The drills
66 drills, grouped by the part of the lift they belong to and running from the overhead position out to the complexes. Every one of them exists to make the full lift heavier. Each is drawn as the same six-point figure the video read judges — bar, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle — so what you are watching is the shape the engine is actually looking for. The percentage is of your squat snatch, and it is a band, not a prescription: where in it you work depends on the day.
Which part of the lift each drill is for: the squat snatch, phase by phase →
Weighing two of them up: power snatch vs squat snatch, snatch balance vs overhead squat and more, side by side →
Writing a program? Every drill here can go in your page beside the line that names it, moving, with a link back: embed one →
The lift itself
The two everything else is measured against. Every other drill on this page exists to make one of these heavier.
Squat snatch
Floor to overhead, received in the bottom of the squat.
The whole lift, floor to overhead, caught in the bottom. Everything else on this list exists to make this one heavier.
Watch for: The bar staying close past the knee, the hips opening all the way before you drop, and a catch that lands over the middle of the foot.
Power snatch
The same lift, caught above parallel — nowhere to hide a lazy finish.
Same lift, caught above parallel. Punishes a lazy finish, because there is nowhere to hide a bad one.
Watch for: The hips fully open before the feet move, and a catch above parallel that is locked the moment it lands.
Overhead position and mobility
You cannot catch what you cannot hold. These build the lockout and the bottom position before there is any speed involved, and most of them are light on purpose.
Snatch-grip press
Strict press from the front of the shoulders, at snatch width.
Strict press from the front of the shoulders at snatch width. Slow, unglamorous, and it tells you in one rep whether the shoulders are the problem.
Watch for: The bar travelling straight up past the face and finishing behind the ears, with the ribs down rather than the back arching to help.
Behind-the-neck snatch press
Bar on the back, pressed straight up behind the ears.
Bar on the back, press it up behind the ears. This is the lockout you are trying to catch in, built one slow rep at a time.
Watch for: The elbows under the bar the whole way up, and the lockout landing in line with the ears rather than in front of them.
Sots press
Press it out from the bottom of a squat. Empty bar first.
Press it out from the bottom of a squat. Deeply unglamorous, extremely effective, do it with an empty bar first.
Watch for: The hips staying in the bottom while the bar goes up. If you have to rise to finish the press, it was too heavy.
Overhead squat
The ceiling on your snatch, sitting in plain sight.
The ceiling on your snatch, sitting in plain sight. You cannot catch what you cannot hold.
Watch for: The bar staying over the middle of the foot all the way down and back up, with the arms locked and nothing drifting forward.
Paused overhead squat
Down, then three seconds spent still in the bottom before standing.
Three seconds spent sitting in the bottom. If the bar drifts forward while you are down there, the set is over and the weight was too heavy.
Watch for: Three still seconds in the bottom, with no drift of the bar and no softening of the elbows while you wait.
Snatch balance
Bar on the back, dip, drive, and ride it into the bottom.
Bar on the back, dip, drive, and ride it into the bottom. The fastest way to stop being frightened of the hole.
Watch for: How deep you are when the arms lock — the lower the better — and the feet landing flat in the receiving stance.
Heaving snatch balance
A bigger dip and a harder drive, with the feet left where they are.
A snatch balance with the feet left exactly where they are. Dip, drive, drop — all of it in one stance, so nothing gets solved by jumping.
Watch for: The feet staying exactly where they started, and the elbows locked by the time you reach the bottom.
Drop snatch
No dip and no drive. Just fall under it and lock.
Snatch balance with no dip and no drive. Just fall under it and lock. Speed, not load.
Watch for: The lockout and the bottom arriving at the same moment, with no press to finish once you are down.
Snatch-grip push press
A short dip and drive from the front rack, finished with the arms.
A short dip and drive from the front of the shoulders, finished with the arms. Heavier than a press, so the lockout finally gets loaded.
Watch for: A vertical dip with the heels down, then the bar finishing behind the ears with the elbows locked — not pressed out late.
Pressing snatch balance
Bar on the back, then pressed down under into the bottom — no drive.
Bar on the back, then press yourself down under it into the bottom. No dip, no drive, just the push against the bar a catch is made of.
Watch for: The bar staying where it started while you go down, and the elbows straight by the time you reach the bottom.
Snatch balance with a receiving pause
Dip, drive, ride it into the bottom, and stay there two seconds.
