# Kettlebell Snatch: how to do it

- Main muscles: glutes, front delts
- Also works: hamstrings, traps, cardio
- Equipment: kettlebell
- Level: advanced
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/kettlebell_snatch/9bc44ba5bf/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Hold the bell in one hand, feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Hinge back and swing the bell between your thighs.
3. Snap your hips forward and keep the bell close as it rises.
4. Punch your hand up so the bell rolls onto your forearm.
5. Lock out overhead, then drop the bell into the next swing.

## Cues

- Hips drive the bell, the arm guides it.
- Punch through at the top, no bang.
- Arm straight, bell over your shoulder.

## Common mistakes

- Letting the bell flop over and hit your wrist.
- Finishing with a bent arm or the bell in front.
- Leaning back at the top.

## Starting position

One-arm snatch, right hand (the arm nearest the camera). Feet about shoulder-width apart, toes forward to 15° out. The left arm hangs relaxed by the side.

## The movement

From the lockout, turn the palm in and tip the bell over the hand so it falls in front of the body; the arm stays long. Stay tall until the forearm reaches the hips, then hinge hard: hips back, trunk forward with a flat back, knees a little bent, the bell passing high between the thighs and back under the hips, forearm against the inner thigh. Snap the hips forward and squeeze the glutes. As the bell rises past the hips, keep it close to the body: the elbow bends a little and points out, and the shoulder pulls the bell up. Around head height, ease the grip and punch the hand up and through, so the bell turns over the hand and settles on the back of the forearm without a bang, just as the arm locks straight overhead and the hips and knees lock out. Hold the lockout for a moment before the next drop.

## End position

Bottom: deep hip hinge, bell behind the knee line. A lockout with the bell over the shoulder and the mid-foot keeps the load stacked on the skeleton; Ross et al. found the overhead position the most consistent point of the whole rep in trained lifters [3].

## Tempo

Lockout hold 0.5 s, drop to the end of the backswing 0.8 s, hip snap and rise to lockout 1.0 s. In [3] the bell went from the end of the backswing to its top speed in about 0.5 s. The app tells users to finish the set, then switch hands.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Stance, heel to heel | 1.0 × shoulder width | hip width to 1.3 × shoulder width | [1] |
| Hip flexion at the bottom of the backswing | 80° | 70–90° | [4] |
| Knee flexion at the bottom | 25° | 15–40° |  |
| Bell at the bottom | behind the knee line, handle above knee height | never below the knees | [1] |
| Shoulder flexion at lockout | 175° | 165–180° | [1] [2] |
| Elbow at lockout | 0° | 0–5° | [1] [2] |
| Wrist at lockout | straight, 0° | ±10° | [1] |
| Hip and knee at lockout | 0° | 0–5° | [2] |
| Trunk lean back at lockout | 0° | under 5° |  |

## Sources

1. [ExRx, Kettlebell Snatch](https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Kettlebell/KBSnatch)
2. [ACE, "How to do the kettlebell snatch" (SHAPE, with ACE-certified trainer Kelly Matthews)](https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/press-room/in-the-news/8250/how-to-do-the-kettlebell-snatch-to-feel-totally-powerful-shape/)
3. [Ross et al. 2017, PeerJ, "External kinetics of the kettlebell snatch in amateur lifters"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5374970/)
4. [McGill and Marshall 2012, J Strength Cond Res, kettlebell swing, snatch and bottoms-up carry](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21997449/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/kettlebell-snatch