Hang Snatch
Trains the Hamstrings.
- Equipment
- A barbell
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Advanced
How to do it
- Stand holding a barbell at arm's length in front of your thighs with a wide overhand grip.
- Set your back flat and push your hips back until the bar is around mid-thigh.
- Drive the hips forward and extend the legs explosively.
- Pull yourself under the bar as it rises, turning the hands over so the palms face the ceiling.
- Catch it overhead with straight arms in a partial squat, then stand up.
- Lower it under control to the hang, or set it down and reset.
Common mistakes
- Pressing the bar out at the top. A snatch is caught with the arms already straight; if the elbows are bending and then pushing, the pull did not put the bar high enough.
- Gripping too narrow. The wide grip is what lets the bar reach an overhead position with the arms straight — a clean-width grip makes that geometry impossible.
- Catching with the bar in front of the head. It finishes over or slightly behind the ears, stacked over the middle of the foot; in front, the shoulders are holding it rather than supporting it.
- Adding weight before the overhead catch is comfortable. Holding a bar overhead with straight arms and a wide grip is a position in its own right, and it is worth owning before anything is thrown into it.