I took the wife to an Olympic lifting class hosted by a crosstfit group sorta local.  The coach was the head of a local barbell club and father of a record holding young woman in the snatch.  It was a good class, about 25 attendees with three coaches who each knew their stuff (a woman with a 245lb clean was one of the coaches) and had good instruction for us.

We started with what they called jump squats but wasn't a 'jump squat' where you actually jump with a bar.  It was more of a thruster from the back squat, popping the bar to lockout.  It took me a while to get the hang of them, but once I started loading the bar heavier it was easier to get them than with an empty bar.  I wasted too much time and didn't get to max, only worked up to 175lbs.  He likes to use this lift as a way to train explosive strength and to get used to weight overhead.  I'll be doing a lot more of them, they are a really good way to be explosive and I struggle with that.

When he worked on the clean with us he asked us to try a method that he's partial to where you 'dive' to the bar.  Essentially you take all your time getting ready prior to bending for the bar, then 'dive' for the bar and lift it without a significant pause at the bottom.  This was really new to me, I tend to twiddle around at the bottom far too long, getting a grip and settling in.  His method is to simply reach down, grab the damn bar and do the clean without the time wasting and tension/energy loss at the bottom.  This took a few tries to get figured out as I wasn't gripping in just the right spot without the time at the bottom, but within a few minutes I was doing very well with it.  Again I wasted too much time and didn't get to find my max, but I did several reps at 195 which is just off of my previous PR of 200lbs.  I'm quite sure that if I'd taken the time I would have broken my PR by a very significant amount, the 195 was not hard in the least.  I will be doing the dive from now on, it really seems to help me be patient as weird as that sounds.

Working on the snatch next my first snatch was so bad the coach was almost laughing .  It was an empty bar snatch and I was waving around like a flag in the wind carried by a drunken sailor.  It really was embarrassing.  Anyway. a few more empty bar snatches and I had the bugs worked out, then started throwing some weight around, ended up getting a 5lb PR at 145 and made all but one of my attempts at that weight.  Didn't get a chance to add weight as I again took too much time and had to move on.  Oddly, the coach came back over when I did my second 145lb snatch and told me I had a beautiful snatch, much better than my clean .  I've always figured my snatch to be a catastrophe and then wondered what's wrong with the clean?  He did tell me to start squatting lower on the catch which is something I've been trying hard to develop, still can't overhead squat well but it's coming along.

The only real correction I got on the clean was to keep my knees further apart on the catch as my knees were directly over my feet and causing me to lose balance backwards.  This is definitely something I'll work on, I couldn't figure out what was causing that as it's not constant and I wasn't able to self-diagnose it.  

We didn't get to work on the jerk at all which was too bad, I have a very hard time transitioning from my catch to a grip that I can jerk and I wanted someone to watch it for me.  

The wife was able to get a 2.5lb PR on the clean and a 5lb PR on the snatch at 90lbs and 55lbs respectively.  She has a real problem being fully committed to the snatch when she is diving under the bar. she pulls it high and then just won't get under it.  The coaches were really good at helping her and giving her cues...  They barely spoke with me other than to laugh at my first snatch...  lol

We also didn't discuss way to train or practice the oly lifts, so I'll probably just keep trying to lift weights that I can execute well 80% of the time and increase weight as I start getting 100% of them.

We have the opportunity through the barbell club to become certified weightlifting coaches/trainers.  It runs $450 and I'm really considering it as I think it would really help my lifting as well as my lousy coaching of my kids.  If anyone has experience with that I'd love to know more.

Cool, sounds like a fun day.

So it was a squat with a behind the neck thruster?  BTN presses or jerks are great to learn positions and overload the lift.  Just like getting around the knees off the floor, a lot of shit falls apart trying to get around the head.

Something to add into your warm ups (add load once the positions are good) for both you and the wife are overhead squats and then snatch balances.  It's good to drill the positions, mobility and gain confidence getting under the bar.  If you can snatch balance it, you can snatch it.  

Yup, off the rack in a highbar squat.  One deep squat then immediately following with a fast squat that you pop/dip/lockout overhead.  Really a backwards jerk from the bottom.  I think it might also help me get quicker on my squats which I think is a problem.

