by Colin Aina

The most scariest thing in the world!! Save your children!! Lock the doors!! Use hand sanitizer!!! Public enemy number 1 !!

The kettlebell snatch is the toughest of all of the kettlebell movements and invokes a sense of panic and heebee geebees in many peope. Here are three sure fire ways to make sure you have more enjoyable experience with your snatch:

1. WATCH THESE VIDEOS!!!!

Video 1- Dumbbell Snatch
Kerry covers the basics of the dumbbell snatch which can be viewed as a progression to the kettlebell snatch. Being more an overall power movement, I tend to use the dumbbell version more. Pay particular attention to what Kerry says about the elbow position.

Video 2- The Kettlebell Snatch
Pay mind to the similarities that I use with Kerry as far as relaxing the arm on the way up, driving force into the ground, not the bell.

Video 3- The Kettlebell Snatch Part 2
Key points to recognize here are getting the bell far back enough behind you as you initiate the swing through the legs, and the relaxing the neck on the way up.

2. DON'T APPROACH THE SNATCH AS A "LIFT"

I use this term a lot when coaching people on various lifts. When people have an aggressive approach to a movement, the tendency is to sometimes tense up, shrug and tighten up the face. This puts the shoulders in a hiked up position which is entirely unstable and causes the bell to flop around at the top of the movement.

3. WORK ON YOUR MOBILITY

The snatch is a multi-joint movement that requires adequate mobility to execute. The assumption here is that I only mean the shoulder girdle...NO! Yes, catch of the bell requires that you have good overhead movement and great shoulder stability. As I mentioned earlier, the kettlebell has to have a long path of travel behind the hips once initiated. This creates momentum and power so that you don't have to compensate by pulling the bell with the hand and shoulder. This is visible in the first video.

Adequate foam rolling of your entire body, as well as proper movement prep drills, will help get you to a point when you don't have to think about the intricacies as much. If you are fighting through a mobility issue with the snatch, it will lead to other problems (and frustration).

The snatch takes time and may not be the exercise for you at the current time, but I guarantee if you heed my advice, it will get better!