Natch of a Kettlebell Snatch
The Kettlebell Snatch can be one of the toughest maneuvers to work through in your workout routine, but we must not be scared of trying, or of living in fear of being bruised — and perhaps even wounded! — in the learning process. If your elbows are hypermobile like mine, always be wary of your arm position because the Snatch can put weight in all the wrong places in your elbow joint. You will quickly learn to adjust after one wrong move.
I built a Kettlebell trainer with a thick wooden dowel and a length of chain attached to either end of the dowel. I grab the dowel — representing the handle of the Kettlebell — and the drape of the chain represents the bell part of the Kettlebell. The idea of the game, the training, is to move the dowel handle/chain bell in a Snatch from the floor to the final position without having the chain bang on the forearm. Sure, the chain is a movable moment, and that’s the point of it. You can train the movement without smashing your arm.
You quickly learn with my dowel Snatch trainer, that the key to a good Snatch is all in the wrist, right there in that moment of no-gravity-weightlessness when your Kettlebell is up in the air and ready to make its way back down again. In that twilight second of nothing weighing anything — be it training dowel or 32kg Kettlebell — is the moment when you make that Snatch wrist change from aiming, to placing the Kettlebell into final position, and letting it rest in the up position in your hand.
The Kettlebell Snatch is all about grace and style — and maybe just a little bit of muscling. Remember, technique can overpower muscle any day, if executed right.
The first mistake we all make learning the Snatch is thinking the bell will not bang against your forearm! The bell will bang you!
It is difficult to learn how to control the bell, and not let it move from the front of your wrist to the back of your wrist by going over your wrist in an arc like a loop. The bell must twist with your wrist into position. Move your wrist into position, and the bell will, for a moment, weightlessly, follow. That’s why the practice structure of the Snatch is so important.
You must be willing to feel a little bell pain to learn to “never do THAT again!” Pain can be your greatest trainer. A bruise is always your best ally for improvement.
That’s why I like my dowel/chain Snatch trainer. I can make all the form mistakes I want, and not bruise my arm. I also have a few really light Kettlebells that are a good trainers, too, but if you let the bell move the wrong way, no matter how light the weight — like letting it flip over your wrist, or missing the twist — then the bell slamming into your arm is going to hurt, and leave you a little love mark.
Natch!
I prefer the classic straight arm Kettlebell snatch. To my body, mind, and eye, it just looks, and moves, better for me as a weight lever; but that’s probably only because that’s the way I learned it. Some of the new thinking in the Kettlebell world is that you can “zip up” the bell via your front chest, and then bend your arm just a bit, and then move the bell into the up position and call that a Snatch. I say practice both ways, and find the travel that works best for you. Master it. Make it work.
Of all the single Kettlebell workout movements, the King of strength, and stamina, is the Snatch. It challenges every part of your body even more thoroughly, I argue, — than a Turkish Get Up — because the Snatch gives you no moment for rest. You will always be under the pressure of weight, and form, to make the flow move, or you’re going to be in a bad, and risky, position that can lead to injury. Plus, once you’ve mastered the Snatch with one bell, add a second bell, and you’ll double the workout power. You cannot double up bells in a Turkish Get Up.
Bruising and Snatching are okay.
