The same technical mistakes happen over and over. Here are two of them, so you can spot whether you are guilty of them and fix them.
The hips rise before the shoulders
Problem
The hips rise faster than the shoulders. Power suffers and you end up in poor positions to receive the snatch, because the weight is on your toes.
Solution
- Set up with the hips high enough, depending on your build, to push from that position instead of from hips that are too deep.
- Think squat from the floor to the knee: push the midfoot into the floor. Only the knees bend at this point, and the back stays fixed. High hips are fine; not everyone is built like a Chinese weightlifter. As long as your hips are below your shoulders, you may be fine.
The key is that the hips and shoulders rise at the same time, and you get that by only bending the knees.
The bar goes around the knees
Problem
The bar travels around the knees, so it swings or puts you too far onto your toes. The result is most often a jump forward. You can spot it by filming the bar path from the side: the bar should never move forward between the floor and the hip.
Solution
- While you push from the floor as in the first fix, also push the knees back. The shins should be vertical and still slightly bent when the bar reaches the knee.
- This is a little tricky, because the easiest way to push the knees back is to let the hips rise faster. That cannot happen, since it leads to the first error.
- Keep a strong push into the floor and feel the hamstrings engage. Then you know you are firing the right muscles for a strong snatch.