A snatch session for when your squat is strong and the lift leaks
You are strong enough. The lift is leaking on the way up.
From the hang, so there is nowhere to hide a bad finish. Reset between every single.
The session, in percent of your snatch
| Block | Drill | Reps | % of snatch | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | Warm-up to hang snatch, above the knee | a ladder | up to 77.9% | Empty bar upwards. Not optional, and not the place to save four minutes. The empty bar first, then the rungs coaches commonly call out, stopping below the main lift's working percentage. |
| Primer | Muscle snatch | sets of 3 | 36% | No re-bend, no dip, just pull it all the way up and turn it over. Light, and it will still humble you. |
| Main lift | Hang snatch, above the knee | singles | 77.9% | 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. |
| Accessory | Snatch pull | sets of 3 | 84% | The pull without the catch, so you can load it past what you can currently get under. |
The percentage is of your squat snatch, not of the drill: each drill's working weight is a share of its own usual band against your snatch. These intensities are conventional coaching margins, reasoned from practice and not fitted to anybody's data — a starting point, and the bar in front of you is the authority. How many sets each block gets depends on the minutes you have, which is what the calculator below is for.
Load it for your max and your minutes
Type your snatch and the session is loaded in plates. It runs in this tab — nothing is sent anywhere.
When you are short on time
The session is cut to the minutes you have, never stretched past them. When it does not fit, the accessory (Snatch pull) goes first, then the primer (Muscle snatch). A block that cannot get two working sets is dropped rather than done once, because one set of anything is a gesture. The warm-up and the main lift, Hang snatch, above the knee, are never dropped: a session with no warm-up is how people get hurt, and a session with no heavy lift is not why anybody came. Whatever is cut, the session says so.
Is this yours?
Two numbers will tell you. The ratios that point here when they are out of their band:
- Snatch to back squat ratio · 0.58–0.68
- Snatch to clean and jerk ratio · 0.76–0.84
What usually sits behind it, from the inside:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Jumping forward
Your feet travel and you finish a foot in front of where you started. The bar is always slightly out front.
- 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.
Or tell the planner your snatch and the lifts you already know, and it names the one actually capping your squat snatch and writes its session. A lift you have not tested is left out rather than guessed. There is nothing to sign into.
Read all my numbers in the planner →
Film the main lift
The camera's read is written for the squat snatch, so film one of those and it reads it for the faults on this page, in this browser tab — the video never leaves your device. Anything it says about the bar is the path of your wrists: the detector sees hands, not a barbell. A set of the main lift can be recorded too, and it counts as proof of work on your week.
Film a squat snatch and the camera reads it → · Record a set of the main lift →