“Pinch the Blades” Cue for the Snatch
Video by Jared Enderton
I use the cue, “pinch your shoulder blades together”, for the snatch just to get the athlete to get their upper back set. It’s a useful cue to make sure we aren’t too rounded in the start position.
If you get spit out the back of a snatch often (you fall backwards, bar goes forward) then it’s likely because you’re starting with your shoulders rounded forward. What happens in that scenario is that the chest and shoulder muscles are shortened on the front side. So, when the barbell gets overhead those same muscles are stretched to almost full capacity. This creates a stretch reflex and our body rejects the barbell. If you’re able to start with them nice and set then the muscles won’t go from really shortened to really lengthened, and your catch will be much more stable.
Even if you don’t get spit out the back often on a snatch, this cue may help improve your stability as there is less movement in the shoulder girdle all together from start to finish!
There are already enough moving parts in the snatch and the last thing we want to do is add another variable into the mix!
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