On Friday, Daniel Flahie asked strength coaches on Twitter if they programmed snatching for the athletes they work with, and why or why not. There was a ton of great discussion…here are my 💭

❌ With overhead athletes like ⚾️🏐🏊‍♂️ or athletes that have had previous shoulder injuries I don’t Hang or Dumbbell Snatch at all – ever. In both situations it’s a simple risk:reward and it’s a risk that I’m not willing to take.

✅ Hang Snatch: I am a big fan of the movement – I love the speed of the movement and feel athletes learn the movement faster then a Hang Clean. However, I don’t know how many athletes have the shoulder mobility bilaterally to perform the movement safely, something that Brendon Rearick opened my eyes to in his ‘Stabilty WOD’ presentation. Brendon simply asked ‘If you can’t perform a seated wall slide without compensation, do you have the mobility to go overhead in the lift without compensation?’ In my eyes, if the answer is ‘yes’ then you can Hang Snatch, but if the answer is ‘no’ then you probably don’t have the required mobility to go overhead bilaterally and the lift gets eliminated from our training menu.

✅ Dumbbell Snatch: The shame thought process holds true here – can you perform a 1-Arm Seated Wall Slide without compensation? The answer for most athletes is ‘yes’ which is why it’s still a movement we’ll train.

So to answer the ❓’do we Snatch?’ ➡️ It depends!

Just my two cents…