HMMR Podcast Episode 299: The muscle snatch (with Wil Fleming)

We tend to think of the Olympic lifts as just two lifts, but there are numerous derivatives that each provide their own unique benefits. The muscle snatch is one overlooked variation that can help you maximize power while minimizing the technical demands. On this week’s episode lifting coach Wil Fleming breaks down the lift and what makes it special.

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Related resources

• This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives.
• You can follow Fleming on Instagram (@wilfleming), Twitter (@wilfleming) and his website. You can also follow his weightlifting club 1Kilo on Instagram (@1kilo.wl) and pick up some gear in the 1Kilo Shop. His top athlete Mary Theisen-Lappen (@marytheisenlappen) is also a great follow.
• Fleming was also a guest on Episode 251, Episode 236 and Episode 147, where he shared lessons from hammer throwing, weightlifting, and velocity-based training. Even more details on this topic are in Fleming’s books Velocity-Based Training for Weightlifting: Current Concepts & Applications and Complete Olympic Lifting Handbook.
• For a demonstration and description of the muscle snatch, check out this video from Catalyst Athletics.
• The topic of how Olympic lifting fits into the training of non-lifters has been a topic we’ve addressed on numerous occasions on this site. In particular, check out the multi-part roundtable discussion we had with weightlifting coaches (including Fleming). We also covered weightlifting with Matt Foreman on Episode 82 and did this Q&A with legendary lifting coach John Thrush.
• We discussed Dan Pfaff’s 3-day rollover plan which we have written about and also discussed with Pfaff himself. This approach also has many similarities to Bondarchuk’s methodology.

Key quotes and topics

• 0:00 – Introduction.
• 4:00 – What is the muscle snatch? “What is the muscle snatch? What we’re looking at is this really long pull and there’s no rebound, so there’s no real catch. It’s this massive pull and then turnover to put it in an overhead position.”
• 6:15 – Power, speed, and variations: “With muscle snatch you’re gonna get the stimulus that you’re looking for in your Olympic lifts, but then you’re gonna have more opportunity to get a stimulus from the tactical, technical training that you’re actually after in your sport.”
• 11:15 – Programming for weightlifters and athletes
• 13:45 – Focus on power.
• 17:30 – Muscle snatch technique: “Muscle snatch is a really low barrier to entry olympic lift derivative. It’s really hard to do it wrong, and then immediately you’re getting high power outputs up out of it.”
• 20:30 – Different starting positions and other derivatives
• 22:30 – Coaching at weightlifting competitions.
• 30:45 – Competing without a coach.

Complete transcript

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