This month on the kettlebell VIP and Elite forums, we are discussing one of my favorite lifts outside of the press, the kettlebell snatch. The kettlebell snatch may very well be the mother of all basic conditioning lifts drills (second only to the Jerk, which we will get in to when we gear up for more advanced work). The kettlebell snatch is also a required testing standard we are required to pass when we training for our level 1 and level 2 RKC/SFG kettlebell certifications. Mastering 100 reps in 5 minutes on a particular weight class is challenging, and if you’re into a lot of cross training and endurance work, getting into snatch preparation and long cycle snatches will make you one superior athlete.
First up, what the heck is the kettlebell snatch and how can it make us more awesome?
The kettlebell snatch is an overhead ballistic lift. From the ground, you will hike your kettlebell behind you as you would your usual one arm swing.
Using the force from your legs, you will snap your hips forward and keep the kettlebell close to the center of your body. The kettlebell should float easily upward close to the side of your head.
At the height of the snatch, the kettlebell will land in the overhead lock out position, from which you can begin your descent downward into the next rep.
The purpose of this lift is to get weight above your head as quickly as possible. Done rep for rep, this will yield into some solid conditioning that will be a best of your endurance. Novice lifts, I recommend starting light on the weights. Ladies, begin training 10 reps on the right and left sides at either an 8kg or 12kg to gain some experience. Work up to 5 sets of 10. Men, I recommend starting at 16kg or 20kgs and do the same 10 rep scheme right and left sides. Work up to the same 5 sets .
In the video below, I cover some snatch practice technique to help your snatch practice get easier and easier over each training session after the next.
Now! For those of you that are interesting in the hand to hand switches for both certification preparation AND to get a lot of volume done in a short amount of time, take a look at this new video below that reviews all of the steps we covered to perform the snatch, and how to master hand to hand switches and breathing to keep up with short AND long cycle drills.
If you have gotten this far, do take a look at the snatch drill preparation below. All reps are listed as TOTAL reps to hit every minute for 5 minutes. The goal here is to use this training cycle 3x a week to gain a solid pace to master 100 reps in 5 minutes. This particular drill is also very useful for learning how to breathe correctly for our longer cycle routine of snatches.
Master RKC genius Michael Krivka gave me quite arguably the best snatch test preparation guide I have ever seen years ago when I was training for my level 1 certification. Today I’m going to reveal that for you all for your own personal use. This training protocol is 13 weeks long, so if you’re 13 weeks our from your certification, DO THIS!
Snatch Test preparation Workout Outline
|
Week |
Workout I |
Workout II |
Workout III |
|
1 |
10 |
12 |
11 |
|
2 |
11 |
13 |
12 |
|
3 |
12 |
14 |
13 |
|
4 |
13 |
15 |
14 |
|
5 |
14 |
16 |
15 |
|
6 |
15 |
17 |
16 |
|
7 |
16 |
18 |
17 |
|
8 |
17 |
19 |
18 |
|
9 |
18 |
20 |
19 |
|
10 |
19 |
21 |
20 |
|
11 |
20 |
22 |
21 |
|
12 |
21 |
23 |
22 |
|
13 |
22 |
– |
– |
You will notice that the first few weeks are light in volume but the reps significantly increase over time. This is a three day protocol and you will add reps each day. You are to complete the listed reps on the minute every minute for 5 minutes. This will guarantee that you can ace your snatch test and / or OWN some serious conditioning within the proper amount of time given to train. I recommend testing your 5 minute 100 rep test at the end of every 3-4 weeks to see how you’re doing with the 100 rep test.
Kettlebell Challenge: The Dirty 30 Routine
For those of you that are geared more towards the endurance side, I challenge you to a simple but sinister kettlebell snatch routine. Grab yourself a snatch test sized kettlebell and set your interval timer for 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest for an entire 30 minutes. You will perform snatches on right and left sides during your 30 seconds. Watch the clock as every 15 seconds you will switch arms to complete the challenge and not over-exhaust one arm over the other on each interval.
GET TO WORK!
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