A snatch balance with two seconds held in the bottom before standing. If the catch was not solid, the pause tells you straight away.
Watch for: A bottom position that is still from the moment you land, with nothing to fix before the pause starts.
Tempo overhead squat
Three slow seconds down, then stand at normal speed.
Three seconds down, then stand. Every inch of the way down is a place the bar could drift, and this makes you own each one.
Watch for: An even, slow descent with the bar staying over the middle of the foot all the way to the bottom.
Overhead hold in the squat
Down into the bottom with the bar locked out, and held there.
Get into the bottom with the bar locked out and stay there. A long, quiet argument with the position you catch in.
Watch for: Nothing moving: the bar, the elbows and the depth all exactly where they were when the hold started.
The receiving position
Getting down to meet the bar rather than waiting for it to come to you. The load is low here because the thing being trained is where you end up, not what you can pull.
Tall snatch
Up on the toes, then pull under and catch it where it meets you.
Up on the toes, bar at the hip, then pull yourself under it and catch it where it meets you. Pure turnover speed with the legs taken away.
Watch for: How quickly the elbows come round once the heels leave the floor, and a catch that is locked as it lands.
Tall squat snatch
The same drill, ridden all the way down to the bottom.
The same drill ridden all the way to the bottom. Nothing sends the bar up but your speed getting under it, which is a humbling thing to learn.
Watch for: Reaching the bottom with the bar already locked, rather than catching it high and riding it down.
High-hang squat snatch
From the hip crease and nowhere else — the shortest pull there is.
From the hip crease and nowhere else. The shortest pull there is, so the finish has to be immediate and the catch has to be low.
Watch for: An immediate, full finish from the hip with no extra dip first, then a catch in the bottom.
No-foot squat snatch
Heels stay down and the feet never move, so the finish is flat-footed.
Start in your receiving stance and land in it, heels down the whole way. Cures the stomp, and the pause that always comes with it.
Watch for: Heels flat and feet unmoved from start to finish. Any stamp means the weight has gone past what the drill is for.
Turnover and speed under
The fastest part of a snatch happens after the bar stops going up. These train the hand-off between the pull finishing and you moving.
Muscle snatch
Pull it all the way up and turn it over. No re-bend, no dip.
No re-bend, no dip, just pull it all the way up and turn it over. Light, and it will still humble you.
Watch for: The knees staying straight after the finish, and the elbows going high and outside before the bar turns over.
Dip snatch
Stood tall, one short dip, then straight under it.
Stood tall, one short dip, then straight under it. The legs give you a nudge and speed has to do the rest.
Watch for: One short, vertical dip with the torso upright, then straight under — no second dip to find more.
Snatch from the power position
Starts where the second pull happens: knees re-bent, bar on the thigh.
Start where the second pull actually happens: knees re-bent, torso vertical, bar on the thigh. Nothing to do but finish.
Watch for: A finish from exactly where you start, with no extra dip to load it first.
No-contact snatch
The bar finishes past the hip without ever touching it.
The bar goes past the hip without ever touching it. If you were bouncing it off yourself instead of finishing, this is where you find out.
Watch for: Daylight between the bar and the hip at the finish, with the bar still going straight up rather than out.
No-hook squat snatch
The whole lift without a hook grip: the same shape, with looser arms.
The whole lift with the thumb outside the fingers. Without a hook the arms cannot grip and rip, so they stay long and loose — or the bar tells you.
Watch for: The elbows staying long and loose until the hips finish. The grip itself is too small for the camera to see, so watch the arms.
Power snatches
The lift caught above parallel, from the hang, the blocks or a fixed stance. With no squat to rescue a short pull, the finish has to be complete every time — and it is lighter, so there are more reps to get it right in.
High-hang power snatch
From the hip crease, finished and caught above parallel.
From the hip crease, caught high. Nothing to lift with but the finish, so a short one has nowhere to hide.
Watch for: The hips opening all the way before the feet move, and a catch above parallel that is locked as it lands.
Hang power snatch, above the knee
Down to the top of the knee, then up and caught high.
Lower to the top of the knee, then finish and catch it high. Enough pull to build speed, not enough to rescue a lazy hip.
Watch for: The shoulders over the bar in the hang, the bar brushing the hip on the way past, and a catch above parallel.
Hang power snatch, below the knee
Down past the knee, then up and caught high.
