Subject: The half snatch—an underestimated tool

Skills vs. Drills.


Drills and skills can sometimes be confused with each other. Drills are typically designed to enhance a specific aspect of a skill. For example, the kettlebell arm bar (the drill) might be used to improve the lockout and shoulder stability for the military press (the skill). Trying to turn the arm bar into the skill instead of using it as a drill is like mistaking a spice for a main dish. It won’t work out well.

The Half Snatch—An Underestimated Tool

However, there are times when an exercise can be both a drill and a skill.


The bottom-up press is a powerful drill for the pressing path in the military press, and it is a skill that can build pressing strength while resolving asymmetries in pressing between arms.


Another example of a drill that can also become a trained skill is the half snatch. In this week’s article, Harry Westgate, StrongFirst Certified SFG Level II instructor, emphasizes the half snatch as an underutilized tool.


Harry begins:

An exercise in the hard style kettlebell training toolkit that I believe to be massively underutilized and underappreciated is the half snatch.


In this article, I will outline why I believe the half snatch is a worthwhile training focus beyond simply being a tool to help one learn how to snatch, but rather, a main exercise in its own right.

What are the benefits of the half snatch?


Harry continues:

I believe that there are three primary benefits to training the half snatch that one will miss out on if his snatch training only includes the full snatch, and I will break each of these down in turn.

These are:

  • Training the movement pattern of the military press.

  • Upper body hypertrophy.

  • More power development in the hips.

Click here to read the complete article and learn how the half snatch helped Harry achieve a successful half-bodyweight military press strength test without training the military press.


And click here to get the Speed Metal online course, the definitive guide to building your hardstyle snatch, now available for a limited-time special offer.

SPEED METAL online course
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