I love this exercise. I first tried it long time ago when Coach Davies had it in one his programs and have been doing it more or less ever since.
Four reasons why it’s my favourite exercise:
Hits the upper back and medial delts hard and in a kind of unique way. (try to lower the beginning of the eccentric phase under control. Good for medial delts)
Hits the posterior chain without frying the nervous system
Is good for posture
Is fun to do
If you haven?t tried it yet I urge you to do so. You won?t regret it!
Yea, these things are fun as hell, as long as you have a gym that allows it. I find that the one armed snatch using a barbell is the way to go. You can go up in weight without worrying about if the gym has a 135 lbs dumbell etc. Plus, the balancing needed with the barbell makes it a bit harder in itself, and you have to have more control.
Great exercise. My traps wouldn’t budge. Did these for a month and blamo!
Yes the barbell snatch is much more difficult and a sure way to scare the crap out of people. However I prefer the dumbell snatch because I prefer to start the swing “below and behind” my legs. In other words after “fighting” the beginning of the eccentric I let the dumbell swing almost freely behind my legs and start the concentric there. Just feels natural that way.
As for where I put in a program I usually deadlift hard every other leg workout. Every other leg workout is usually built around squat and One arm DB snatch is done in the beginning of this workout.
I was still basically a beginner when I tried these. Started with 40 lb dumbells. Within a month wew were tossing around 80 lbs dumbells. Now I do them with 135 lb barbell. It really is all about form. But yea, taking some weight and just launching it above your head is good fun. A nice break from heavy squats etc.
One-arm snatches with a barbell? Sounds like you’re working with bumper plates. My nice shiny Health club doesn’t have bumper plates, so as much as I’d love to throw a barbell overhead with one arm, slamming the weight into the floor would be a problem.
I use Dumbbells with these, and I love them. I find that they hit my middle back (rhomboids, lower traps, etc.) more than my upper traps. I suppose I could be staying more upright. Either way, I do get looks and comments, which is always great. I am an employee, but I’m careful about where I do them, as scaring members is never good for business. But if you can do them, God Bless.