Past the knee and back up, then caught high. The awkward position, without a squat underneath to save it.
Watch for: The knees moving back out of the way of the bar while the back angle holds, then a full finish before the drop.
Block power snatch (knee height)
Off knee-height blocks, caught above parallel.
Off knee-height blocks and caught high. The second pull and the finish, with nothing before them and nothing after.
Watch for: The bar breaking off the blocks smoothly with the shoulders over it, and the hips finished before the catch.
No-foot power snatch
A flat-footed finish and a high catch, with the feet never moving.
Start in the receiving stance and land in it, caught high. Cures the jump forward and the stamp in one go.
Watch for: Heels down through the finish and the feet landing exactly where they started, with the bar over them.
The first and second pull
The bar on the way up, and the back that holds it there. These are the heaviest things in the library, because none of them ask you to get under anything.
Snatch deadlift
Slow, snatch grip, holding position the whole way up.
Slow, snatch grip, holding position the whole way. Builds the back that holds everything else together.
Watch for: The back angle holding from the floor to the knee, with the shoulders over the bar the whole way.
Paused snatch deadlift
Two seconds spent still, just below the knee, on the way up.
Snatch deadlift with two seconds spent just below the knee. Holding a position is worth ten reps of passing through it.
Watch for: A still pause below the knee with the shoulders over the bar and the weight over the middle of the foot.
Halting snatch deadlift
Up to the top of the thigh, hold it there, and back down. It never finishes.
Pull to the top of the thigh, stop, hold it there, and come back down. It never finishes, and that is the whole idea.
Watch for: The bar against the thigh at the top, the shoulders still over it, and no lean back to finish.
Snatch pull
The pull without the catch, loaded past what you can get under.
The pull without the catch, so you can load it past what you can currently get under.
Watch for: The arms staying long until the hips have finished, and a finish that goes straight up rather than back.
Snatch high pull
The same pull, carried on into the elbows once the hips have finished.
A snatch pull that keeps going — elbows high and outside once the hips have finished, never before.
Watch for: The elbows bending only once the hips have opened, and finishing high and outside the bar.
Floating snatch pull
Lowered to an inch off the floor, held there, then pulled from nothing.
Lower it to an inch off the floor, hold it there, then pull without setting it down. Brutal on exactly the part of the back you need.
Watch for: The plates hovering without touching, and the back angle not changing while they do.
Tempo snatch pull
Three slow seconds to the knee, then finish at full speed.
Three seconds to the knee, then finish normally. Slow is not the goal — owning every inch of the way up is.
Watch for: An even speed all the way to the knee, then a clear change of gear once the bar is past it.
Snatch-grip Romanian deadlift
Hips back with soft knees until the bar is past the knee, then stand.
From standing, hips back and knees soft until the bar is just past the knee, then stand. Builds the hamstrings that hold the back angle off the floor.
Watch for: The hips going back rather than the knees going forward, and the bar dragging down the thighs rather than hanging away from them.
Deficit snatch pull
The pull from a plate: the bar starts lower, and the rest is the same.
Stood on a plate, so the bar starts lower than it ever will on a platform. A longer first pull, done with the same patience.
Watch for: The hips and the shoulders rising together off the floor despite the extra distance, and the bar close at the knee.
Paused snatch pull
Two still seconds just below the knee, then the full pull.
Two seconds still just below the knee, then the full pull. The pause makes you own the position bars run away from.
Watch for: A pause that is still, with the shoulders over the bar, then a finish as fast as an unpaused one.
Hang snatch high pull
From the top of the knee, finished into the elbows.
From the top of the knee, finished into the elbows. All second pull and no first.
Watch for: The elbows bending only after the hips have opened, and the bar staying close the whole way up.
Position work
The whole lift, started or paused somewhere awkward, so a position you normally rush through has to be held instead.
Hang snatch, above the knee
Down to the top of the knee, then go. No floor to build speed with.
Lower to the top of the knee and go from there. No floor to build speed with, so the hips have to actually do something.
Watch for: The shoulders staying over the bar in the hang, then a full finish before the drop.
Hang snatch, below the knee
Down past the knee, hold the position, then go.
The awkward one. Teaches patience through the knee, which is where most bars start running away.
Watch for: The knees moving back out of the way of the bar while the back angle holds.
Snatch from blocks (knee height)
The second pull with the first one deleted.
The second pull with the first one deleted. Heavy, honest, and it does not care how good your floor position is.
