Grasp the bar with a snatch grip. To find your snatch grip hold the bar at waist level with locked-out elbows. Slowly adjust your grip in or out, while still maintaining straight arms, until the bar hangs at the height of your crease (The crease is the point where your upper leg joins together with your torso. The line that is formed here in your hips is the crease). Be sure you have an even grip on the bar, you do not want the bar either off to the left nor the right. With this grip lift the bar onto your upper back and retract your shoulder blades back very tightly. You should not have the bar in contact with any vertebrae as it rests on your upper back. The shoulder blade retraction contracts your trapezius muscles so they “hide” your spine under the muscles resulting in the bar resting on tissue rather than bone. Next take a stance that is shoulder width and have your feet pointing straight ahead. (In all of our squats we want to have a duck stance, or toes turned slightly out. In all of our pulling and pressing movements we want to have our feet pointing straight ahead).

Begin the movement with a shallow and quick dip then drive of your knees. This is not a squat so make sure the dip/drive comes only from your knees and is only 6-8 inches in depth. You want to keep your hips directly beneath your shoulders and the bar for this move as well as keep your entire foot in contact with the floor. Once you finish a quick leg drive, press the bar overhead. Receive the bar overhead with your palms pointing upwards towards the ceiling. This externally rotates your shoulders within the capsule. In order to handle loads overhead while minimizing the work your shoulders feel you must maintain this externally rotated position whenever you are using a snatch grip. Aim to have the bar balanced just behind your ears while your ears are positioned slightly forward of your collar bones (this will result in the bar being directly above your shoulders). Gently lower the bar back to the starting position on your upper back.

Here are 3 key steps to think about while doing a snatch grip, push press-behind:

1. Start with a very tall and tight posture.
2. Dip/drive 6-8 inches from your knees only, keeping your entire foot in contact with the ground.
3. Drive the bar overhead and receive it with your palms up.