I have liked the look of CT’s programs but the biggest thing that has held me back from trying a lot of them is that I can’t / don’t know how / haven’t tried doing Oly lifts or any of the variations.
I haven’t got time or the money to get a coach to train me on these lifts at the moment so I’m asking the community for material that will help me or has helped you to learn the SGHP.
Any helpful tips or words of advice is always appreciated as well.
Thanks lads.
@Destrength you’re up
The snatch grip HP is very easy and intuitive. It’s nothing like learning a true OLY lift.
grab the bar wider than you probably might think. It should fall at your hip crease.
As you bend your knees, let it slide down your thighs.
Initiate the upward motion with your legs and a shrug. Your arms are just there to keep the bar in place. Don’t yank it up at the outset, don’t pseudo-reverse curl it up.
Also, there’s not much “bad” that can happen when you practice it, so try it.
Also, don’t overthink it. Load it with enough weight to force you to do it right (so you can’t simply do an upright row or explosive reverse curl), and let your body naturally do what it needs to get the bar at least nipple high.
@ape288 Alex Enkiri just put up a video today talking about this.
Hey Irish
I like to try and hold them in the top position for about ½ a second and lowering them in control, (that is not dropping them like a stone) when they are not the heaviest. Hard to to do on 1RM or 2 RM lifts.
Here’s CT’s version of it:
Well this is good to hear!
I was thinking of doing it with just the bar after one of my gym sessions just to get a feel for the movement. You would put more weight on it?
It’s the most intuitive lift ever. Jump, shrug, pull.
It requires explosiveness. If your Nuerotype isn’t such that you have explosive power, you’ll have difficulty with this movement.
I actually found it a bit more intuitive with some weight on the bar vs. unloaded for learning. Not a substantial amount, 95lbs or so should do the trick.
Everyone pretty much hit the nail on the head though. As you explode up, keep in mind you want the bar fairly close to you and it’ll track in the correct path almost naturally.
That’s probably fine, but be aware that if it’s really light you can just easily yank it up with your arms. You’re probably experienced enough to know the difference, but I’ve seen some that were not doing a high pull but a fast upright row.
Also, it’s usually better to do things like SGHP’s at the beginning of a workout and for lower reps. Something like 5 sets of no more than 5, as the moves are explosive.
I used to regularly do a routine that went like this:
SG HP’s: 3x5
SG clean pulls (load up more weight, pull up to ~belly button)2x5
Shrug pull (load up more, essentially an explosive RDL with a shrug at the top): 2x5
Traditional DL: (load up more, do 5 singles)
Neck harness: 3x20
This was part of a “yoked” routine. You’ll be more sore on your traps than you ever thought you could be. As a reference, I’m not super strong at these lifts but ok, and would do something like:
135 for SG HPs
185 for clean pulls
225 for shrug pulls
315 for DL singles
Hey man, I am assuming you might want to know how to snatch one day (or at least never get pain from high pulls and be able to use a fuck ton of weight).
To start off, use straps while you learn. Grab a grip width that when you’re standing with only your knees bent the bar will be in a pocket with your hips, and internally rotate your shoulders while keeping scapulas neutral.
I’d recommend starting with hip/high hang snatch high pulls. Basically just bend your knees, then drive straight up with your legs, keeping the bar in and follow through with your elbows up while still keeping the bar in, shoot for as high as your mobility will take you with elbows up.
The majority of the force will be from the legs, think of like a throw. You generate basically all of the force and speed with your legs then as you’ve finished extending the whole body you follow through with your arms (elbows up and out).
Do this for awhile until all of it is second nature with even heavy weight (I’d keep reps between 1-5, high reps aren’t worth it), then you can learn from mid thighs and etc until you take it from the floor if you are interested in learning a full snatch high pull.
So to summarize:
Hip Snatch high pull
grip bar with shoulders internally rotated and straps
stand up
bend knees (you can pause there if you want)
drive up with legs keeping the bar in
follow through with elbows keeping the bar in
lower and repeat steps as needed
Since we’re talking about this exercise, I’d like to ask a related question if OP doesn’t mind.
Following CT’s coaching, some people have said that the SGHP can make a visual difference in as little as a couple of sessions. I’m assuming the claim here is that it builds muscle in the traps and delt very rapidly.
Have any of you found this to be true and used the movement for aesthetics-building purposes?
We’ll, there’s no eccentric phase of the lift, so I haven’t found it as effective as traditional deadlifts using the touch-n-go method and controlling it on the eccentric for upper back/trap development.
Yeah, Weightlifters normally have freaky backs and shoulders without doing hypertrophy work.
Look up Pyrros Dimas, he had fucking wings.
He’s a weightlifter that didn’t do hypertrophy work. Here’s someone who did
I did a year of only oly lifting under a very accomplished coach. I lost size even while on steroids.
This leads me to ask about something I’ve been wondering for a while: how about those hypertrophy programs (like some of Dan John’s) that include the power clean as a mass building movement?
How do you feel about it? Of course, that’s different from doing only oly lifts, but still is it good for building mass? I’m thinking about giving it a try in the future because they look cool, but I’m after hypertrophy.
I think they train you to be explosive. This benefits you when executing normal exercises with the intent to accelerate, which leads to the recruitment of more fibers from the first rep, which will lead to not having to push the exercise to complete failure to optimally induce hypertrophy.
Thanks @mr.v3lv3t @antiquity @Destrength for the tips, between you guys and the YouTube clips I will hopefully pick it up pretty quick.
With the Layers program that I am starting, the SGHP is only performed for the 2nd Layer (ramping up to a 2 rep max, only lifting for 2reps at every weight) and the 3rd Layer (Clusters of 4-6 reps, pausing 10sec between each individual rep). The 1st 3 layers are the activation and strength (and explosiveness) focused side of the workout, with layers 4 and 5 giving you the TuT and slow Eccentric work with karowski shrugs.
This is how I am interpreting the program anyway, people with more experience can correct me if I’m wrong.
Karowski shrugs are another movement I have never done either actually 
People tend to exaggerate. In terms of whether or not it’s good for bodybuilding training I think it’s one of those times when you have to look to what the people who have achieved what you want to achieve are doing/have done. There’s not a pro bodybuilder on the planet who credits the snatch grip high pull for his upper back development.
I’m not saying it’s not a cool exercise or that there’s not a practical application for it, but if you’re just the average bro looking to get jacked the SGHPs for sets of 5 for whatever are unlikely to be the best use of your time.
I’ve looked at that nuerotype stuff and really can’t see where I fit. Is there a nuerotype for people who don’t have a set nuerotype?
