Bring The Bar To Yourself
Perhaps in the quixotic pursuit of the mythical vertical bar path, too many lifters aren’t active in controlling the bar in the pull of the snatch and clean.
The moment you stop controlling the bar’s position, it will control yours.
The goal in a snatch or clean is to maintain balance—to stay stable in the same place from start to finish.
This means putting your body in the optimal positions and making the bar meet you there—keeping the bar close to your body, not keeping your body close to the bar.
Note that bringing the bar back into your body does not mean shifting your balance farther back—your balance should remain even over the whole foot from start to finish.
This active control needs to begin the moment the bar separates from the floor. If you’re lifting a bar that outweighs you, once it has inertia moving away, redirecting it is essentially impossible—this is where we get things like forward jumping or the bar too far forward in the receiving position.
Continue this active control of the bar throughout the lift—as you pull from the floor, as you extend at the top, and as you pull under and secure the receiving position. You need to be actively pulling the bar back to yourself the entire time you’re lifting.
You can get a better feel for this in the pull with halting deadlifts to the hip or upper thigh. Feel even pressure over the whole foot the entire time while maintaining posture and making the bar trace your legs. At the top, exaggerate the push against the body to both strengthen it and better feel it—try to push the bar through yourself.
For the final extension, use high-pulls—focus on whole foot balance through the extension and force the bar to stay against your body the entire time.
And for the pull under, use the tall muscle snatch and clean, and tall snatch and clean. Position and move your body as needed to maintain proper posture and balance, and make the bar meet you there.
Be the master of your destiny—never chase the bar.
Or if you prefer 17th century sailing metaphors, be the captain of the ship, not the poor bloke getting keelhauled by it.
The moment you stop controlling the bar’s position, it will control yours.
The goal in a snatch or clean is to maintain balance—to stay stable in the same place from start to finish.
This means putting your body in the optimal positions and making the bar meet you there—keeping the bar close to your body, not keeping your body close to the bar.
Note that bringing the bar back into your body does not mean shifting your balance farther back—your balance should remain even over the whole foot from start to finish.
This active control needs to begin the moment the bar separates from the floor. If you’re lifting a bar that outweighs you, once it has inertia moving away, redirecting it is essentially impossible—this is where we get things like forward jumping or the bar too far forward in the receiving position.
Continue this active control of the bar throughout the lift—as you pull from the floor, as you extend at the top, and as you pull under and secure the receiving position. You need to be actively pulling the bar back to yourself the entire time you’re lifting.
You can get a better feel for this in the pull with halting deadlifts to the hip or upper thigh. Feel even pressure over the whole foot the entire time while maintaining posture and making the bar trace your legs. At the top, exaggerate the push against the body to both strengthen it and better feel it—try to push the bar through yourself.
For the final extension, use high-pulls—focus on whole foot balance through the extension and force the bar to stay against your body the entire time.
And for the pull under, use the tall muscle snatch and clean, and tall snatch and clean. Position and move your body as needed to maintain proper posture and balance, and make the bar meet you there.
Be the master of your destiny—never chase the bar.
Or if you prefer 17th century sailing metaphors, be the captain of the ship, not the poor bloke getting keelhauled by it.
