When is the decision to split on the snatch a good one?

[Gunnhild Bruno]

I watched Gillian’s great video in which you’re coaching her. And I was wondering what you consider to be good reasons to go with splitting as one’s default snatching technique.

I also read Bill Starr’s article, in which he talks about preferring splitting because he feels he has more control.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I have some nervousness/fear issues with the squat snatch. I’d like to think it has a lot to do with all that time fighting knee problems, but, to be honest, it could just be psychological, as I can do full cleans fine on days when my knee feels good. Basically, I can only move decent weight on the snatch when I power snatch, and I seem to have a block about getting down into the full squat under any load that I perceive as even slightly difficult.

I’m guessing that giving splitting a try might be wussing out, and I should just keep working to overcome my fear. I’d appreciate your input on this.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The split snatch is a perfectly reasonable style for people with shoulder flexibility/upper back issues. It is not in fashion right now, so there is pressure against its use, and this is unfortunate. Many people who cannot squat snatch effectively can lift bigger weights if they split. Even if it's psychological, they can be used to build confidence with the movement, and then later the squat snatch can be tried again, perhaps with better success. But I don't see why the split style is so vehemently argued against in some circles. You'll see it at the masters nationals, and you should see it more at open meets than you do.

One of the biggest problems is that nobody remembers how to coach it. Read the article, watch my video. Let me know how I can help.

[Steve Hill]

Coffee taught me to catch the clean, the jerk and the snatch with the split back in the 80's. To this day, if I don't concentrate, I'll find myself trying to catch in a split rather than a squat stance, even when I power clean or power snatch.

UPDATE: I should have added (after "...back in the 80's") "...and refused to teach me any squat catches until I mastered the split."

I think this probably had something to do with catching on a highly stable platform vs a less stable one.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

Thanks, Rip. Your offer of help is also much appreciated. While August is still up in the air, I WILL show up on your doorstep sometime in the next 6 months, and I will take you up on it.

I think my best bet is to try splitting to get some weight on the snatch. While still drilling the squat snatch, too. I’m guessing that, eventually, I will overcome my psychological block and will be able to assess with honesty at that time which style is best for me.

[Skander]

One of the women who does Oly lifting in my gym switched to the split snatch and clean after realizing she was just really good at doing the split, and not as good at the squat variants. It took her a little while to get used to the form, but shortly afterwards she was hitting some good PRs. I think the split variant just "works" for her, while for a lot of people the squat variant just makes more sense (I suck at splitting, e.g. for a split jerk, but getting under the bar in a squat is relatively easy for me).

I think Mark makes a good point that the lack of fashionability is part of the problem - there are some people who might do just as well if not better with a split style, but there's nobody to notice this, or to teach it to them even if they do notice it.

[Mac Ward]

Gillian is my wife - so I feel qualified to say the following because she is sitting next to me telling me what to say.

Gillian's decision to Split Snatch was inspired by Rip, and was made because she was dealing with an injury from a few weeks prior that did two things. 1st: it made it painful to squat snatch; 2nd: Gillian was psychologically incapable of getting under heavier loads because she was protecting from the pain she knew she would feel if squat snatching.

Split Snatching did two things: First, it allowed Rip to coach Gillian into her first Weightlifting Meet IN SPITE OF A LOW BACK INJURY, and 2nd, it allowed her to win her weight class with a PR Clean & Jerk. For the record, her third snatch was a PR tie, something she had done once, months before in a squat snatch, and had not come within 8 Kgs since due to injury. Her third snatch attempt was red lighted because she (in her words) "forgot what she was doing" and dropped her back knee. (She is still sorry about that one, Rip).

There is one more intangible element that has not come to light. Split Snatching made Gillian ENJOY a movement that she was skittish about, and had come to dislike due to the pain she was enduring each time she performed the squat snatch. Difficult to express how important this part is...being a coach is more than telling someone how to do what everyone else is doing. Being a coach is thinking outside the box, looking for the best way to accomplish the task, and then giving the athlete the cues to accomplish that task.

The task was the weightlifting meet. The task was more than accomplished.

We support the Split Snatch decision all the way to the PR, the medal, and the ability to train through an injury.

Mac

[Gunnhild Bruno]

Mac and Gillian,

It was so great to watch Gillian and Rip work together. Thanks for posting video letting us watch some of it.

Split Snatching made Gillian ENJOY a movement that she was skittish about, and had come to dislike due to the pain she was enduring each time she performed the squat snatch.

I know my situation is in no way comparable to Gillian’s, but I find this point compelling. Thanks.

[Michele Knaub]

echoing what Spar said - the videos were extremely instructive and illuminating. thanks for sharing them, Gillian. i was hitting RELOAD all day on the forum to see your results from the meet.

[cpbellavia]

Is splitting vs squatting something that will have a lot to do anthropometry? Ex: I'm one of those people that barely makes a 45 degree angle torso in a front squat no matter how wide (even at up to 60 degrees toes out) I try to push my toes. So for snatching, my shoulders have to go pretty far back to keep the weight over the midfoot.

Of those doing split snatch, how good is your front squat position?

[Tamara Reynolds]

Split Snatching made Gillian ENJOY a movement that she was skittish about, and had come to dislike due to the pain she was enduring each time she performed the squat snatch.

There are many things in this thread that I could comment on, but too much of it makes me sad and angry.

But, I would like to comment on this.

I have had a terrible month or two of training. Weightlifting is a sport that I have come to love, and I have cried through more than one training session in the last few weeks. I have not been having fun, and if I am not having fun, then I am left asking myself what the point is.

In the last two years, many coaches have gone out of their way to help me improve as a lifter and as a coach. They have done this for free without recognition. I think part of becoming a good coach is recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. This is why I learn from so many people, whether or not they agree with each other. From my viewpoint, if people disagree, it is fine. It helps me learn because I would hate to take any one person's word as gospel without exploring other options myself. I am sure that I will be wrong about many things in my life. I will make many errors as a lifter and many errors as a coach. But, I'd like to think that I will have made a genuine effort to find the best way of doing things.

I had a meet yesterday, and I have been dreading it because lifting hasn't been fun. In the last few weeks, I have had more than one person selflessly reach out to me with the goal of making lifting FUN again. And, it worked. My last two training sessions before my meet were fun. I smiled. I even laughed. This was after a session of crying non-stop, another one or two of throwing the barbell off the platform, and even one where I kicked a kettlebell after missing a lift. Those are all NOT fun things. I went to the meet, and even though I didn't hit a PR, I woke up this morning knowing that I love weightlifting. I was excited to train again. I wasn't dreading lifting. And, all of this was because other people went out of their way to help me be successful.

Mac, last night I watched several of your videos from the past week. Perhaps I am more sensitive to this issue given my current emotional state, but the one thing I noticed about Gillian was that she looked like she was having fun. Not just that. There were certain lifts where she looked like she surprised herself because she was hitting lifts and having fun doing it. I know the feeling. It's a wonderful feeling when something that you love is all of a sudden fun again.

Congratulations to Gillian, that was an outstanding first meet. She did indeed accomplish her goal.

One last thing to think about. My coach started listening to Tim Ferriss' "The 4-Hour Workweek" on the drive down to the meet yesterday, and I decided to buy it on Audible and do the same on my drive home today. One thing that Ferriss says is "If everyone is defining a problem or solving it one way and the results are subpar, this is the time to ask, 'What if I did the opposite?'" Just throwing that out there in case it's relevant in any way to this discussion.