Kettlebell Snatch Technique Tips

The Kettlebell Snatch is one of the trickiest basic kettlebell exercises to learn... but it's one of the best for building strength endurance, muscles of the shoulder girdle, back, core and hips, and flat out power. And let's face it... anyone who's done a high rep snatch workout will attest that it's quite simply a gut check.
Here's a drill that will improve your form in the Kettlebell Snatch and help you avoid the dreaded 'forearm slap' - you'll do:

3 One Arm Swings
3 Low Pulls
3 High Pulls
3 Snatches

What happens many times is that the kettlebell will rotateslowly around the wrist at the top of the movement, which results in a painful impact. This, just to be totally clear, is notwhat we're going for with this exercise.

The idea is to get the kettlebell to 'float' for a second at the top of the High Pull movement, and then to get the hand around the 'bell.

The progression described above is a great way to learn the movement properly and eliminate the all-to-common forearm slap that occurs in the Kettlebell Snatch. Give it a try today and see if your Kettlebell Snatch form improves!

Note: The Kettlebell Snatch is a highly technical exercise - and one that you can't really learn from just reading an article on the internet:) My recommendation as a certified kettlebell instructor is to seek out someone in your area who is qualified to teach you how to do the exercise right. At the end of the day, there is no replacement for in-person instruction.

Forest Vance, MS, CPT, RKC is a Sacramento kettlebell instructor and is the author of this article. You can learn more about him - and get his 'Top 10 Fat Loss Myths' consumer report - by visiting his website at http://www.forestvancetraining.com.