Lu-Ann finishing the snatch.
“You think it’s about the end, but it’s actually about the middle.” Sue said that yesterday, while teaching the power snatch.
She was talking about “speed through the middle” – the point of the snatch that is so important to success but that so many of us forget about. We concentrate on the pull off the ground, or we focus on the finish. But if you don’t get speed through the middle, that bar will not end up where you want it.
How many of you do this? Focus on the beginning, or the end, but not really pay attention to what’s happening in the middle? On the snatch, on the clean, on the deadlift, maybe even on life. Quick, raise your hands. Yeah, we’re almost all guilty of that.
So, what to do? Pay attention. Don’t let your mind drift. Focus on the beginning, focus on the middle, focus on the end. It’s hard but it’s worth it. And if it was easy, you wouldn’t want it. You know that. So go out and do it right. I’ll see you at the gym.
August 18th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Looking STRONG LuAnn!!
August 18th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Oh and BAM!!!
August 18th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
thanks melissa! i’m definitely having crossfit withdrawals during my vacation
August 18th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Feel the Steal!!!
Speed Through the Middle!!
Words I always say to myself before the Snatch and the Clean.
Thank Coach B.
P.S. LuAnn, I think you need more weight on the bar. That looks to easy for you.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:44 am
Nice Snatch LuAnn….. you knew I had to say it..
August 19th, 2010 at 10:31 am
I would submit as food for thought that the most important capacity that the snatch/clean/jerk/ develop is the powerful hip extension at the ‘top’. That is to say, when the bar’s in the ‘middle’ of it’s journey to the top of the movement, the vicious, powerful hip extension against that bar is the premier capacity that is addressed by the Olympic movements better than any other training modality. We can create more force with larger weights doing squats and deads, but this trains the capacity to open the hip when the hip is relatively closed. The olympic movements let us develop hip extension at the ‘top’ when the hip is relatively open (so do box jumps, for example, but BJ is unweighted). That applies more to a larger number of athletic capacities – punching, kicking, throwing, jumping, and such. Summary: we snatch because it is fun, we snatch because it is a great challenge, but the unique stimulus of the snatch is that explosive hip opening that, when done well, is reflected in ‘speed through the middle.’ Even if you miss the ‘catch’ for that last snatch at PR weight, your body got the benefit of the movement when it popped the hips open to accelerate that bar towards the ceiling.