Watch for: The bar breaking off the blocks without a jerk, with the shoulders over it as it does.
Paused squat snatch at the knee
Off the floor, two seconds parked at the knee, then the whole lift.
The whole lift with two seconds parked at the knee. You cannot rush a position you are sitting still in.
Watch for: A pause that is actually still, with the shoulders over the bar, and no change in back angle as the pull restarts.
Slow-pull squat snatch
A crawl to the pocket, then everything at once.
Crawl to the pocket, then everything at once. Trains the difference between the two halves of the pull, which most people run together.
Watch for: The slow part staying slow all the way to the hip, then the finish arriving all at once.
Segment squat snatch
One rep with two pauses in it: at the knee, then at the pocket.
One rep, two pauses: at the knee, then at the pocket, then go. The whole pull, checked in sections.
Watch for: Two pauses that are actually still, each one in the position it is meant to hold.
Deficit squat snatch
The whole lift from a plate, with a longer way to the knee.
The whole lift stood on a plate. A longer pull, so a first pull that is only fine stops being enough.
Watch for: The hips not shooting up first off the floor, and the bar still close as it passes the knee.
Snatch from low blocks (below the knee)
Off blocks just under the knee, then the whole lift.
Off blocks set just under the knee — the exact place most bars start drifting out, made into the start.
Watch for: The knees back and the shoulders over the bar as it breaks off the blocks, with no swing out past the knee.
Snatch from high blocks (above the knee)
Off blocks above the knee: half the pull, then the catch.
Off blocks above the knee. Half the pull — the half that matters most — and a catch at the bottom of it.
Watch for: A full finish from a short pull, with no extra dip to find speed before it.
Paused squat snatch below the knee
Two seconds still just under the knee, then the whole lift.
The whole lift with two seconds held just under the knee. The pause sits right where the bar wants to wander.
Watch for: A still pause with the knees back and the shoulders over the bar, then no swing out as the pull restarts.
Floating squat snatch
Lowered to an inch off the floor, held, then snatched from there.
Lower it to an inch off the floor, hold it, then snatch without setting it down. No bounce, no momentum, only position.
Watch for: The plates hovering without touching before every rep, and the back angle holding as the pull starts.
Complexes
Two or three of the above back to back on one bar, without setting it down between the parts. The first rep sets a shape up and the last one has to keep it, which is the entire point — and the load is governed by the hardest thing in the sequence, not the easiest.
Muscle snatch + overhead squat
In order: muscle snatch, then overhead squat.
Muscle snatch, then sit straight into an overhead squat.
Turn it over standing, then sit into the position you were going to have to catch it in anyway.
Watch for: A muscle snatch with straight knees, then an overhead squat with the bar where it locked out.
Snatch high pull + tall snatch
In order: snatch high pull, then tall snatch.
A high pull from the floor, then the same turnover with no legs.
The first rep shows you how high the bar goes. The second takes your legs away and makes you get under it anyway.
Watch for: The elbows doing the same thing on the tall snatch as they did on the high pull.
Snatch pull + squat snatch
In order: snatch pull, then squat snatch.
A heavy pull, then the lift itself on the same bar.
A heavy pull, then the lift. The pull sets the shape and the snatch has to keep it while moving faster.
Watch for: The snatch keeping the bar path the pull just set, rather than swinging out once it is fast.
Snatch high pull + squat snatch
In order: snatch high pull, then squat snatch.
High pull, then snatch — the same pull twice, the second one underneath.
The same pull twice, and the second time you go under it. Whatever the elbows did on rep one, do that.
Watch for: The same elbows on both reps, with the second one going underneath.
Hang snatch + squat snatch
In order: hang snatch, above the knee, then squat snatch.
One from the hang, then one from the floor without a rest.
One from the hang, one from the floor. The hang rep teaches the finish and the floor rep has to remember it.
Watch for: The floor rep finishing as fully as the hang rep did.
Muscle snatch + overhead squat + squat snatch
In order: muscle snatch, then overhead squat, then squat snatch.
The turnover, then the receiving position, then the whole lift.
The long one: the turnover, then the receiving position, then the whole lift. Light, and still plenty to think about.
Watch for: The last rep — the squat snatch — landing in the same place the overhead squat sat.
Snatch balance + squat snatch
In order: snatch balance, then squat snatch.
Ride one into the bottom, then snatch one into the same place.
