The One-Motion Floor-to-Sky Heave

Trail Log · Movement Breakdown

The power snatch is the Olympic lift that makes people stop what they're doing and stare. You take a barbell from the ground and in one breathtaking, continuous explosion of hips and arms, you launch it overhead. It's like casting a fishing rod, except the fish weighs two hundred pounds and it's made of steel.

You start with a loaded barbell on the floor, positioned close to your shins. You grip the bar wide — really wide, like you're trying to hold onto a subway railing during a sudden stop. Your feet are under your hips, turned out as needed, and you've dropped your hips with your chest tall and shoulders positioned right in front of the bar. The first pull lifts the bar off the floor by driving through your heels, keeping your back angle constant until the bar passes your knees.

Then everything goes off — you violently extend your knees, ankles, and hips in the second pull, raising the bar as fast as humanly possible while keeping it close to your body. At full extension, you shrug your shoulders and let your elbows bend out to the sides as the bar continues upward. You quickly split your feet wider and drop underneath the bar, catching it overhead in a partial squat with your arms locked out. Stand up tall with the weight stabilized above you. It's the single most athletic movement in the weight room, requiring power, speed, flexibility, and coordination in equal measure. Master this and you've earned the right to be intimidating.