Understanding when and how the bar contacts your body in the snatch and clean can be tricky for many new lifters. Let’s clear up the confusion right now. First off, does the bar need to touch your body? Absolutely, if you want to lift correctly.
Think of your arms like a pendulum. The bar naturally wants to hang straight down from your shoulders. So, wherever you move your shoulders, the bar will follow, unless you actively keep it in place—which isn’t easy, especially with heavier weights. Standing straight with a bar at arm’s length means your shoulders are behind the bar. The bar tries to follow, but it can't move all the way back because your legs and hips are in the way. This is why the bar rests against your body—it’s as close as it can get to being directly under your shoulders.
In a proper snatch or clean, you finish with your legs nearly vertical and your shoulders slightly behind your hips. The only way to lift without the bar touching your body at the top of the pull is to not fully extend your body—something you don’t want to do if you’re lifting correctly. New lifters with very light weights might be able to swing the bar away from their body early, but this only works with minimal weight. As the weight increases, proper technique becomes essential.
The Snatch
Key Points for Bar Contact in the Snatch
First Pull: Start by lifting the bar from the ground to just above your knees. Keep the bar close to your shins and thighs.
Transition: As the bar reaches your knees, smoothly transition into the second pull by shifting your weight from your heels to the mid-foot.
Second Pull: This is where bar contact is crucial. As you extend your hips and knees, the bar should brush against your upper thighs or hips, transferring power from your legs and hips to the bar.
Maximal Extension: After bar contact, quickly pull yourself under the bar into the receiving position.
Tips to Improve Bar Contact in the Snatch
Drills: Practice high hang, and hang snatches along with high pulls and snatches from blocks to reinforce the correct bar path and contact point.
Positioning: Maintain proper body positioning throughout the lift. Keep your chest up, shoulders over the bar, and weight balanced on your mid-foot. Check out the blog post I created on the key performance indicators as a guide to help you understand correct positions a little more – CLICK HERE
Speed: Develop explosive speed in the second pull for strong and effective bar contact.
The Clean
Key Points for Bar Contact in the Clean
First Pull: Similar to the snatch, lift the bar from the ground to just above your knees, keeping it close to your body and maintaining a neutral spine.
Transition: As the bar passes your knees, shift your weight slightly forward to prepare for the second pull.
Second Pull: In this phase, bar contact occurs. As you explosively extend your hips and knees, the bar should hit your mid-thighs, generating upward momentum.
Maximal Extension: After contact, pull yourself under the bar and catch it on your shoulders in the front rack position.
Tips to Improve Bar Contact in the Clean
Drills: Use clean pulls and clean high pulls to emphasise the correct bar path and contact point.
Timing: Focus on the timing of your second pull to ensure smooth and powerful bar contact.
Strength: Strengthen your posterior chain, especially your glutes and hamstrings, for better power generation during the second pull.
Timing of Contact
When should the bar make contact? The answer is when your shoulders first move behind the bar. As your trunk becomes vertical in the second pull, the bar should touch your body as it tries to stay below your shoulders while they move back during hip extension. This happens during the scoop or double knee bend when your knees are at their farthest forward position.
Pushing the bar back too soon can cause issues. It can move your balance too far back, making you move away from the bar or stopping you from fully extending because your balance would be off. It can also make the bar hit your legs too low, pushing it forward and reducing its speed and height.
Keep the bar close to your legs throughout the pull without dragging it. Use your back and shoulders to keep the bar from moving away from your body during the pull. It’s about finding the right balance—enough to keep it close but not so much that it hits too early.
Brush vs Bang?
Should the bar contact be a brush or a bang? The goal is solid contact for proper balance and position without disrupting the bar’s upward path. A bit of noise from the contact is fine, but heavy horizontal impact is not. You want contact, not a collision. The bar should move upward along your body as it makes contact, not bounce off.
How to Make It Happen
Here’s how to ensure proper bar contact:
Keep the bar close to your legs before contact. Use your back and shoulders to keep tension on the bar and prevent it from moving forward without dragging it against your legs. Practice with various deadlift and pull variations.
Drive through the floor with your legs while extending your hips. Push against the floor as you open your hips. Train this with snatch/clean from power position, snatch/clean with no jump, pull to hold + snatch/clean, or high-pull + snatch/clean.
Stay over the bar long enough to prevent low contact as your knees move forward. Wait until the bar is at your thighs to start the second pull, ensuring optimal position and balance.
Additional Tips and Drills
Drills for Snatch and Clean
High Snatch/Clean: Start with the bar at hip level and perform the snatch or clean to practice the critical moment of bar contact and explosive hip extension.
High Pulls: Develop power and speed for the second pull and emphasize the correct bar path and contact point.
No foot movement Snatch/Clean: Perform snatches or cleans without the jump to focus on hip extension and bar contact without the catch phase complexity.
Strength Training
Posterior Chain Work: Strengthen your posterior chain with Romanian deadlifts, glute-ham raises, and hip thrusts to improve hip extension power.
Core Stability: Build a strong core with planks, Russian twists, and overhead carries for better positioning and balance.
Plyometrics: Use box jumps and depth jumps to enhance explosive power, essential for a strong second pull.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Early Arm Bend: Avoid bending your arms too early to maintain an efficient power transfer. Keep your arms straight until after bar contact.
Poor Positioning: Maintain proper positioning throughout the lift. Keep your chest up, shoulders over the bar, and weight balanced on your mid-foot.
Rushed Pull: Take your time with the second pull for strong bar contact. Emphasize a controlled and powerful extension of the hips and knees.
Video Analysis
Recording and analysing your lifts can help identify and correct technical flaws. Look for:
- Bar Path: Ensure the bar path is close to your body and follows a smooth trajectory.
Conclusion
Mastering bar contact in the snatch and clean is essential for improving your performance in Olympic weightlifting. Focus on proper technique, practice specific drills, and avoid common mistakes to enhance your bar contact and lift more effectively. Consistency and attention to detail are key. Keep refining your technique, and you'll see great results. Happy lifting!