Hip Drills for the Snatch

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

Hey CT,

I was wondering if you use any drills for your athletes to use their hips consistently when doing a snatch? I have no problems when doing a clean, but for the snatch I am very inconsistent with hip extension.

Also, have you read any articles on triple extension vs catapult? Just did a google search on triple extension and articles such as this popped up:

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ?THE CATAPULT? VS ?TRIPLE EXTENSION? BY JACOB TSYPKIN

Thank you for your time

2

I don’t use drills to learn to involve the hips more because I believe that if anything people use too much hip extension. I prefer the triple extension technique, it makes more sense biomechanically. If the hips punch forward too much/fast it will move the barbell away from the body which is never a good thing.

The queue I use is “on you pass the knees, stand up fast”… finish vertical with a maximal push of the quads. You should lean back SLIGHTLY at the top, but the hips should be in line with the knees, not pushed forward.

HOWEVER for the triple extension to work it’s important to get the lats engaged in the movement as soon as you start to lift the barbell off the floor, otherwise the bar will stay away from you when you pass the knees.

Here’s the drill I use to teach to keep the lats engaged… focus on keeping the bar close to the body at all times.

This is one of my Crossfit competitors… focus on what happens when she passes the knees… she just stands up fast… she leans back a bit, but not excessively and doesn’t punch her hips forward. That was actually her 1RM and the technique is still good. And she has long legs/short torso, which makes it even harder to avoid punching the hips too much.

Here’s another one of my girls (she actually has a max snatch of 190), watch when she passes the knees.

3

Thank you CT. I’ve always heard some coaches talk about shoulders blades being pulled back at the beginning or shrugging the shoulders and pulling one self under the bar, but haven’t heard anyone emphasize having the lats engaged.

Tried out your tips and felt my lift was more consistent.

4

[quote]fnf wrote:
Thank you CT. I’ve always heard some coaches talk about shoulders blades being pulled back at the beginning or shrugging the shoulders and pulling one self under the bar, but haven’t heard anyone emphasize having the lats engaged.

Tried out your tips and felt my lift was more consistent. [/quote]

I believe that:

  1. Most of the mistakes occurring later in the lift have their root in an improper start. The two main issues are (a) lifting the hips too fast (the hips and shoulders should rise pretty much at the same rate, maintaining the back angle until you pass the knees) and (b) not engaging the lats, which will have the bar be away from the body when you pass the knees. That’s why I do a lot of snatch/clean with a pause below the knees with my athletes.

  2. The most important element regardless of the technique you believe in (triple extension or catapult) is keeping the bar close to the body at all times. The moment the bar leaves the body is the moment you start to be in trouble.