Muscle Snatch

The muscle snatch is a snatch variation where you pull the bar from the ground to overhead without dropping under the bar or re-bending your knees. It trains the pull and the turnover, mainly working the traps, shoulders, and upper back, with help from the glutes and hamstrings to start the lift.

Set up with your feet about hip-width apart and the bar over the middle of your feet. Grip the bar wide enough that it sits near your hip crease when you stand tall. Flatten your back, lift your chest, set your shoulders over the bar, and keep your arms straight. The bar should start close to your shins.

Brace your core and push the floor away to start the lift. Keep the bar close to your body as it rises past your knees. When the bar reaches your hips, extend your legs and hips hard while shrugging your shoulders. Continue pulling the bar straight up with your arms, elbows high and out to the sides. As the bar reaches chest to chin height, quickly rotate your hands around the bar and press it to a stable overhead position. Finish standing tall with the bar over your mid-foot.

Take a breath in and tighten your midsection before each pull. Exhale once the bar is locked overhead. Keep it light and crisp; this is a skill drill, not a heavy-lift day. To make it easier, practice with a PVC pipe or empty barbell. To make it harder, add a pause at the hip or slow down the turnover.

Fault: You re-bend your knees to get under the bar. Fix: Keep your legs straight after the hip and leg drive, then pull the bar all the way up with your arms before turning the hands over.

Fault: The bar swings out in front of you. Fix: Keep the bar close to your body during the pull and guide it up with high elbows; aim to brush your shirt with the bar.

Fault: You bend your arms too early and muscle the bar up. Fix: Stay patient and keep your arms long until after the hip extension and shrug, then pull and turnover fast.

Fault: Your elbows drop during the turnover. Fix: Keep your elbows high and to the sides as long as possible, then rotate your hands around the bar and punch up to lock it overhead.