Olympic weightlifting snatch presentation from my 2016/17 Strength and Conditioning placement at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland (SINI). Includes presentation overview, snatch phases and bar trajectory (first and second pull) etc. Any names of athletes have been replaced with ''Athlete 1'' etc. to maintain confidentiality. I had the presentation sitting on my desktop but they might be a useful starting point for someone studying the area. Feel free to comment.

1. Olympic Lifting –
Snatch
BY JILL COSTLEY

2. Overview
Phases of the Snatch
1) Bar trajectory
2) Weight Distribution
3) Double knee bend
4) Bar Velocity
5) Pull Durations
6) Power outputs
Summary

3. The phases of the snatch
1. First pull (a)
2. Transition (b)
3. Second Pull (c)
4. The turnover (d)
5. The Catch (e)
6. The Finish (e)
(Akkus, 2012)
Phases:

4. Bar Trajectory
 Three main types: • Which trajectory do the majority
of elite male lifters show?
Trajectory varies between lifters
Technique
Strength
Anthropometric Profile
Garhammer, 1985; Akkus, 2012; Whitehead, 2014
Vertical Displacement -
 Depends on skill level and
anthropometric characteristics
Horizontal Displacement -
 towards-away-towards

5. Weight Distribution on Feet
 First pull  centre of pressure (CP) to heels
 Transition and Initial Second Pull  away from heels to midfoot
 End of second pull  extension onto forefoot
 Catch  weight mid foot to heel
Garhammer & Taylor, 1984; Garhammer, 1984; Liu & Chen, 2001
*Horizontal motion of bar during pull closely
related to weight placement on feet*
*Elite  greater forwards and backwards CP*

6. Double knee bend
 Shorter and slow knee flexion of females in transition phase (Gourgoulis et al., 2002)
- Junior elite females: knee flexion during transition was shorter and faster (Korkmaz & Harbili, 2015)
 Lower maximum knee extension angle in first pull & knee flexion during transition than men
*Extension-flexion-extension of the legs during the pull*
*Used to realign the lifter relative to the barbell*
*Knee flexion  similar to the effect upon the CMJ*
Gourgoulis et al., 2002; Akkuz, 2012; Korkmaz & Harbili, 2015
‘’The maximum extension angle of the knee joints during the first
pull affects the explosive strength during the second pull’’

7. Bar Velocity
Larger peak and average velocities in comparison to cleans
 Lends itself to speed-strength
Bartonietz, 1996; Akkus, 2012
Bar velocities may vary considerably for successful lifts
Maximal vertical velocity is significantly more during the second
pull than during the first
• First pull – slower velocity due to inertia of barbell
• Second pull – accelerates to gain height
 Minimise velocity lost during transition and into second pull

8. First and Second Pull
Elite Junior Females
 First pull – 0.632 +/- 0.10s
 Transition – 0.106 +/- 0.04s
 Second pull – 0.156 +/- 0.03s
 Turnover under bar – 0.216 +/- 0.01s
 Catch – 0.362 +/- 0.06s
Elite Females
 First pull* – 0.60 +/- 0.08s
 Transition – 0.14 +/- 0.01s
 Second pull – 0.17 +/- 0.01s
 Turnover under bar – 0.21 +/- 0.02s
 Catch – ??
Elite Adolescent Male Lifters? Elite Male Lifters?
Akkus, 2012; Korkmaz & Harbili, 2016

9. Power – force x velocity
 The Elite:
First Pull Absolute Power (W) Relative Power (W.kg-
Junior Female 449.90 +/- 93.01 7.70 +/- 2.21
Female 642.74 +/- 159.04 9.85 +/- 1.35
Adolescent Male 707 +/- 198 5.8 +/- 1.2
Senior Male ? ?
Second Pull Absolute Power (W) Relative Power (W.kg-
Junior Female 1439.30 +/- 101.82 24.10 +/- 3.9
Female 1847.62 +/- 336.06 28.95 +/- 3.02
Adolescent Male 2240 +/- 355 18.3 +/- 1.6
Senior Male ? ?
Harbili & Alptekin, 2014; Akkus, 2012; Korkmaz & Harbili, 2016

10. Summary
Successful lifts are not determined by a single barbell trajectory but rather on power output

11. References
 Akkus, H. (2012). Kinematic analysis of the snatch lift with elite female weightlifters during the 2010 World
Weightlifting Championship. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 26(4), 897-905.
 Bartonietz, K. E. (1996). Biomechanics of the Snatch: Toward a Higher Training Efficiency. Strength &
Conditioning Journal, 18(3), 24-31.
 Garhammer, J., & Taylor, L. (1984). Center of pressure movements during weightlifting. In ISBS-Conference
Proceedings Archive (Vol. 1, No. 1).
 Garhammer, J. (1985). Biomechanical profiles of Olympic weightlifters. International Journal of Sport
Biomechanics, 1(2),122-130.
 Gourgoulis, V., Aggeloussis, N., Antoniou, P., Christoforidis, C., Mavromatis, G., & Garas, A. (2002).
Comparative 3-dimensional kinematic analysis of the snatch technique in elite male and female greek
weightlifters. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 16(3), 359-366.
 Harbili, E., & Alptekin, A. (2014). Comparative kinematic analysis of the snatch lifts in elite male adolescent
weightlifters. Journal of sports science & medicine, 13(2), 417.
 Korkmaz, S., & Harbili, E. (2016). Biomechanical analysis of the snatch technique in junior elite female
weightlifters. Journal of Sports Sciences, 34(11), 1088-1093.
 Liu, Y., & Chen, W. (2001). Foot pressure study during pulling phase of snatch lifting. In ISBS-Conference
Proceedings Archive (Vol. 1, No. 1).
 Whitehead, P. N., Schilling, B. K., Stone, M. H., Kilgore, J. L., & Chiu, L. Z. (2014). Snatch Technique of United
States National Level Weightlifters. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 28(3), 587-591.

12. Thanks for Listening!