How to Stay Over the Bar in the Snatch & Clean

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How do you stay over the bar in the snatch and clean? Easy! Just keep standing up without opening your hips.
We want the shoulders over the bar until the bar is between above the knee and mid-thigh depending on your proportions and strengths. Typically longer-legged lifters will stay over longer and shorter-legged lifters will open the hips sooner (taking advantage of the relatively stronger hips or legs, respectively).
If you extend the knees and keep the back angle approximately the same while staying balanced over the foot, the shoulders will stay over and then move forward of the bar as they should naturally. In other words, use just your legs to stand up. You do NOT need to actively tip farther over the bar or push the knees way back or any other fancy tricks.
If you stand up, the knees move back out of the way. The only way they won’t move back enough is if you start with your shoulders behind the bar or begin bringing them back too soon.
The hips move forward as you stand, which means the shoulders move forward with them if the back angle is the same. The bar moves backward slightly as it rises as well, which means the shoulders will naturally be even farther in front of the bar without having to perform any specific motions to achieve this position.
Staying over the bar properly requires 3 things-the understanding that you need to, the skill to execute the correct motion, and the posture-specific strength to allow that motion with heavy weights.
To train the skill and strength, use halting deadlifts with a pause at mid-thigh, segment deadlifts or pulls with pauses at the knee and mid-thigh, segment snatches or cleans with a pause at mid-thigh, or complexes combining any of those exercises with a snatch or clean. Slow eccentrics on any pull or deadlift variations can also be helpful. Remember that none of these exercises will be effective unless you’re in the correct positions-they will strengthen exactly the position and balance you perform them with, so take your time and make it right.
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[@Mjolonar]

Told us in 2 minutes what some channels would make a 15 minute video for. Easy A+.

[@snapduke]

Stay over the bar. You hear it all the time. I am glad someone has finally explained what it means. All makes sense now, thankyou very much.

[@mcowenmalta]

Best weightlifting KZbin channel. Your work is greatly appreciated.

[@kakasvk]

This and Oleksei Torokhyi

[@juviegonzalez5000]

I can literally watch every clip all day, thank you for this quick , precise, knowledge!

[@seikoomori1672]

You always make videos including tips I do want to know for me. These are very simple. In particular, the angles of camera are so good.

Thank you Greg, for all the free valuable content you provide. It's incredible how much content you have on this channel and you have a very down to earth way of explaining all the things!

[@mpriddy313]

“Take your time and make it right.”

[@dustindewind_]

I love your videos

[@GiovanniMerceron]

Great info as always. Thanks.

[@noahmuller8696]

Thats why i subscribed! Thank you :)

[@christophernieves1215]

Damn I love this stuff! More content pls!

[@Bearie155]

I think I’ve watched this video 100 times

[@LucasBritoBJJ]

Thanks

[@fredastaire6156]

holy shit this is pure GOLD!

[@PeterSdrolias]

Perfect!

[@MrHansBattle]

"hips move forward as you stand up"... that's been my problem, thanks for the coaching guidance. i have a tendency to keep my hips in the same plane and hence bring the bar back towards me.

[@friedrichz5456]

Please let me ask as I am full back in Training, someone told me feet more together, it made my chest more upright put when I push knees over bar, it's near impossible what you just said in video, stand up without pushing knees back, tall man with 6.4feet narrow or wider stands you would say

[@CatalystAthletics]

You have to balance all of these factors for your own proportions, which means stance width, toe-out, bar position over foot, shoulder position over bar, etc. to give you the best position possible for yourself. Being more upright may or may not be "good" in your case depending on where you started and how it affects everything else. If you have to push the knees back and lean farther over the bar significantly, you're likely trying to start too upright and/or starting the bar too far back over your feet. Stance - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rn-tqKucrc51m9k Starting position - kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5eYgWiol7yUidU

[@friedrichz5456]

@@CatalystAthletics thank you verrrrry much, I see allways basic again to find the real right start position, thx a lot I will check the videos out, positive energy from Europe

[@bdtallas87]

Thanks Friend

[@emaddarawsheh7420]

Great

[@mattdavidson8742]

Greg, what would you suggest for a lifter that has the bar actually move towards them on the pull instead of straight up? Bar path looks like this: ( instead of this: I - Asking for a friend... ;)

