When your feet hit the ground while receiving a snatch do they land flat?

Or do you land like a ninja? – Quiet, toes to heel, like you’re sneaking around…

If you’re landing with a flat foot when you receive your lifts you’re setting yourself up for some BIG weight. But, if you land like a ninja you have an opportunity!

I explain in this short video…

Stability and the Way Your Feet Land

When we receive the snatch or the clean we have a split second to secure the weight. In that split second we need a solid foundation – a firm connection with the ground.

Landing our feet flat provides that connection to the ground. In a sudden “snap” of our weightlifting shoes hitting the ground we have a foundation.

If our feet hit on the toe first and then we rock towards our heel we’ve just created horizontal movement. At lighter weight we’ll get away with this, but when we get into personal record territory the weight won’t be so forgiving.

A Few Drills to Help

Lets look at a few drills that can help work on this process.

Snatch Balance

This is the most basic building block. Can we punch the bar up while landing our feet flat? Use just the bar and work your way up to more challenging weight. Keep the intention on landing those feet flat and secure.

Partial Movements

Snatch and cleans from the hang or from a box can allow us to focus on our feet landing. We’re moving through a partial range of motion so if we’re new to the lifts it lessens the load on our nervous system. More focus to the landing.

Full Movements

Obviously we want this to transfer to our snatch and clean. So, we need to take the focus and intention into our lifts from the bar up to our working weight. Intention, intention, intention!

By making our foot work an intentional part of our training we can develop the motor pattern we need. Don’t make excuses (I used to blame my landing on the toes to my career as a catcher in baseball… I fixed it… I force my athletes to fix it… you can fix it too!)

Good luck!