Tag: accessory work

Snatch Balances and Walking Lunges

Today was a snatch-centric day.  Hang snatches at 80%, snatch grip deadlifts at 80% and snatch balances.  I’m still working on that last one.  With light weights I can snap under the bar, but the heavier the weight the more it looks like a snatch grip push press and subsequent overhead squat.  But even done not perfectly, I think it’s great for improving stability under the bar in the snatch.

Then hanging leg raises (can now do sets of 20, hooray!) and front rack walking lunges in the continuing project of fixing my squat.  Started with front squats to warm up (body weight 3×3) because it was actually cold here in the great state of Texas and I didn’t want to move directly into snatches.

Clean Pull Unders

I call these “clean pull unders” but they may have some official name of which I’m unaware.  It’s a great drill for learning to pull under the bar instead of trying to (consciously or unconsciously pull the bar up to the rack position).  It’s a lot tougher than it looks to just stand on your toes, shrug and pull under.  Very worth a try.

this is a second version of the same drill here

Another Variation on the Back Extension

Yet another variation on the back extension, this time with a row.  You could do this with a barbell, but I prefer kettlebells as this gets heavier, mainly because I like each side to be working independently.   It also doesn’t hurt that the KBs are easier for my short arms to reach from the top of the reverse hyper.  You certainly don’t need any special equipment for this except a friend who is willing to potentially get kicked in the face (my sweet coach is a brave, brave man as you can see here) and something upon which to elevate yourself.  My coach found this variation in an old video from the 80’s (complete with mullet and mustache) of a wicked strong French shot putter.

A Variation on the Snatch Grip Back Extension

I found this right after my post from yesterday.  It’s a great variation on the snatch grip back extension that I did on a GHD yesterday.  This one requires no special equipment, just a friend to hold your ankles.  This is the great Apti in the video, so I’d probably start with much smaller weights 🙂   It was also recommended to me to try this exercise with dumbells or kettlebells instead of a bar for an extra challenge.