It's Saturday afternoon. The temperature is in the low 70's. It's humid and looks like it might rain some more. But before it does, I grabbed by kettlebells and headed outside for some Snatching. I also brought along the video camera to record myself. And this is for two reasons, (1) to get an objective view of my form and (2) to solicit comments and suggestions on how I might improve.
It's funny when you watch yourself for the first time. I make a lot of funny faces. It looks like I might be in pain during some of this. And I am somewhat. The forearms are still sore and the left shoulder still makes rice crispies noises when I hold the kb in the overhead position. This doesn't hurt but I seem to focus in on it a lot to ensure I don't do anything that might injury me.
So, you'll see some clips of my Snatching first the 20kg and then the 24kg. I clips are a bit out of sync with the actual workout as I thought it better to show things in the order presented.
My workout as a whole looked like this...
1-Hand Swing / High Pull / Snatch: 16kg - 10 / 5 / 5 - once through Left, then Right
Snatch: 20kg - 10/9 (I thought it was 10/10 until I watched the video)
Snatch: 24kg - 5/5
Rack Walk: 32kg switched sides once through
Overhead Walk: 32kg same
Snatch: 20kg - 10/10/5/5 (this is where the video starts)
Although it might not look it, the 20kg Snatches feel pretty good to me. I intend to build these up a bit more before moving back up to the 24kg for volume.
Also don't mind my touching my face in the video, there were a lot of gnats outside flying around in my face the whole time. And my hands were getting sweaty too, as you'll see me wiping my hands on my shorts and shirt. I might need to invest in some lifting chalk!
Please, comments ... =)
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My Second Olympic Experience (part one)
8 years ago
9 comments:
A few comments:
* You've got a good build and look like the strong guy you are.
* If you don't need the shoes to prevent gnat bites, ditch them.
* You bend your knees A LOT. If you focus on hips back/hips forward and allow the knees to bend only enough to allow full hip movement, you'll place more stress on the posterior chain, and I believe it will be a more efficient movement.
* Just my impression, but it looks at times like you're starting your pull before the kettlebell has become "weightless" in the bottom position. If you're doing this, you're placing a lot of unnecessary strain on your grip.
* eyes forward and head up is common, but I didn't start hitting long sets until I kept a neutral spine and allowed my eyes to follow the movement of my torso.
Looking good Howie! Aaron's has given you some good feed back!
*I agree with Aaron... use your hips more. It's a bigger, stronger joint... let your knees bend as an afterthought.
*Watch the shrugging at the top of your snatches. Be sure to let your shoulder sink into the socket (glenoid fossa). It looks like you do this for the most part... you want this position to be restful and not gas your upper traps.
Like I said before... looks good overall. Just a couple things that you could fine tune. Keep up the good work!
You very looked very solid with both bells to me.
At this point its about small adjustments, efficiency of form and practice .. you will succeed!
Nice goin' bro!
Overflooding with information can get you confused, so basically I go with Fridays.
When you comprehend theirs, follow mine.
Descending trajectory is a bit too huge. Shoulder is being pulled by the bell.
Slightly lead your descent with elbow, and your arm/shoulder should be relaxed as if you are going to drop the bell to ground.
"Drop" and catch at bottom might be a good description.
You don't need any part of your upper body to be tensed in any time of snatch.
Other than that, you're not doing bad at all.
Thanks Aaron, Fawn and Taikei!
I never imagined that I could be using too much legs. That would explain why I had gotten 'kb shin splints' a while back. I'm going to work on incorporating your feedback. Thnking about neutral spine makes me dizzy.
And Taikei, I realize that I am intentionally throwing the bell out a bit. When I lead with the elbow I felt it in my forearms more. This was a compromise. But perhaps if I get greater hip activation, it might solve that problem as well.
Again, thanks for the help. It was a bit unnerving throwing myself out there for the first time, but worth it.
Looks strong, Howie :)
You've gotten good advice, what I can add is just a personal experience: it was not easy for me to internalize the rhythm of the snatch, which is tight-loose-tight, similar to that of cleans and less like swings or high pulls. But once I found it, a lot of things suddenly improved 'by themselves'.
as Pavel says about the descent of the arm on the downswing
"ain for your stomach then get out of the way".
nice work howie,keeping it in closer on the descent will take more stress of the grip and the back.
also, what aaron said.
Thanks Gabi and Rif.
I'm going to give the Snatches another go on Saturday with the camera. We'll all get to see how things are developing.
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