Squat snatch technique, phase by phase
A squat snatch is one movement, but it goes wrong in one place at a time. Here it is cut into the seven phases snatchlike cuts every filmed lift into, each with what it is for, what the camera checks in it, the faults that show up there, and the drills that fix them.
Floor to overhead, received in the bottom of the squat.
Anything about the bar is the path of the wrists. The detector sees hands, not a barbell, so it is close enough to coach from and not a tracked bar path.
1. Setup
Feet under the hips, a wide grip, the bar over the middle of the foot and the shoulders just in front of it. The back is set and the arms are long before anything moves.
What the camera checks here
The camera does not judge this phase.
2. First pull
The legs push the floor away and the bar travels from the floor to the knee. The back angle holds, so the shoulders stay over the bar and the hips do not shoot up first.
What the camera checks here
- Bar away from the mid-foot, from lift-off to the finish of the pull. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths in front of the mid-foot.
- Elbow angle before the finish, from lift-off to the finish of the pull. Allowed: 165° or straighter until the hips finish.
- Back angle change to the knee, from lift-off to the bar passing the knee. Allowed: up to 10° of back-angle change to the knee.
- Foot travel, from lift-off to the bottom of the catch. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths of foot travel.
These are conventional coaching margins — the amount a coach would let go without saying anything — reasoned from practice and not fitted to anybody's data.
What goes wrong here
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.
Same speed to the knee, then explode — the floor is setup, not the lift.
Drills for it: Snatch deadlift · Hang snatch, below the knee · Snatch from blocks (knee height)
3. Transition
The knees move back under the bar and the bar comes in to the thighs. It stays close, sweeping up towards the hips rather than out around the knees.
What the camera checks here
- Bar away from the mid-foot, from lift-off to the finish of the pull. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths in front of the mid-foot.
- Elbow angle before the finish, from lift-off to the finish of the pull. Allowed: 165° or straighter until the hips finish.
- Foot travel, from lift-off to the bottom of the catch. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths of foot travel.
These are conventional coaching margins — the amount a coach would let go without saying anything — reasoned from practice and not fitted to anybody's data.
What goes wrong here
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.
Brush the hip on the way past — the bar stays against you until it leaves.
Drills for it: Hang snatch, above the knee · Snatch pull · Muscle snatch
4. Second pull
The bar meets the hips and the legs and hips drive it up hard, with the arms still long. The pull is finished tall before anything goes under.
What the camera checks here
- Bar away from the mid-foot, from lift-off to the finish of the pull. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths in front of the mid-foot.
- Elbow angle before the finish, from lift-off to the finish of the pull. Allowed: 165° or straighter until the hips finish.
- Hip opening at the finish, at the finish of the pull. Allowed: the hips open to 168° or more.
- Foot travel, from lift-off to the bottom of the catch. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths of foot travel.
These are conventional coaching margins — the amount a coach would let go without saying anything — reasoned from practice and not fitted to anybody's data.
What goes wrong here
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.
Long arms until the hips finish — the elbows are the last thing to move, not the first.
Drills for it: Snatch pull · Muscle snatch · Tall snatch
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.
Finish tall, then move — you cannot pull under a bar you have not sent up.
Drills for it: Power snatch · Snatch pull · Hang snatch, above the knee
5. Turnover
The lifter pulls themselves down under a bar that has stopped rising. The elbows go high and around, the feet land flat where they started, and the arms punch straight.
What the camera checks here
- Foot travel, from lift-off to the bottom of the catch. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths of foot travel.
- Time from the finish to lockout, from the finish of the pull to lockout. Allowed: up to 0.35s from the finish of the pull to lockout.
These are conventional coaching margins — the amount a coach would let go without saying anything — reasoned from practice and not fitted to anybody's data.
What goes wrong here
Slow under the bar — There is a pause at the top of the pull. The bar hangs, then you get under it, and by then it is falling.
Elbows around and punch — the fastest part of the lift is after the bar stops going up.
Drills for it: Tall snatch · Drop snatch · Muscle snatch
Jumping forward — Your feet travel and you finish a foot in front of where you started. The bar is always slightly out front.
Push the floor straight down — weight through the middle of the foot, not the toes.
Drills for it: Snatch deadlift · Snatch from blocks (knee height) · Hang snatch, below the knee
6. Catch
The bar is received with the arms already locked, in the bottom of the squat. The bar sits over the middle of the foot with the head through the arms.
What the camera checks here
- Foot travel, from lift-off to the bottom of the catch. Allowed: up to 0.2 torso lengths of foot travel.
- Hips against the knees in the catch, at the bottom of the catch. Allowed: hips level with the knees or below them.
- Elbow angle in the bottom of the catch, at the bottom of the catch. Allowed: 165° or straighter in the bottom of the catch.
- Bar wander in the catch, from lockout to standing up. Allowed: up to 0.12 torso lengths of drift overhead.
These are conventional coaching margins — the amount a coach would let go without saying anything — reasoned from practice and not fitted to anybody's data.
What goes wrong here
Catching high — You receive it standing and then squat it, or you power snatch everything and only squat when it is truly heavy.
Meet the bar in the bottom — pull yourself down to it rather than waiting for it to come to you.
Drills for it: Snatch balance · Drop snatch · Overhead squat
Pressing it out — You catch with soft elbows and grind them straight. In a competition that is a no-lift; in training it is a warning.
Punch into the lockout as the bar passes your head — arrive locked, do not lock on arrival.
Drills for it: Snatch balance · Drop snatch · Sots press
7. Recovery
Stand it up with the bar still over the middle of the foot and the arms locked. The lift is done when the lifter is upright and the bar is still.
What the camera checks here
- Bar wander in the catch, from lockout to standing up. Allowed: up to 0.12 torso lengths of drift overhead.
These are conventional coaching margins — the amount a coach would let go without saying anything — reasoned from practice and not fitted to anybody's data.
What goes wrong here
Wobbly overhead — The bar drifts forward in the bottom, or you fight it for a second before standing. Heavy singles get lost in front.
Armpits forward and bar behind your ears — put your head through the window.
Drills for it: Overhead squat · Sots press · Snatch balance
One ratio can cap all of this
Technique is not always the limiter. A lifter whose overhead squat or back squat sits out of line with their snatch can drill every phase above and still miss in the same place. Each ratio has a calculator of its own:
- Overhead squat to snatch ratio
- Power snatch to snatch ratio
- Snatch to back squat ratio
- Snatch to clean and jerk ratio
Or tell snatchlike your snatch and the lifts you already know, and it names the one actually capping your squat snatch, then writes a session that fits the time you have. A lift you have not tested is left out rather than guessed.
The session the planner writes for each limiter →
Snatching in a WOD? Isabel, Randy and Amanda at your snatch →