Yes, one easy lesson in three parts!
Part One is here:
THE OLYMPIC SNATCH
This is THE one lift that determines whether or not you are an athlete. The best lifters have always prided themselves particularly on their ability in the snatch.
It is only when they are growing older that their affectations turn to the press, and its weight standard approaches and passes their snatch poundage.
Rigoulot would not practice the press at all because he felt it made him musclebound and affected adversely his snatching and cleaning ability.
Steve Stanko once told us that if he had his lifting career before him, all he would do is "snatch, snatch, snatch!"
It is a strange truth that when Stan Stanczyk (photo right, Steve Stanko on the left) . . .
. . . when Stan Stanczyk began to specialize on the press to increase his standard, he became less of a champion. As his press went up his snatch and jerk stayed almost stationary.
Tommy Kono recently has been pushing his press up, to the apparent detriment of his snatch technique, for photos reveal that he is no longer getting his arms back as far in the squat position in the snatch, and while his press goes up his snatch gains comparatively little. Is this caused by shoulder stiffness, induced by too much pressing?
To successfully employ the scientific squat snatch technique the shoulders must be very supple.
Shoulder dislocates with a dowel
The press poundage will go up with maturity; witness Pete George, who once had difficulty getting 230 lbs. and who recently did 260. As you grow older press and snatch poundages begin to equalize until at last you lose your speed and suppleness and find that you can press more than you can snatch. On this day, it is about time to hang up yoour weightlifting shoes, unless you happen, by nature, to be merely a strong Ox who always was a natural-born "presser".
There has been a lot of stuff written about proper snatch technique. Some misguided expertes would have you leaping at the bar like it was an enemy to be overwhelmed before it had a chance to snap back, but our own experience tells us that there is only one safe way -- to approach the bar easily -- get a firm grip and pull, not with an all-out heave, but evenly and slowly until the bar is in the "hang" position -- whereupon you throw everything into a powerful second pull. No diving. No bounce. No wild excitement. TIMING is the answer to good snatching, and it comes about only when you go about your lifting with relaxation, not desperation.
This also applies to the Clean & Jerk.
Several British experts have recently been puzzled by Tommy Kono's ability in the "hang" snatch and clean. We could have told them all about this stuff nearly twenty years ago when we were training with our leading scientist, Chris Whitaker. He was a lightweight, and in our training sessions he could always wind up hang-cleaning 280 lbs. several times, although his best clean at that time was 265. The problem was to control the "gear shifting" to so smoothly bring the bar into the "hang" position in an actual clean that you got the benefit of this "grooving" of the weight in the course of least resistance. When Tommy does gthis, he will be able to clean and snatch as much in the regular way as in the hang.
Many years ago the "Swedish Hang" was barred in continental weightlifting contests because the Swedes had come up with it and found they could do more in this way than in the regular clean. The current problem is how to make it pay dividends, and the easy, slower start of the bar from the platform in the answer.
Approach the bar in a relaxed manner, stoop, with the back straight, and secure a hook grip, as wide as you can, hooking the thumbs inside the fingers.
The average man of 5'8" or taller can profitably grip nearly to the end of the knurling. The narrow grip is for slower men, and can also be used somewhat more effectively in the split style, since the weight must be pulled higher in this style by several long inches. Personally we think the wider the grip the better.
Flatten the back and pull -- easily, fairly slow to start; when the bar gets to the knees pull HARD up and back -- going clear up on your toes and CLEAR OFF THE FLOOR! High! High! High! Put everything you have into getting that bar up as far as possible -- the PULL is the most important part of snatching, either split of squat style.
Practice this pull -- practice . . . Practice . . . PRACTICE!
The pull's the thing that does it -- and don't let anybody tell you differently. The best possible practice in the snatch is doing flip snatches where you will pull the weight all the way to arms length without dipping or moving the feet. Get so you can do 200 lbs. in this way and you should have no trouble doing 250 with a full squat.
Now you are in the midst of pulling HARD and HIGH -- your effort has lifted you to your toes, the bar is rising -- it is about chest high, you feel the pull is all but expended -- now you carry it back -- far back overhead, the head is thrust forward, you drop into a squat as though your were JUMPING down and forward, under the bar. You land beneath it with arms well back and pushing up strongly -- your jump does actually take you several inches FORWARD -- and you feel the weight drop into the blessed groove.
It sticks, it is solid there, you continue to grip the bar tight and push upward, you are flatfooted and solid on your heels, feet a foot or so apart and turned outward.
When you hit the bottom you bounce and come right up, hips starting first, head well forward arms back.
It is the easiest thing in the world!
Uncertain style?
Nonsense.
If you are supple enough in the hips and shoulders, it is as secure as any heavy lift can be.
If you are prevented by stiff hips and shoulders from employing the squat technique we refer you to split style books on this subject. We won't take up time here discussing obsolete methods.
Older men will find this techniqe best fitted to their aging bones and stiffening joints.
Continued in Part Three.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
Spiffy intro nostalgic graphic! By the way, I don't know if you are aware of it, but the pic of Hoffie in the roadster and the two guys lifting car and all was faked. There is a similarly faked photo (per John Terpak) of Grimek and Stanko sitting in the roadster and four guys allegedly picking it up. Terpak was one of the "fake four" lifters in that photos, so he should know about it being staged.
ReplyDeleteThe "Iron" in that ad fits real nice! It wasn't the weight of the vehicle that made 'em stage the deal, it was the heft of Boss Boho. Where's a Chinmoy when ya need one!
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