Hello there… If you're looking to get started with Olympic weightlifting, or maybe add explosive power to your training, or simply improve your snatch technique, muscle snatch is one of the best exercises you can include in your routine. Simple, easy (depending on how heavy you go) and an effective way to develop strength, coordination, and power without the complexity of a snatch. 

Super low entry point to weightlifting for beginners, while those of you who are more advanced athletes can use it as a valuable tool to correct bar path, improve turnover mechanics, and my favorite - build raw power. 

I like muscle snatch because of its versatility - it offers something to everyone.

Super low entry point to weightlifting for beginners, while those of you who are more advanced athletes can use it as a valuable tool to correct bar path, improve turnover mechanics, and my favorite - build raw power. 

I like muscle snatch because of its versatility - it offers something to everyone.

The muscle snatch is a weightlifting exercise that helps to build full body strength, coordination, and technique NOT ONLY for Olympic lifting. It is one of the easiest Olympic weightlifting exercises to start with, so if you are thinking about experimenting with Olympic weightlifting - this is where you start. Still being an extremely powerful tool for advanced athletes. 

Idea is to lift the barbell from the floor to overhead, in one single motion. Unlike the traditional snatch, in muscle snatch there is no point of contact with hips and we eliminate the catch phase in deep, or actually any squat, by catching the bar overhead with our legs fully extended after initial lift. 

This makes it an excellent drill for warm up, correcting bar path, improving shoulder stability, and more. It’s commonly used by weightlifters, functional fitness athletes, and strength enthusiasts looking to work on their overhead mechanics and build explosive power in the lower body.

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart and grip the barbell with a wide snatch grip. While snatch grip exact width does not matter for Muscle Snatch because there is no point of contact - it matters a LOT! when it comes to Snatch. How to determine your Snatch grip you can find here.
• Keep your back straight, chest up (shirt logo looking at the wall, not the floor) , and engage your core, keep shoulders tight and arms relaxed.
• The bar should be positioned close to your shins, and your shoulders should be slightly in front of the bar.

• Push through your feet (imagine that you are pushing earth with your legs not pulling bar) and extend your knees while maintaining a neutral spine. Don’t extend your hips yet. This part is still slower - think about accelerating.
• Keep the bar close to your body as it moves past your knees.
• Engage your lats to control the bar path, arms should be straight and relaxed still.

• Once the bar passes your knees, aggressively extend your hips, knees and ankles and pull the bar upward.
• Shrug your shoulders forcefully and drive your elbows high and outside, but not to the back - don’t curl the bar.
• Legs go with full power, while arms are assisting with controlling the trajectory of the bar - bar path - ideally we want a straight line (looking from the side)

• As the bar reaches face height, rotate your elbows under and press/punch the bar overhead.
• Keep your legs straight, avoiding any re-bend of the knees.
• Lock out the bar in a strong overhead position, stabilizing through your shoulders, shoulder blades (retracted) and core.

• Control the descent of the bar back to the starting position.
• Reset and repeat for the desired reps.

• Beginner: Start with a PVC pipe or empty barbell to practice mechanics. Record yourself from different angles to see what you need to improve. Use it to improve mobility needed for future snatch or simply as a low entry exercise for more explosive movements.
  
  Start slow - get everything right, then increase speed, then increase load.
  
  Remember practice makes it permanent so spend some time with muscle snatch to solidify motor skill.
  
  
• Intermediate: Increase weight gradually, focusing on bar path and turnover speed.
  
  Start using muscle snatch with an empty bar, as a part of your warmup, but also in your main training with heavier weights to address power. Change load across the week to work both with higher and lower velocities.
  
  
• Advanced: Utilize complexes to improve control and explosiveness. Motor skill is already there, and you already know by now that shit gets interesting when you hold overhead more than your weight - center of gravity changes dramatically - and that changes everything.
  
  Try complexes like: Snatch High Pull + Muscle Snatch + Snatch, or if you’re coming from a different sport challenge yourself metabolically, meaning get tired :) and then perform Muscle Snatch with elevated heart rate - this is where we can see a lot of mistakes that are hard to catch when we are good and rested.

Really good exercise on its own. It’s a regular deadlift with a small twist - you hold the bar with a wide snatch grip. Great to start playing with Snatch-like exercises. Helps you to understand starting position and builds pulling and grip strength. Helpful with hip mobility and lower back strength needed for future more explosive movements. 

