Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Third Pull

Some serious pulling

I first learned about the third pull reading Tommy Kono's books. To paraphrase his explanation, in the snatch it occurs right after hip extension when the bar is traveling overhead. During this transition the lifter actively pulls themselves under the bar by raising their elbows up and keeping their wrists down. In the clean it happens following hip extension where the lifter shrugs to pull their body under the bar.

You can get a feel for each by using a light stick (like PVC pipe) and slowly going through the motions. Progressing to the barbell gives you a little more variety to choose from - specifically high pulls and technical pulls.


Snatch High Pull

For the high pull, execute the snatch as you typically do but after the hips snap, immediately pull your elbows up while having your wrists down and in towards yourself. You want to stand as tall as you can and get the bar to around the nipple/armpit area. If you end up on your toes so be it, but it shouldn't be an intentional action.

Technical Pull

While searching online one day I came across these from crackyflipside over at the BodyBuilding forums. These are very similar to high pulls but here the pulls are to the neck with a fast quarter squat to have the body meet the bar. This is the closest pull you can get to a snatch without actually going under the bar and getting it overhead. The execution is like the high pull but after the hips snap there's a QUICK change of direction from the tall standing position to a quarter squat.

The clean versions can be done for either exercise using a narrower grip. However since the bar isn't pulled that high in heavy cleans you can cut the movements short. Let the hips extend and when the bar is right below the navel shrug as you stand tall [high pull] or simultaneously do a shrug and quarter squat [technical pull].

I'd say technical pulls are a progression to high pulls because of the added component of changing directions. Also when incorporating these keep in mind the higher the bar goes the less weight is used for the exercise. These exercises aren't for moving a lot of weight but instead for technique work.

Lastly they can be done from any position. I recommend performing them from the floor to develop a smoother pull. If you get tired starting from the floor then switch to a hang. And if you have straps use them for the snatch pulls. A comfortable grip lets you focus better on the movement.

A good third pull will help you move more efficiently under the bar.

*UPDATE: You can view video demonstrations of the technical pull here.

Related articles,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Creative Commons License
Niel Patel's Blog by Niel K. Patel is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.