How To Fix The Hips Shooting Up In The Snatch and Clean
One of the most common technical errors in the first pull for the snatch or clean is the hips shooting up too fast. This leads to either a missed lift or the hips to push the bar forward if it is light enough to save the lift. All of these things are inefficient, and should be avoided, so here’s how.
First we need to understand why the hips shoot up. This will only happen for one of five reasons.
The hips were too low in the starting position
The lifter had not pulled the slack out of the bar and arms
The lifter visualized the the first pull as a pull and not as a push.
The quads are too weak
The upper back is too weak
Start Position
The start position for the Olympic lifts should look nearly the exact same, wit the snatch having a slightly lower torso due to the grip. Our goal for most people is to have the hips above the knees, and the shoulders above the hips. Often times lifters watch Klokov or Jon North and try to mimic their technique without truly understanding it. Because of their dynamic start, they may LOOK like their start position has their hips below their knees, but in reality their start position doesn’t happen until the bar begins to break off the ground, around the same point as if their hips were slightly above their knees. If you start the lift with your hips too low, then they will begin to lift faster than they should because they are not in an advantaged position to get the knees out of the way. Try solidifying a slightly higher hip position if this is something you struggle with!
Pulling The Slack
Pulling the slack is something you hear more often in powerlifting, but it applies here, maybe more so due to the speed requirements of the lifts.
Every barbell has slack in it. This means that you can slightly pull the bar creating a bend in the bar, before the plates have even left the ground. A good way to kn ow if you have pulled the slack is to listen to the subtle clink of the bar hitting the inside metal ring of the bar. This is done by creating tension in the lats by imaging you are pushing your shoulders down into the hips, and slightly retracting them. It is important to note that just retracting the lats will not help. You must also depress them, or the bar will pull your upper back out of position. Many lifters will do this VERY quickly during a dynamic start, put almost every high level lifter does it. Try practicing it very slowly with your warm up weights and youll notice its also easier to keep the bar close!
The First Pull Isn’t a Pull?!?
The first pull is tricky because it isn’t really a pull. The goal of the first pull is to maintain back torso position, get the knees out of the way, and keep the hips low. When done correctly, the first pull actually looks like a push. To do this correctly, find your foot pressure in the middle of the foot, right where the foot and shin meet, and PUSH through the top of that spot with the quads. This should IMMEDIATELY fix the problem. A good drill to do if its too hard to conceptualize is to do little pulses breaking the bar an inch off the ground, then barely touching the plates back down to the ground without the slack being let out of the bar. Do this for 10 reps at literally any weight and your quads will be on fire! Give it a try!
Weakness Can Cause Poor Technique
If you understand the technique errors listed above, and maybe you can fix them at really light weights, but anything heavier reverts back to poor technique, then you likely need to develop more muscle mass in either the quads or the upper back. If the hips shoot up but the upper back maintains position, especially at heavier weights, then the quads will likely need need some strengthening. There are plenty of ways to do this, however it depends on what phase of training you are when deciding HOW to fix it. If the hips shoot up AND the upper back rounds on heavier weights, then you MIGHT need to redirect attention to strengthening the upper back. Any number of such as lat pullovers, dumbbell rows, Pendlay rows, rear delt fly’s, and band pull apart’s can help with developing more muscle mass there. One exercise that you can try that may help both is to perform isometric pulls with a pause 1-2” off the ground for 10 sec. This will get your body accustomed to maintaining position under significant load, and is the most specific to the olympic lifts.
Where Should You Start?
Knowing what the problems are doesn’t help if you don’t know which problem is yours. In general, always start with the easiest thing to fix, and work your way to the hardest thing to fix. In this article, they are listed in order, so start with moving your start position around, and when any technical changes fail, start the journey of building more muscle mass!
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