[@CatalystAthletics]

The bar should NOT move in a straight vertical line. There will always be horizontal motion - first toward the body, then slightly away, the toward again. Path will become flatter as barbell weight relative to bodyweight increases, but will never be totally flat. Straight vertical bar path is a nonsense quest imagined by non-weightlifters. See this for brief explanation - instagram.com/p/BnHKu74BzYA/

[@raultorvisco2406]

Hi Greg I have been learnt by trying to keep my chest up, moving the butt down, as Toshiky perfectly does. Again, my problem seems to be my tendency to conventional deadlift. When I was on the start position I tend to initiate the movement with harmstrings, raising my hips and leveling my back. Here my question; Is the first pull a quads movement or harmstring one ???

[@CatalystAthletics]

You should have a fairly upright posture but the actual angle of your back will depend on your proportions even if you use the same criteria, e.g. shoulder joint directly above the bar in the start. Shorter legs + longer torso = lower hips and more upright back angle (like Toshiki). The first pull is much more like a squat than a hinge - you're pushing with your legs and maintaining approximately the same back angle (as described in this video). Any motion in which the knee is bent significantly like this, the hamstrings are contributing relatively little - it's much more quads and glutes.

[@raultorvisco2406]

@@CatalystAthletics Thanks Greg, I will train this harder. My second problem is my knees. During my first pulls I constantly hit my knees, and I believe I am not bringing the bar as close as I should because of this. What can be the reason of those hits on my right knee??

[@CatalystAthletics]

@@raultorvisco2406 You're either starting behind the bar or opening hips early, i.e. not staying over the bar long enough. See these - kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5_adnl5l6yDfsk kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4Tbh6uVl7RopJY

[@raultorvisco2406]

@@CatalystAthletics Definately, it is the last problem you mention in that video. I am "sorrounding" my knee, not moving back/out because of my posture. About the exercise you suggest, it is really hell for quads, I was doing that one the other day, and you really fell fire on them at multiple reps.

[@Laglagpaddy]

Do you sweep the bar in with the arms or do they just hang straight and relaxed? It looks like the bar is swept into the hip once its past the knee.

[@CatalystAthletics]

You will need to actively push the bar back toward the body because the shoulders will be in front of it.

[@CatalystAthletics]

See this for an in-depth explanation - kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6jCgaOfmt9-q9k

[@yetanotherRjven]

I love you.

[@yetanotherRjven]

Great content as always.

[@ericlevine9145]

Is it possible to stay over the bar too long, and if so, how do you know?

[@CatalystAthletics]

Yes - you would know because your knees would be essentially straight, and in order to move forward under the bar to allow you to drive up with the legs, they would have to significantly rebend to the point of actually lower the bar/body.

[@cigp]

i dont understand why i have to Stay Over the Bar, which is the main advantage?

[@kyrie4451]

Shorter moment arm=less force needed to perform the lift. If you don't understand this concept, you probably don't understand weightlifting at all.

[@CatalystAthletics]

Because if you bring your shoulders behind the bar too early, you lose the ability to apply force with the hips and to maintain balance through the extension.

[@AwestaKhalid]

So I'm assuming that as long as one's hips are at the right length from the floor, their back angle will be correct and also should remain static all the way up to mid-thigh? I'm asking because my second pull feels different depending on when I start changing my back angle. Thanks as always. I was going through IG looking for the few seasoned olympic style wl-ers on my social media friend lists to ask and then I remembered that good old Greg Everett and Catalyst answer questions in the comments!

[@CatalystAthletics]

Yes - the key to keeping the right back angle is to establish it in the first place. See this on the starting position - kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5eYgWiol7yUidU Also keep in mind that it is OK for some angle change (usually unavoidable for a number of reasons) - we just want to minimize it, and definitely not be doing it intentionally as some misunderstanding of being over the bar, getting knees back, etc. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpymaoSirM51lZY kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGHGqZqHbdqiqbc

[@slajmlord3211]

whats the name of the male lifter at 0:16?

[@CatalystAthletics]

Arley Mendez

[@whiskerson0428]

1:15

[@spidersquad]

Awesome vid!!! Thank you. It is wonderful cuing material to see that aspect of the snatch and clean broken down, repeated in slo mo, shown with different lifters and their differing morphologies.