I'll be trying more snatch balances, those seem to be more tolerant of a lousy bar so I think I can do them at the ghetto gym- and at home till I get a decent bar.  The wife is crossfitting, she'll be doing really useful stuff like burpees and one handed booger flicks. (just kidding crossfitters).

Transitioning to high bar squats again just to be more comfortable on these Olympic accessories.  After my squats I did the reverse thrusters up to 155lbs, but my neck is still bruised from catching the bar on Saturday so I just didn't want to keep going.  I'll do them a few times a week and get used to them.

Worked on overhead squats too, just 95lbs but after squats, strict press and the retsurht (reverse thruster ) my shoulders didn't want a lot of load.  Mobility and strength through the upper back was a lot better than it had been, I was able to pause at the bottom without discomfort.  

As far as your dive thing goes, something that really helped me is just getting your mind in the right place.  Like that Donnie bro says, rip the God damned bar off the ground like you're tearing the head off a lion.  Or the bar is a big fucking pit bull and you're fighting it to the death.  That's a good one too.  Or you can also rip the head off a child molester.  That works for me as well.

Good advise.  Especially on the snatch I'm still pretty intimidated by the lift.  I don't do the dive on the snatch but I am taking a lot less time at the bottom getting ready.

As I get more familiar with the lifts they are easier, but it's still really mental.  For some reason I feel pretty comfortable doing cleans at the crossfit gym at home, but not in my garage.  

I'm working on keeping weight overhead a lot more partially to get stronger/better with it, but also to be less intimidated by getting and holding the barbell overhead.    And it doesn't require the use of a hook grip.  My thumbs are ready to pack their bags and walk out on this abusive relationship.  They never hurt before but now I'm using more weight and doing it more often so in a few weeks I'm sure it will be fine, but in the meantime they hurt.

Did back squats 315 3x5, reverse thrusters at 135 and 95lb overhead squats.  The overhead squats are finally getting easy, so next week I'll be adding weight and do them again after my normal squats.

Yesterday I did quite a few cleans and some jerks with 155.  Easy once I get a few really bad ones worked out.  Hit myself in the chin on jerk #2.  

Is that dive to the bar what the young gal does when she is in that competition? You know the video... She does a little pump it up dance, graves the bar really quickly, then barfs on a judge on the way up. That's what I'm picturing the dive as as.

I don't jerk my clean snatch. I still am slow to set up for deads though. Never tried the dive.

There's an Olympic lifting team at my gym.  They have all the fancy Turkei kilo plates and Werkstan bars and the whole bit.  They have a gun rack looking thing that they keep their bars on, and each bar has a lock on it so you can't put plates on it.  I guess those are expensive bars.  The female oly lifters have very nice bottoms

I think you misinterpreted.  It's NOT ok to get snatch at a dive bar.  Even if it's cleaner than the last jerk left it.

You should see mine!  

I'm considering buying a Bella bar for my wife and getting a crossfit chastity belt for it.  She could really use a smaller diameter bar.

I bought my wife one.  Girls at the gym fight over them.

Rogue?  I don't know if anyone else makes a women's bar, but I haven't looked.  I'll have to check that garage gym page Tanren posted a few days back.

Any idea where I could find a lock for it?

In Afg, I chipped a tooth doing push presses for time.  And ever since then, I always shy my head away from the bar any nearly any overhead movement; press, jerk, etc.  I lean back on them farther than most people and my coaches always see it, but damn I don't wanna get smacked again like that

Wife dropped a clean the other day.  I laughed at her but didn't tell her that I hit myself in the face.

You trying to be Van Damme in Kickboxer?  Or you been play'n that debil's foosball again?

Started the kids on cleans today.  I'm not a good enough coach to be able to know what to do to correct some of the problems, but that's probably a good thing because as I scratch my head and let them try a few more times they seem to work the bugs out themselves.

Of the 4 kids that started cleans today, 2 did really well, 1 did so-so and one was as expected.  The last is my oldest and slightly autistic kid that isn't really very coordinated, but I think learning the lifts has been very good for him (he loves dead lifts and has added about 30lbs in the last few months, most of that we me out of town and not cracking the whip).

