Push Down Better In The Snatch Balance
The goal in the snatch balance is to push your body down under the bar, not to drive the bar up.
The dip and drive used in the snatch balance is unlike that in the jerk—we’re not trying to drive the bar up maximally, but to create a moment of weightlessness that gives us an opportunity to push under it.
Dip slowly and smoothly to create a sense of control rather than aggression, and to maintain balance and tension.
Maintain that same relatively low speed in the drive, and actually cut it slightly short—this can be easier to do if you intentionally prevent your heels from rising as they would with true maximal leg drive effort like we want in a jerk.
As you feel the weight on your shoulders decrease as you ease off at the top of this limited drive, pick up your feet and punch against the bar—now with maximal effort and aggression.
This doesn’t mean a snatch balance with more bar elevation than shown here isn’t valuable, but the higher we drive the bar, the less of the unique benefit of the snatch balance we gain, and the more we’re simply performing an overhead squat.
The dip and drive used in the snatch balance is unlike that in the jerk—we’re not trying to drive the bar up maximally, but to create a moment of weightlessness that gives us an opportunity to push under it.
Dip slowly and smoothly to create a sense of control rather than aggression, and to maintain balance and tension.
Maintain that same relatively low speed in the drive, and actually cut it slightly short—this can be easier to do if you intentionally prevent your heels from rising as they would with true maximal leg drive effort like we want in a jerk.
As you feel the weight on your shoulders decrease as you ease off at the top of this limited drive, pick up your feet and punch against the bar—now with maximal effort and aggression.
This doesn’t mean a snatch balance with more bar elevation than shown here isn’t valuable, but the higher we drive the bar, the less of the unique benefit of the snatch balance we gain, and the more we’re simply performing an overhead squat.
