Monday, March 03, 2008

Snatch revelations.

I've been watching a lot of Fedor Fuglev snatch videos lately and was wondering if my shoulder rehab has gotten to the point where I can play with the corkscrew technique on the snatch.Doing the high rep swipe and mill work has really shown me the approach one must take doing hi rep ballistic exercises of any type: do the exact amount of work needed to maintain the pace with the least amount of effort possible.
The difference in using the adjusting grip on the clubs is night and day in regards grip endurance and I believe that is probably the case with GS techniques as well. I create the shortest stroke I can with the swipe especially when I am going for the higher reps as it just doesnt make sense to do otherwise.If I want to work the muscles involved with the movement, and build strength for the next club size up then I will use a bigger stroke,more power and force for lower reps.
I got to thinking about this teaching the KB clean these last couple weekends and realized the corkscrew descent we teach in the KB Clean( we teach it in reverse- from the rack to the swing)is basically the same thing as the GS corkscrew descent, just from an overhead position.I 'knew 'this before but I just 'grokked' it.
One of my teaching points with cleans is how little one needs to grip the bell on the descent in the clean; just roll the bell around the wrist and let gravity do the work.I keep my hand open a long time, only gripping the bell in the bottom position.The same with the snatch.
I've played with this before but my right shoulder didnt really like it at all, and the HS squared up position felt much better.But the shoulder ROM of late has been the best in years so I thought I would give it another shot. At least as a warmup.
I was amazed.First, that I could do it now on my right arm,and second how much easier it is than the over the top descent. Much easier.The amount of dowward acceleration force I had to reduce was obviously less.The bell is just traveling a much shorter arc by corkscrewing it down as well as rolling the bell around the wrist on the ascent.It felt really good. I've always held the bell with the handle on the diagonal, with weight on the heel of the hand.Really exagerating that position made it just that much better.
But it was much less work per rep and definitely per set. I did 10 sets of 20 today with the 20 kg in the snatch ,startng off with the corkscrew for the first five sets and alternating HS and corkscrew the last five sets. I paused each rep of each set at the top for 1-2 sec and was amazed my HR was almost 30 beats higher at the end of the HS set than the corkscrew set! Way less forces to dampen on the eccentric and with a much bigger ROM for the whole movement ; just what you want if your goal is hundred of reps.
Even if you can change hands.The easier each rep is the more you can do and the faster you can do them.Just that simple.
But just like box squats are harder to do than free squats, require more force per unit of movement and purposely put the body at a leverage disadvantage in order to create overload, HS swings and snatches are going to create much bigger forces on all sides of the equation.The power output is just higher per rep.
I'm just glad that my shoulder is good enough to be able to play with it.

Snatch
16kgx5/5x2

20kgx 10/10x10 sets
200 reps
8800 lbs

Mills
10lbsx 20/20 x4 sets

these are great when they are light. the reps seem really therapeutic but too heavy seem to load my elbows too much. at least for reps.

two handed swings
24kgx20x5 sets

after Tracy and Britts amazing performances with the two handed swing for five hundred million reps each I was even more tempted to play with this move again. I thought that 100 reps would be a good start, after my little foray last week with the 16 kg.Not good. My body just doesnt like this move for volume of any kind. My back was good but my shoulder said 'ah, no'.I need to keep my elbows locked and with my orangutang arms they end up slightly flexed on this move. That's why I got the clubbells, too, for bilateral swing work.I shouldnt forget that.
My hat's off to those that can reallywork this move though; two hand swings are the power squat of the kettlebell world. There is no where to run and nowhere to hide. Just pure power production of the first order.

Z drills and Rifga
20 minutes really needed this after the two hand swings. Had to open up the shoulder. worked great. THe suns out again too, thank God. I love California.

datsit

2 comments:

Aaron Friday said...

You just crammed 5 years of experience into a single blog. Well-done. Snatching? What do you think? Seems like you're kicking ass.

Mark Reifkind said...

thanks aaron, it's taken a long time to get to some basic truths as well.Iam very pleased with my progress on the snatch,especially of late but overall for sure.

190 x 1 x 12,210 static hold, 225 static hold, bodyweight squats 3 x 15

 What a freaking great day! This is without a doubt the best group of heavy reps I have ever done! Every set was just about perfect. Plus I ...