We started with the bar at the high-hang.  Learned to pop off the ground by extending and not jumping, shrugging slightly at the end of the extension, then finding the front rack position.  Basically backwards from how I learned but exactly how I wish I had.  I didn't let them get to the hang or from the floor, just worked on popping the bar correctly and smoothing out a nice catch.

They liked it, we went really slow and got them to where they were popping the bar with their extension and catching at the bottom of a deep squat, and the better two were even catching nicely and keeping the bar path pretty straight.  I'll let their mom show them how to drop it all the way down their leg and make a purple mess of everything.


I also tried to work on some snatches and snatch balances today.  Got one 95lb snatch half way up and it really hurt my shoulder so I stopped right there.  No clue what the problem is, will try again tomorrow with an empty bar and just see what happens.  Also did back squats 315 3x5 and worked up to 165 on the reverse thrusters, it's getting a lot easier to set those back on my neck.

I must have really tweaked my thumb, still can't do much with that hand and the rollover on a clean is really painful.  I realized I was hook gripping wrong, I need to roll the wrist to the top of the bar more so the thumb isn't taking the weight at the bottom, but instead have all the fingers at the bottom and thumb on the inside.  

Buying a new bar today-



Was working on OHS with the shitty gym bar because the Xfit class was using all the mediocre bars.  Dropped one.

I told the owner of buy a replacement, from what I can tell it's a $70 CAP bar.  I haven't decided if I'll upgrade for them, I hate cheap crap enough that I don't even want them to have cheap crap.

OHS went well, I snatched the bar up the squatted it 5 times, went from 95 to 125 by adding 5lbs after each set.  It took a few tried to keep 125 overhead solid enough for 5 reps, but for me a solid rep was heels down and bar straight up.  I still have trouble catching a snatch low, but even getting low with a bar overhead is progress.

Honestly I don't think you owe them a replacement. They bought a shitty bar and it broke in the normal course of being used...

I agree and so did the owner, but this is a small town and the gym is currently running on a really tight margin, I feel like it would help them stay in business which has been nice for me and my wife.

Any suggestions on improving the OHS?  I can squat all day now at 95lbs and it's easy to keep the bar steady.  When I'm up at slightly higher weights like 125lbs I have a harder time keeping steady.  I figured I'd keep lifting right on the edge of my abilities as that keeps moving up pretty quickly anyway.  I'm definitely strong enough, its the control overhead I'm having trouble with.  Just a few weeks ago I was having trouble at 95lbs, so this is fast progress.

Tried these?

So it's a mobility issue?

For catching the snatch low, work on snatch balance and snatch drop, which is a snatch balance without the dip and drive.

Overhead squats are the bane of my existence. I've had coaching and shoulder\hip mobility is excellent. I just have some weird mental block with it.

I don't think it's a mobility issue, it's mostly a comfort at the bottom with weight overhead issue.  On the snatch itself it's a mental block, I can't seem to get myself to squat for the catch, and I think it's because I'm not comfortable at the bottom.

I actually think both of those drills will help.  The duck walk will help me keep better control over the bar while overhead which is a problem, the drop will help me learn to catch in a squat instead of the power snatch.  I've been just overhead squatting but it hasn't translated into helping me catch the weight at the bottom of a squat.

For a comparison, the high hang clean suddenly clicked the light on for me doing squat cleans instead of power cleans.  It was a timing/coordination thing that when it clicked it wasn't any big deal.  I still haven't found that switch for the snatch, maybe there isn't one.

For me.  I just have to say fuck it, and go heavier.  Wear a belt and go down really slow and tight.  Then try to speed up out of the bottom.   My problem now is just getting it up there.  If I can jerk it, I can OHS it.  But I'll fail on the jerk before I fail on the squat.

So, quit whining and try harder?  That sounds like what I tell my kids!  It works for them too!  I'll try it again today when my hours and hours of conference calls are over.

No more powers, seriously, and if you do one, punish yourself with x3 OHS.  

I forget where it was, but some coach talking about teaching the snatch to beginners and one emphasis for him was no powers (at least to start).  You need that frequency to learn the movement, the positions and gain confidence.

Then you can build that aggressiveness.

