You may know the snatch as a classic weightlifting exercise, but have you yet been introduced to its many variations? The snatch comes in various shapes and sizes, but all require you to work on strength and flexibility. The following snatch variations can help you perfect your snatch technique and add tons of variation to your training. In this blog, we'll discuss the mechanics of the traditional snatch and talk you through no less than 15 snatch variations!

What is a Snatch?

The snatch is one of the two lifts in Olympic weightlifting. It involves lifting a loaded barbell from the ground to overhead in one smooth movement. While the ‘official’ snatch at Olympic weightlifting events uses a bar, the variations below mix things up with different pieces of equipment like dumbbells and kettlebells.

1 - Traditional Snatch

The traditional snatch uses a Barbell and requires the athlete to start the lift from the floor. This version will serve as our 'snatch foundation'. Once you've got the hang of this snatch, all other versions will start make sense.

Requiring explosive power, flexibility and coordination, the snatch is an advanced movement. Each step needs to be executed with care and precision. If you're new to the snatch, start practising with an empty barbell or dowel. Technique is everything!

• Start with your feet directly underneath your hips and grab the bar with a wide grip. Your hands should be roughly two inches outside shoulder width. Whilst keeping your back straight and chest up, hinge at the hips and bend your knees until the bar has reached a mid-shin position.

• Powerfully extend your hips and knees. Think of this step as ‘pushing the floor away’ with your legs. Once your legs are fully extended, pull the bar further up with your arms.

• Whilst you’re pulling the bar upwards, quickly drop under the bar into a squat. Speed and coordination are essential here.

• Catch the bar overhead with straight arms.

• The final step is to stand up straight while keeping the barbell in its overhead position. This completes the lift.

2 - Snatch Balance

Ever seen one of the more experienced lifters at the gym drop into a squat while pushing a barbell overhead from behind their neck? That's the snatch balance. This variation is the one you want to practise to master the transition phase of the snatch. It really helps develop your ability to catch the bar in a stable overhead position.

3 - Muscle Snatch

Unlike the traditional snatch, the muscle snatch focuses on the upper half of your body. From the starting position, extend your legs and pull the bar up, but don’t drop into a squat – not even a little bit! You must use your shoulders to pull the bar overhead. Because this variation leaves out the squat, it makes an excellent option for building shoulder strength.

4 - Power Snatch

The power snatch is all about catching the barbell above parallel, emphasising the drive in your hip and knee extension. Unlike the muscle snatch, you are allowed to drop under the bar, but only as long as you catch the bar with your hips above your knees. No full squats allowed here. A successful execution of the power snatch depends on an effective extension of the hips and knees, and a strong pull.

5 - Block Snatch

Starting the snatch from different heights using blocks is called the block snatch. You can play around with jerk blocks set at varying heights to focus on specific parts of the lift. Also, if you want to avoid overtraining your lower back, using blocks to start a snatch from the knee up can be a great help! Jerk blocks are essentially a tool that let you break down the lift into bite-sized pieces.

6 - Snatch Push Press

This is a push press but with a wider grip on the bar. The snatch-grip push press really targets the shoulders and triceps and helps develop your upper body strength. It's a great exercise to build the power needed to keep that bar overhead in the final stage of the lift.

7 - Hang Snatch

Instead of going from the floor, start your rep with the barbell anywhere between hip and knee height. This adds an extra challenge to the initial snatch pull as you can’t rely on your legs to initiate the movement. It’s a great variation if you want to develop strength in the pull phase of the lift. It also helps you keep the bar close to your body, making for the most effective bar path.

8 - Tall Snatch

Starting from a standing position, this snatch version eliminates any knee bend and hip hinge in the set-up. The tall snatch teaches you to ‘pull under’ the bar with speed and precision. This is the variation you’ll want to practise if you have difficulties dropping under the bar quick enough to catch it overhead.

9 - Snatch High Pull

The snatch high pull is your go-to exercise if you solely want to focus on the first part of the lift – pulling that barbell off the floor. This variation helps build your traps, delts and lats. Being able to pull the bar higher in the first phase of the lift means you don’t have to drop under the bar as quickly to catch it. Athletes with a strong snatch pull can generally get away with catching the bar higher compared to athletes with a weak pull.

10 - Scarecrow Snatch

This challenging movement starts with the bar at chest height using a snatch grip. Drop straight under the bar and catch it in your overhead position. The scarecrow snatch teaches you to drop down fast and catch the barbell overhead. This exercise is usually performed as a primer or warm-up exercise with either a dowel or empty barbell.

11 - One-Armed Kettlebell Snatch

No barbell? No problem! Lift a Kettlebell with one arm from between your legs to the overhead position. This is a unilateral movement that develops your stability and strength on one side, but that engages your overall core for better stability. 

12 - Double Kettlebell Snatch

The double kettlebell snatch is the ‘big-brother’ version of the previous exercise. Simultaneously snatch two kettlebells to the overhead position. As you’ll be moving two kettlebells independently of each other, this variation requires both coordination and timing.

13 - Cross-Body Kettlebell Snatch

For a cross-body kettlebell snatch, set up a single kettlebell on one side of your body and grab it with the opposite hand. As you pull the kettlebell upwards ‘across your body’, your obliques and other core muscles will fully engage. It’s a great exercise for a well-rounded core.  

14 - Alternating Dumbbell Snatch

The alternating dumbbell snatch involves snatching a dumbbell with one arm repeatedly whilst switching arms. You can choose to switch arms in the overhead position or when the dumbbell is on the floor. This variation adds the extra challenges of coordination and throws in an element of cardio. Beginners are best off swapping sides when the dumbbell is on the floor.

15 - One-Armed Dumbbell Snatch

In the variation, you simply swap the kettlebell for a single Dumbbells. This exercise focuses on unilateral strength and stability development. The dumbbell offers a slightly different grip and weight-distribution to the kettlebell. Beginners often find a dumbbell easier to work with.

The snatch is an advanced movement that can admittedly take some time to get right. But once you nail it, it feels incredible. Patience and precision are key in your snatch journey. Try to resist the temptation to stick heavy weights on the bar just after you started practising because it ‘looks cool’. Being able to snatch with correct technique will look much better (let’s be honest), and it will also allow you to progress quicker in the long run and decrease your risk of injury.

Once you start to trust the process and simply enjoy learning the technical elements, you’ll master the snatch in no time!

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Tags: Equipment > Bars and Weight Plates ; Equipment > Dumbbells ; Equipment > Kettlebells ; Exercise Type > Strength