Welcome to a new monthly segment for WOD Nation! Technique for More Weight! To get the details about where these examples come from check out the first edition here. 

Breaking Down Off the Floor

I have written articles in the past around improving your snatch or clean from the floor to the above the knee position. Now we get to see it in action!

I’m going to show you a lift from Angelo that he sent into the #ProjectLiftReview on Instagram. Then I’ll show you my response to that lift while digging a little deeper.

Also, if improving your Olympic lifts is a goal in 2017, you should definitely check out our  3 Days to Your Best Snatch mini series!

Angelo Off the Floor: 

 What do you see? – Two made lifts at a weight well over his body weight. Oh yeah! However, what can we do to improve on the lift? There is one big opportunity that I saw and it is all about how the bar moved from the start position to above the knee.

The Response to Angelo: 

 Right off the floor you see the bar start to move away from Angelo. Remember, the further the bar goes away from us the heavier it becomes. This movement forces Angelo to chase it with the hip and end up 2-3 inches forward from where he started. That is 2-3 inches higher the bar could have been on the receiving position.

There is a huge opportunity here to focus on the leg drive off the floor and the tightness in the lats to let that bar come with us at the start of the lift.

What about for you? How are you moving from the floor to the knee?

A Self Check-Up

I love having athletes record their videos and then tell me what they see. I feel it is a valuable part of learning if the athlete understands what is going on.

Here is what you do. Setup your phone camera on video at a 45 degree angle from the front. Hit a lift and then slow it down on the replay. What do you see? Are you going around your knee? Not sure? Don’t forget to tag it on Instagram as a #projectliftreview!

Good luck!