Free Kettlebell Snatch Coaching

Snatch is arguably the most most challenging Kettlebell Sport event. Coaching an athlete to snatch requires a deep understanding of the technique and physics that come into play during the lift - a skill that can only be acquired through lots of doing and watching! Here I've compiled some slo mo videos of my students and analyzed their lifting to help you figure out what to look for when coaching yourself and others:

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My main critique about Lauren's snatch technique is that she hinges at the hips early as she drops the bell, which you can see because her arm is too far from her body as the bell is falling - this will cause the bell to pull on her hand in the backswing. Lauren's arm also comes off the body a bit early on the way up  - she needs to wait for her hip to initiate the movement. My advice for Lauren is to keep her torso up longer and wait for the arm to tuck into her body before she pushes her hips back, and keep that close connection on the way up as well.

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Alan is gripping the bell too hard, which you can see from his tight grip on the bell at the top, as well as how he regrips the bell about halfway down (instead of at the bottom of the drop). He needs to create space between his fingers and the handle before he drops the bell, and practice opening his hand up and punching through to the lockout earlier on the way up.

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While the way up looks decent, Melissa's drop needs some work. She makes a similar error to Lauren - she is hinging at the hips too early, which means her arm doesn't come in close enough to her body and she will have to use more grip strength to muscle the catch of the bell at the bottom. She also grips the bell tightly about halfway  down instead of keeping her hand relaxed.

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Elsa's drop looks great - her upper arm comes in close to her torso, while still keeping the forearm away so as not to interrupt the bell's smooth pendulum movement on its way into the backswing. On the way up, however, she is pulling the bell out of the backswing early, which you can see because the bell bounces slightly at the very end of the swing. This will cause her grip to go sooner than necessary. The bell also bobbles a bit at the top - Elsa needs to open her hand earlier to get the timing right for the lockout.

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Kristen's technique is very good here - she is going 20rpm with the 18kg kettlebell. The only issue I would touch upon is she could open her hand earlier to save her grip, and this would also reduce bouncing of the bell into the lockout. Does Kristen's fast-paced technique here transfer to the 24kg? No, she would need to slow it down and maintain a deeper backswing for the heavier weight. For her training goals, however, this is the correct technique to use.

Now it's your turn to get some feedback. Send me your videos and I will critique your snatch technique - at no cost to you! My goal is to further the growth of the sport by offering some coaching pointers.

Email info@kbfitbritt.com with a 30-second video clip of your lifting to receive your free analysis!