That seems reasonable.  Except that I've still never performed an actual 'squat' snatch, lol.

I'll go really light this afternoon and see if I can make it work, then also work on just getting heavier on the OHS too.  Those seem to be two separate problems, won't squat on the snatch (mental) and can't keep control of the squat (physical/technical).

Snatch drops. Seriously.

My max power snatch so far has been 145lbs.  The most I've OHS-ed for 5 reps was 125.  I've also been doing those backwards jerks/thrusters up to 165 today.  Max overhead press is about 175ish.  What weight would you suggest I start doing snatch drops with?  As heavy as I can or fairly light?  

Snatch drops (note I mean snatch drops NOT snatch balance) are a real mind fuck the first couple times you do them because you want to dip and drive so bad. Start with an empty bar and see how that feels, then move up. I'd be surprised if you went more than 65-95# for a while. This is a muscle memory thing, we're not doing it to build strength anyway.

And to demonstrate, our Viking friend Milko.

For clarification to SCW the 3rd rep there is the snatch drop.

Wow, that guy is quick.  I don't even move that fast for a cookie.

I caught that, power snatch, squat snatch and snatch drop.  All of them crazy fast.

Did a few drop snatches last night, really light weight.  Then this morning I got up to 75lbs and noticed a few things that the lighter weights were hiding-

1- I'm slow
2- I was bending over too far and sticking my arms too far back.  I mostly managed to correct this and get good consistency which felt much stronger and better controlled.  

I'll do it again in a few days and not work on strict press before, so I will probably be a little faster and better controlled.

Record your lifts, review in between sets, be brutally honest, cry, then make one adjust to correct the biggest mistake.

You may not be doing what you think you're doing, but then again you might be.  Having that visual reference has always been a big help to me, even when I have to watch myself being slow and ugly.

Fine since no one wants to watch my video in other thread. How does this one look?

Catch it like you're about to squat- you're in your toes. You want to be in your heels. I'm talking about the part of your feet, not high heel shoes since god only knows what kind of footwear you might try to lift in next.

Also the bar is way too far away from your body once it passes your waist.

I know nothing about the lift, but those socks with flip flops?! I can't breath... Were you going out to get the paper in your robe and decided to run around back to play with a barbell? If so, on point bro!

OK so It was good off the ground and through the extension.

It was so light of a weight I pulled it really high.

That's pretty much how it was. Except for the paper thing, who reads those anymore?


This was the video that caused that video.  

Looked pretty good through the first and second pulls to me.  Obviously you were way out in front of your chest when it should have been back against your chest.

So needs to be closer to muh body.

#internetweightliftingcoach

Set your shoulders before you pull off the ground, in other words, flex your lats, this will keep the bar closer.

After the second pull the bar rotates around your elbows, like you're doing a reverse curl.  Your elbows need to rotate around the bar.

And the flippy floppies ain't helping.  

With your 175#, your ass started too low, that's why you had to go around your knees which caused the bar to go out front and you had to hop forward to it.

I was just discussing this with my wife the other day.

When setting up should the shoulder blades be pinched at the back?  Is that what you mean by flexing lats?

You don't want them pinched all the way back (like you're pinching something between your shoulder blades) leaving you no further movement, you want them slightly flexed like your normal good posture, but set (maybe tight is a better word), so when you pull off the floor the weight doesn't cause your shoulders to round forward and you to loose tightness in the back causing it to also round.  

Roger that.  What you described is how I've been doing it but heard (read) someone say to pinch a pencil between the shoulder blades and that seemed wrong.  A few hook grip videos seemed to verify that they weren't doing that, but it's hard to say from a vid.

OK, I'll work on it.

See how Apti sets himself.  As the weight comes off the ground, his shoulders are rock solid, there is no sympathetic rounding.



Another good perspective this time with Artem.

Drop snatches today with 95lbs.  I did notice that as the weight increased I really needed to bust my ass to be faster than the bar.  Didn't make it very often, but I'll get there.  This was the first time at 95lbs, only got to 75 yesterday.  I also made sure to squat snatch the bar up, then drop in onto my shoulders.  Went much better, my squat on the snatch is slow and partial, but much better than it was.  Another couple of weeks and I'll be dropping under it much better.