What's up, guys? Jake Hutton from Fitness Culture. So today we're gonna be talking
about how to improve your overhead position on your snatch and your
overhead squat. So the first thing we're gonna cover is just what a good overhead
position looks like, then we'll talk about a drill that can help you
fix your overhead position and help you engage your upper back while you're
doing the movements. And then we're gonna go into a warm-up progression that you
can do before you overhead squat or you snatch that'll help you warm up and make
sure that you're super stable before you perform these movements.
The first thing we're gonna talk about is what a good overhead position looks like.
So if you're sitting in your snatch grip with the bar overhead, one of the most common
mistakes that people have is kind of just being relaxed up here and really
letting their shoulder internally rotate, and that's just going to cause a ton of
instability when you're going down. So what you really want to think about, and
the best cue that I've been able to use to help my clients really dial this in,
is think about breaking the bar, like if you're gonna break it on your leg, behind
you when you set up. So really crank into that bar and try to break the bar behind
you, just like that. So it's going to externally rotate you at the shoulder,
and that's really going to engage your scapulas. It puts you in a really nice
stable position overhead. So you'll break the bar in half, and then from there
you're gonna punch your head through, and then just push up a little bit.
Really think about pushing your shoulder up to your ear on this, and that's gonna set
you up to be in a really good position overhead. All right, so the next thing
we're going to go over is one of my favorite drills that forces you
to get into a good position when you do it on the overhead squat. So it's a
reactive neuromuscular training drill. We're gonna use band feedback, and with
the band feedback, the only way that you're gonna be able to keep a good
position is to really engage your upper back, and really it forces you to keep
that good position during the drill. So we've grabbed two light bands, what
you're gonna do is just loop the light bands together. Once you have the bands
put together, what you're gonna do is just toss them over a high rack and then
pull the band through right to the knot, right in the middle of the band.
So now that you have your band set up you're going to need a PVC pipe or a broomstick.
You can even use a really light barbell on this if you want.
What you're gonna do, set up your hands in the band. The further down on your shoulders
that you go below the elbows, it's gonna be a little bit easier because it's not
going to be pulling you forward quite as much. You're gonna step back from the
band to get really as much tension as you can handle,
but the hardest is gonna be right up to your wrist.
From there you're gonna go from a 90-degree angle, from the top of your
head, punch it up, and then you're gonna be performing an overhead squat. And the
goal is to keep that PVC pipe right in line with your head. So right down your
head, right inline with your heels. You're gonna really feel it retracting
your scapulas back. Punch it up and then just complete an overhead squat. So doing
this before any snatch or overhead squat day is really gonna get your upper back
firing and really just dial in that good movement pattern before you get going.
All right, the next thing we're gonna talk about is just a little warm-up
progression that you can do before you snatch or overhead squat, just to get
comfortable overhead. So the first thing that we'll start off with, especially if
you're a beginner and you're not comfortable overhead at all, is just
gonna be get your snatch grip, and you'll just be doing a behind the neck press
just to warm it. So you'll squeeze your glutes nice and tight, core tight,
and then you're going to press all the way through into that good position.
Remember, press through, break the bar behind you, press up, get that head
through, and then back down to the shoulders. The next part of the
progression is gonna be a behind the neck push press. So every time you move
up you can add a little bit of weight on this. So the behind the neck push press,
you'll just use your legs a little bit, dip, and then press through.
The next thing we're gonna work on is a snatch balance. So on a snatch balance
you're gonna be able to use your legs a little bit. And for this drill, on the
warmup really, I kind of like just barely use your legs, get it overhead, and then
ride the weight down just to get you comfortable with the movement, and
dropping under the bar. So you're gonna get the bar on your back, nice snatch
grip position, your feet are gonna be in your pulling position, however you would
pull for a snatch off the ground, and you're gonna reset them into your catch
position when you catch the bar. So you'll dip just a little bit, pop the bar off,
reset your feet, and then ride it down. Reset your feet every time.
Dip, transition, ride it down.
Alright, the next one's gonna be a drop snatch, and this one you're not going to
use your legs at all. You're just gonna drop under the bar, work your
speed under the bar, reset your feet, and it's gonna be a little bit harder to
stabilize, and that's why we're doing this one last. So you're gonna get the
bar on your back, get in your snatch grip position. You'll start in your pulling stance,
and then you're just gonna drop under the bar, punch the bar up, really be
active with your upper body, and catch in a squat position.
Reset every time. So when you're doing this progression, I usually do about 10
reps of each one, just increase the weight every time. And then once I get to
that drop snatch I just keep the weight, and then I do about 3 sets of 10,
just to really dial it in before I get into the movement. And actually before I
got into CrossFit, I used to just do this warm up really to warm up my shoulders
and my lower body everyday to work on my mobility, because the overhead squat
really is kind of a great judge of how mobile you are in the bottom position.
When I started CrossFit, the first time I ever overhead squatted I was able
to do a significant amount of weight, and I'd never gone heavy before, so it
really does work your stability, even if you aren't going that heavy. And it's
gonna transition nicely to the overhead squat and snatch. All right guys,
I hope those tips help you out on improving your overhead position.
We actually have another video that's all about shoulder mobility, and we
cover rolling out things that will definitely help your shoulder position
as well, so if your lats are tight, your serratus is tight, it's gonna be a
lot harder to get overhead. So if you want to check out that video, you can
just click the link up here, and then subscribe to our channel if you like the
content, you can click down here. Thank you.