Engaging the lats and sweeping the bar into the body is crucial for maximizing power, control, and efficiency in both the snatch and the clean and jerk. The principles are the same in both lifts, as lat engagement ensures a stable bar path, efficient power transfer, and proper timing for the catch. Here’s why it’s important and how it works:
1. Control and Stability
The lats are a major part of your back musculature and play a key role in controlling the barbell as it moves through both the snatch and the clean. When you keep your lats engaged, you create a stable foundation that prevents your arms from “yanking” the bar and pulling it off course. This stability allows the bar to move in a more vertical, efficient line, rather than swinging forward or away from your body.
In both the snatch and clean, the lats prevent the bar from drifting forward or away, ensuring the lift stays on track. Proper lat engagement in both lifts results in a more controlled bar path and a smoother pull-under transition.
2. Maintaining a Close Bar Path
One of the most important technical aspects of both the snatch and clean is keeping the bar close to your body. If the bar swings too far forward or away from you, it increases the risk of missing the lift or having to chase the bar in an inefficient way.
- Engaged lats help you maintain control of the bar’s position during the second pull in both lifts. As you extend your hips and legs, your lats are responsible for ensuring that the bar doesn’t drift away from your body.
- Sweeping the bar into your body refers to keeping the bar close as you extend your hips and pull yourself under the bar. By actively engaging your lats, you prevent the bar from drifting too far in front of you, whether it’s in the snatch or the clean, keeping it on a more direct path to the overhead or front rack position.
3. Efficient Use of the Hips and Legs
The second pull in both the snatch and the clean is all about hip extension, using the power from your legs and hips to drive the bar upward. If the lats are not engaged, you might use your arms or upper body too early to pull the bar, instead of letting your hips and legs finish the extension first.
- Engaged lats allow you to focus on using your legs to extend and finish the lift with an explosive shrug, rather than prematurely pulling with your arms. This maximizes the power generated from your lower body.
- When the lats are active, the movement of your upper body becomes more synchronized with the lower body. This coordinated effort makes for a more explosive and efficient second pull in both lifts.
4. Preventing Bar Swing and Forward Loss
If the lats aren’t engaged, there’s a greater risk of bar swing, where the bar drifts away from you in the horizontal plane. This can result in the bar moving forward out of your reach, making it harder to get under the bar for the catch.
Whether you’re performing the snatch or the clean, sweeping the bar into your body with the help of your lats helps to:
- Keep the bar in the correct path (close to your center of gravity).
- Maintain better alignment of the body and bar, which is key for setting up a successful catch in both the overhead position (snatch) or the front rack position (clean).
The sweeping action refers to the controlled movement of the bar against your body. Your lats help pull the bar in as you extend upward, guiding it closely against your torso. This is crucial because it minimizes the bar’s horizontal travel, keeping the bar in the optimal position for the pull-under phase.
5. Maximizing Bar Height and Power Transfer
When the bar stays close to the body, the force from your legs and hips is transmitted more efficiently into the bar, maximizing the height it reaches. A bar that drifts away from your body loses some of this efficient power transfer, and you may struggle to get the bar high enough to catch it in the overhead (snatch) or front rack (clean) position.
By engaging your lats and maintaining the sweep into the body:
- You maintain a better angle for the bar to travel upward.
- You create a more efficient force vector that transfers your leg drive and hip extension into vertical bar movement.
- The bar doesn’t drift too far, which helps with the timing of your pull-under and catch in both the snatch and the clean.
Conclusion:
Engaging the lats and sweeping the bar into your body is essential for both the snatch and clean and jerk. This technique helps maintain a stable bar path, maximizes the use of your legs and hips, and prepares you for a smooth transition into the catch phase. Practicing lat engagement will improve your efficiency in both lifts, increase your lifting power, and reduce the risk of technical errors that could lead to missed lifts.
By incorporating lat engagement in both lifts, you ensure the principles remain consistent, whether you’re pulling the bar into an overhead position (snatch) or into the front rack (clean).