A lot of benefits without the turnover and going overhead if this is something you would like to avoid in your current session. 1st and 2nd Pull work, Power development, Bar path improvements or even strength development - because you can load that bar here are few of the benefits you can expect from Snatch Pull.

One of the next steps after Muscle Snatch to begin with if you start Olympic weightlifting. Power development, learning all snatch mechanics without needing to catch the bar in full squat. So if your squat mobility is your weak point, you can use Power Snatch and get all the benefits, while you can work on your mobility separately and eventually jump into Snatch. 

Most athletes outside of olympic weightlifting will pick that alternative instead of regular Snatch for its ability to build Power, and because there is less skill needed to perform that movement. Risk-Reward ratio and learning curve. 

Don’t want to touch or don’t have the barbell ? Or maybe just want to include some unilateral movements? Single arm kettlebell or dumbbell snatch is one of my favorite exercises I use with athletes of all types of sports. 

Insanely good for Power development, strength, motor skill, energy transfer and even conditioning when used correctly. 

Strengthens the shoulders and upper back for general strength and better bar control.

Develops turnover strength and bar path awareness, essential for an efficient snatch. Motor Skill needed later in Snatch. Great for Speed test - can you go fast enough to lift the bar without rebending your legs. 

For me it is always a very good and accurate way to test and measure your progress in terms of power production. There are many variables in Power Snatch or Snatch etc that can end with more weight being lifted - because of the skill. Muscle Snatch - just need speed and power. You lift more, you are more powerful :) 

Engages the deltoids, traps, and triceps in an explosive motion. I’d say low entry and beginner friendly way to challenge Force Absorption in your upper body and ability to catch something overhead.  

Explosive hip extension without need of full snatch mobility or technique. Really good to train lifting with higher velocities. 

Probably most important for beginners - Muscle Snatch reduces a lot of technical demands while still allowing you to get a few of key snatch mechanics - starting position, 1st and 2nd pull, and overhead stability.

Useful for technique improvements, speed and strength development, even conditioning. Adjust load accordingly to what you’re looking to improve and muscle snatch will be a powerful tool in your toolbox.

1. Regardless of level I usually use Muscle Snatch in the beginning of a workout as or after warm-up. As a warm-up for obvious reasons - it is a full body movement that with an empty bar can be done slow and fast depending on the intention. 
2. I like to keep reps number low in a set (unless for conditioning) to make sure accuracy and speed consistency stays spot on and we don’t see speed decline (loss)

• Beginner: 3 sets of 5 reps with a light to moderate load with RPE at 7-8.
  
  
• Intermediate: 5 sets of 3 reps ~ 30-40% of your 1 rep max, focusing on bar speed.
  
  
• Advanced: 3-5 sets of any complex like:
  1x Muscle Snatch + 3x Overhead Squat
  1x Muscle Snatch + Snatch Balance
  1x Snatch High Pull + Muscle Snatch + Snatch
  
  
• Or beginning of your workout:
  9 sets of 3 reps at ~50% of your Snatch 1RM - goal will be bar speed - aim for at least 1m/s

• Olympic Weightlifters – To improve snatch mechanics, warm-up, improve power, rate of force development, speed, and turnover strength.
• Functional Fitness Enthusiasts – To improve snatch efficiency and build endurance and motor skill needed later for snatch. Add variety. Useful for conditioning with weights.
• All types of sports Athletes – To test and improve power and rate of force development - neural drive, GPP, overhead strength and stability.

So as you can see muscle snatch is a versatile and highly effective exercise for lifters at all levels and athletes of all types of sports. It is an awesome introduction to Olympic weightlifting while still offering advanced athletes a way to strengthen turnover mechanics, develop upper-body strength, and improve snatch. 

Explosive hip extension we can train during Muscle Snatch is an excellent power building and rate of force development tool for anyone who has access to a barbell and wants to include that in their training plan. 

So whether you’re looking to improve your snatch, develop strength, or start playing with olympic weightlifting, the muscle snatch is a valuable addition to any program. I love it for its ability to test and monitor power with my athletes. Remember to focus on executing it with proper mechanics, progressively overload, and check its alternatives to maximize benefits. 

Do you think about starting Olympic Weightlifting or have you been lifting for a while?

How does Muscle Snatch work for you? Let me know in the comments if you have any questions!

References:

1.  All Photos Made by Torokhtiy Media Team.