Ride one into the bottom, then snatch one into the same place. The first rep tells your legs where you are going.
Watch for: The squat snatch caught as low as the snatch balance was.
3-position squat snatch (hip, knee, floor)
In order: high-hang squat snatch, then hang snatch, above the knee, then squat snatch.
Three lifts in one set: from the hip, from the knee, then from the floor.
Hip, then knee, then the floor. Three lifts, three starting positions, one set — and the third one is the one that tells you something.
Watch for: Whether the floor rep keeps the finish the hip and knee reps had.
Power snatch + overhead squat
In order: power snatch, then overhead squat.
Caught high, stood up, then squatted with the bar overhead.
Finish tall, catch it high, then squat it to prove you could have caught it low.
Watch for: A catch stable enough to squat straight from, with no rebalancing in between.
Squat snatch + overhead squat
In order: squat snatch, then overhead squat.
Snatch it, stand it up, then sit back down into it.
Snatch it, stand it up, then squat it again. The extra rep is where you find out how solid that catch really was.
Watch for: The second squat with the bar exactly where the catch put it — any drift means the catch was not solid.
Power snatch + squat snatch
In order: power snatch, then squat snatch.
One caught high, then one caught in the bottom.
Catch one high, then catch the next one low. The power rep sharpens the finish and the squat rep has to keep it.
Watch for: The squat rep finishing as tall as the power rep did before going under.
Power snatch + snatch balance
In order: power snatch, then snatch balance.
A power snatch, lowered to the back, then ridden into the bottom.
A power snatch, put on the back, then ridden into the bottom. The second rep goes where the first one could have.
Watch for: The snatch balance landing as low as a squat snatch would, with the same grip and the same lockout.
Drop snatch + squat snatch
In order: drop snatch, then squat snatch.
A drop snatch from the back, then a squat snatch from the floor.
Fall under one from the back, then snatch one into the same bottom. Speed first, then the lift that needs it.
Watch for: The squat snatch arriving in the bottom as quickly as the drop snatch did.
Snatch deadlift + squat snatch
In order: snatch deadlift, then squat snatch.
A slow snatch deadlift, then the whole lift at speed.
A slow pull to set the position, then the lift at speed. The deadlift tells the snatch where the bar goes.
Watch for: The snatch passing the knee in the same place the deadlift did.
Snatch balance + overhead squat
In order: snatch balance, then overhead squat.
A snatch balance into the bottom, stood up, then squatted again.
Ride it into the bottom, stand, then squat it again. The extra rep checks that the catch was where you think it was.
Watch for: The overhead squat with the bar in exactly the place the snatch balance locked it.
Watching a drill
Every drill has one thing to watch for: what you look at on the playback, in a mirror or from beside the platform to know the rep did what the drill is for. It is something you can see, not a number.
What the camera measures is narrower. A filmed session of a drill is timed, not judged — the video read's tolerances are for a full squat snatch and say nothing true about a pull or a press. So a drill where speed is the point gets its hand speed, its drop speed or both, compared only with your own earlier sessions at similar loads. A drill that is slow on purpose gets neither, rather than a number that would look like it meant something. The detector sees hands, not a barbell, so hand speed is the speed of the wrists.
Reading the percentages
A band above 100% is not a typo. A snatch pull and a snatch deadlift are supposed to be heavier than anything you can get under — that is the point of them. Anything under about 65% is a speed drill, and loading it up turns it into a slower version of a lift you can already do. A complex is held to the hardest thing in it: a muscle snatch and an overhead squat on the same bar run at what the muscle snatch can take, not what the squat can.
See every drill in kilos at your snatch →
These are conventional coaching bands rather than anything measured here, and plenty of good lifters sit outside one and are fine. Treat them as where to start on a drill you have never done, then let the bar tell you the rest.
Why these are drawings and not video
A figure costs a few hundred bytes where a clip costs a megabyte, it needs no footage to film or license, and it loads with no network at all. It is also the honest picture: the engine judges a body line and a bar path, so the demonstration is a body line and a bar path rather than a person whose shape you then have to translate into one.
Where a drill pauses — at the knee, in the bottom, an inch off the floor — the figure stops moving for as long as the pause lasts, because that is what the drill is. A complex is drawn as its parts one after another on the same bar, in the order you would do them.
Get a session built out of these →
Or film a lift and find out which of them you need →