Tips to Crush Dumbbell Snatches
Written by Kelly Sekulovski

24.1 was released and there is a WHOLE lot of dumbbell snatches and burpees. While the workout might be short, this amount of volume in a short period of time can tax you immensely if you aren’t properly performing a dumbbell snatch.

Dumbbell snatch tips and tricks

Keep your chest up

The first thing that can happen to derail your workout (in any high volume dumbbell snatch workout) is if you don’t drop your hips and keep your chest up. This will cause you to round your back to bring the dumbbell to the ground, therefore causing your lower back to start to flare.

Pro tip: find something to look at straight ahead of you at eye level. While you are dropping your hips to pick up the dumbbell, don’t look at the dumbbell: it will be right where you left it. Instead look straight ahead and find a spot on the wall, or something to look at instead of the dumbbell. If you are looking straight ahead, it’s not possible for you to drop your chest.

Keep the dumbbell close to your body

As you bring the dumbbell overhead, make sure that it is not coming far away from your body. If the dumbbell comes out too far in front of you, you will have to work harder at the top of the snatch to stabilize the dumbbell. Instead try to keep the dumbbell close to your body by letting your elbow bend as you open your hips. Think about zipping up a jacket versus keeping your arm straight!

Use your hips

Like almost all things in CrossFit, the momentum is created from the hips! After you deadlift the dumbbell off of the ground, violently opening your hips will help you achieve weightlessness on the dumbbell. If you aren’t using your hips, you will tax your upper body by having to pull more with your biceps and shoulders. Let the hips be where your power comes from.

Punch overhead

If you are moving too fast, it’s pretty easy to forget to fully extend your arm overhead before bringing the dumbbell back down. This can result in costly no reps. Don’t do all the work without getting the credit! Think about punching the dumbbell overhead with force so that you never have to worry about the dreaded no rep.

Don’t fear the dumbbell snatch!

Don’t walk away from 24.1 without being able to stand up straight! Follow these dumbbell snatch tips to make sure you get the best score possible, without it being at the expense of your lower back.