Transfer those "mad" skill

     Good morning again everyone, or evening (whenever you're reading this). Only 42 shopping days left till Christmas... though with all the X-mas decorations I've already been seeing, you'd think it would be soon. That being said, there's a certain little Frosh that would love some bumper plates in his stocking. Just kidding... or am I?

This is what we're using for the WOD for the rest of the year

     So, today were talking about some skills we use from time to time. To be more specific, we're covering the Skills Transfer series, which we do often when we're going to be snatching. The 5 parts of the Skills Transfer are: Snatch Press, Overhead Squat, Pressing Snatch Balance, Heaving Snatch Balance, and the Snatch Balance.

Snatch Press

     So this is simply our overhead press. The difference is that the PVC or bar will be behind the neck and we will have our hands in our snatch width position. Our feet will be under our hips, in a normal jumping/pulling stance. However, for all these movements, we will forgo the hook grip.

Overhead Squat

     If you've been playing the CrossFit game for while, odds are you've performed the Overhead Squat. Yet, without a solid Overhead Squat, we will not be able to perform a very strong Snatch. The bar will be pressed overhead (active shoulders!!!), hands spread to a snatch width again, but now our feel will be in our landing position. This means our feet will be slightly wider than our hips. We perform the movement like we would a normal squat: weight in the heels, hips move back and down, chest up a head neutral. We have to fight to keep the weight centered directly over the middle of the feet. Too far forward or behind could result in a missed lift.

Pressing Snatch Balance

     This starts the first of the 3 different snatch balances. The set-up for this will be: bar behind the neck, feet in our landing position (little wider than the hips), hands set in our snatch width. Slowly, and without moving the bar/PVC, we will press ourselves underneath the bar until we are in the bottom position of the overhead squat. After that will simply stand and lower the bar back into the starting position. Many people may have problems with the bar moving. To combat that you can have a partner hold your bar in place, until you can perform this solo.

Heaving Snatch Balance

     We will start this movement with the same set-up as the Pressing Snatch Balance. The difference in this movement is we will dip and drive at the knees, while keeping the torso up, driving the bar into the air. When the bar is "weightless" in the air, we will drive our bodies quickly underneath the bar. Again, it is important that the chest doesn't dip forward and the movement is not initiated by the hips coming back, it is with the flexion of the knee that this will be achieved.

Snatch Balance

     This is the coup-de-grace of the Skills Transfer, the full Snatch Balance. Here will introduce the transfer of the feet from the jumping position to the landing position. So the set-up will be: feet underneath our hips, bar behind the neck, hands at snatch width and standing upright. We will perform the same dip and drive as we did with the Heaving Snatch Balance. The difference is after we drive the bar up will the move our feet out the our landing position and drive under the bar. This calls for explosive power and quick movement. The Snatch Balance, when working with heavier loads, will give us confidence to quickly move underneath the bar, the same way we would when performing the actual Snatch.

This could be you!

     So once again, I've armed you with knowledge... this most important tool of all (besides burpees of course). Take a look at the video below, and pay special attention to the Skills Transfer, that we just talked about.


CrossFit Olympic Cert (Snatch) from dan staton on Vimeo.

3,2,1, GO!