Is the Snatch or Clean a Jump?
Is the pull of a snatch or clean the same as a vertical jump? Of course not.
But there are good reasons for jumping to be a common analogy and cue for the lifts.
What’s a jump? The coordinated use of the legs and hips to apply force into the ground to extend the body upward explosively.
And what’s the pull phase of a lift? The coordinated use of the legs and hips to apply force into the ground to extend the body upward explosively… in order to upwardly accelerate the barbell attached to it.
The motion of the body is fundamentally similar, and jumping naturally incorporates explosiveness, which is why the idea of jumping can be valuable as a teaching tool or cue in the right situations.
So why are we not actually jumping when we snatch or clean?
First, we’re holding onto a big heavy weight. Load a barbell with bodyweight plus, hang it from your arms and then jump as high as possible if you’re not sure how this works.
Second, we’re not actually propelling the entire body vertically—at the top of the pull, we’re leaning the upper body back behind the feet and hips, which redirects more of the upward force into the bar and away from the body.
Finally, we’re actively stopping the body’s upward motion and moving it down at the point at which that motion would become a jump. Rather than allowing the body to continue moving up off the floor with the upward momentum the leg and hip effort has created, we’re pulling ourselves down under the bar while it continues rising.
Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here as meaning that jumping is always the best way to instruct the lifts. Sometimes it’s the worst possible approach you could take.
But it’s valuable to understand the similarities and to know when it is and is not appropriate to use with your athletes or yourself.
Aside from a possible part of basic initial instruction, it can be a useful cue or idea to help a limp-legged lifter move more explosively, or one who completely takes over with horizontal hip extension to learn how to feel the powerful leg drive needed to properly direct the hips.
But there are good reasons for jumping to be a common analogy and cue for the lifts.
What’s a jump? The coordinated use of the legs and hips to apply force into the ground to extend the body upward explosively.
And what’s the pull phase of a lift? The coordinated use of the legs and hips to apply force into the ground to extend the body upward explosively… in order to upwardly accelerate the barbell attached to it.
The motion of the body is fundamentally similar, and jumping naturally incorporates explosiveness, which is why the idea of jumping can be valuable as a teaching tool or cue in the right situations.
So why are we not actually jumping when we snatch or clean?
First, we’re holding onto a big heavy weight. Load a barbell with bodyweight plus, hang it from your arms and then jump as high as possible if you’re not sure how this works.
Second, we’re not actually propelling the entire body vertically—at the top of the pull, we’re leaning the upper body back behind the feet and hips, which redirects more of the upward force into the bar and away from the body.
Finally, we’re actively stopping the body’s upward motion and moving it down at the point at which that motion would become a jump. Rather than allowing the body to continue moving up off the floor with the upward momentum the leg and hip effort has created, we’re pulling ourselves down under the bar while it continues rising.
Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying here as meaning that jumping is always the best way to instruct the lifts. Sometimes it’s the worst possible approach you could take.
But it’s valuable to understand the similarities and to know when it is and is not appropriate to use with your athletes or yourself.
Aside from a possible part of basic initial instruction, it can be a useful cue or idea to help a limp-legged lifter move more explosively, or one who completely takes over with horizontal hip extension to learn how to feel the powerful leg drive needed to properly direct the hips.
