How it reads your numbers

Snatch to back squat ratio

Your squat snatch divided by your back squat. A technically sound lifter usually sits between 0.58 and 0.68. Type yours and it does the division.

The healthy band: 0.58–0.68

It is a conventional weightlifting benchmark. It describes a technically sound lifter, it is not a law, and a lifter can sit outside it and be fine — so what follows is the thing worth looking at next, never a diagnosis. The band is reasoned from coaching practice, not measured here.

It is only as good as the numbers you feed it, too. A squat snatch from two years ago against a fresh back squat gives a confident, wrong answer.

Below the band (under 0.58)

You squat far more than you snatch. The legs are not the problem — the lift is leaking somewhere between the floor and the lockout.

You are strong enough. The lift is leaking on the way up. The session for it →

What usually sits behind that, and the drill to start with for each:

• Pulling with the arms

  The bar feels heavy the whole way and never seems to float. Your biceps are tired after a snatch session, which they should not be.

  Start with Snatch pull

• The bar swings out

  It lands in front of you and you walk forward to save it, or it crashes onto your shoulders on the way down.

  Start with Hang snatch, above the knee

• Cutting the finish

  You are diving under before the pull is done. Misses are forward and the bar never gets high enough to be easy.

  Start with Power snatch

• Jumping forward

  Your feet travel and you finish a foot in front of where you started. The bar is always slightly out front.

  Start with Snatch deadlift

• Ripping it off the floor

  It is fast to the knee and then nothing is left. The chest comes up first and the bar chases it.

  Start with Snatch deadlift

Above the band (over 0.68)

You snatch a lot relative to what you squat. The technique is carrying you; more leg strength is the cheapest kilos available.

Your technique is ahead of your legs. Go and squat. The session for it →

What usually sits behind that, and the drill to start with for each:

• Cutting the finish

  You are diving under before the pull is done. Misses are forward and the bar never gets high enough to be easy.

  Start with Power snatch

• Ripping it off the floor

  It is fast to the knee and then nothing is left. The chest comes up first and the bar chases it.

  Start with Snatch deadlift

One ratio is one data point

A single ratio cannot tell you which limiter is yours when two of them are out at once. The planner weighs all four against each other — the overhead ratio counts double, because a lifter who cannot hold the bar overhead also catches high — names the one actually capping your snatch, and writes a session that fits the time you have. A lift you have not tested is left out rather than guessed. There is nothing to sign into.

Open the planner with these numbers, and add the rest →

Your numbers ride along in the link and fill in the form — nothing is sent anywhere until you ask the planner for a session. How the four ratios are weighed →

Wondering how your snatch compares with lifters of other bodyweights instead? That is a different question, and the Sinclair calculator answers it.

The other ratios

• Overhead squat to snatch ratio · 1.05–1.35
• Power snatch to snatch ratio · 0.78–0.88
• Snatch to clean and jerk ratio · 0.76–0.84