bow, slide and drag again
from below knee-hips drop

from Floor-pull in to shins, back tight, patient just like snatch, again beginning how you intend to end

SUBORDINATE exercises.

Variation on the lifts-powers, hangs (these get the back strong), blocks (only after mastering hang-these work power-no point in block work if you haven't mastered positions), no hook no feet (works speed), muscle (keeps bar close), On the minute work x 20 min (works consistency), pushpress (trains the dip-this was interesting to me because he made us see the multi rep pushpress as an exercise done exclusively to get better at receiving a heavy bar and re-loading in a perfect dip for the jerk ), power jerk (trains the drive because you better drive the shit out of the bar if you aren't splitting), negatives and breaking or pausing on the way off the floor (creates a stronger back)

Posterior chain-GHD hip extensions, back extensions, glute ham raises, etc....rows, chins

Additional-plyometrics, complexes, things that you like to do to make it fun

PRINCIPLES

Always train speed, make pr's, make lifts.  These were his big 3.  He wants PR's at EVERY session to keep you motivated.  If you aren't PR'ing your snatch, then PR your hang triple, PR your front squat double, etc...find something to succeed at every session.

Train footwork 1 day a week.  This would be considered a light day.  These days were still Oly lifting but the weights were light enough that you focused on your footwork.

If u can get better w singles then just do singles.  Only train other schemes (doubles triples) to improve the single.  He said that if you are improving and making lifts hitting heavy ass singles then don't mess with it.  Only change when the single isn't being made. 

Training template on his blog-he passed these out and they were pretty cool

Monthly need a minimum weight that u know u can always hit.  This was a handout also that took into account the minimum snatch, C&J, and front squat you were hitting in sessions compared to your PR's that month.  He wanted you to be within 5 kilos with your minimum and PR's to know you were ready for a competition.

Weekly u r pushing maximum weights.  Period.

Vertical jump and grip tell recovery.  This was interesting and came from his European coaches to know if you needed more recovery.  They would log your vertical jump and if it started to go to shit you needed an extra recovery day.  He also said that Uncle Ivan could tell just by asking you to squeeze his hand each day as hard as you could. 

Competition plan-squats, hangs, blocks, floor.  You want to compete, then do things in this order/progression and don't move on till you have it right.  He talked about keeping one of his lifters at the hang for a year one time.....

He trains 3 weeks hard and then has a deload week.

Adaptation trumps everything.  He went back to the video screen over and over to show beautiful lifts and lifts that were technically very inefficient that people were making because they've adapted to that style of lifting.

He had a continuum that on one end was beautifully efficient and on the other end was inefficient.  If you are going to lift inefficient you better be damn strong.

COMMANDS-virtues.  This piece was all about the mindset of a champion weightlifter.  Which is probably why it didn't 100% resonate with me and my mind of a kitten.

1. Make ready-acceptance.  This is that place you address the bar with your head down and are loose.

2. Set-fearlessness.  This is when you get tight and eyes are up, ready to lift. 

3. Break-patient (bar in hips).  This is the point that you are in the pocket.

4. Finish-pride.  And this is the way you finish the lift.

Favorite quote: "Some coaches out there might disagree with some of what I say....but FUCK them!  I'm out here competing while there coaching, they're talking while I'm doing".

There was soooo much more but these are the things that stood out to me.  He wanted everyone to PR and I was bummed because he also won't let you miss much at all before he pulls the plug on you.  I snatched 165 then missed 170 but knew I could get it (my PR is 178) and he waled over and said plainly, "Clean and Jerk".  I'm thinking, "I only missed it once....give me another shot here".  But I listened and moved on.....