Why doesn't Crossfit use the Kettlebell Snatch?

A question posed over at Byers Gets Diesel

Crossfit is intentionally broad, general and inclusive. The kettlebell swing is broad, general and inclusive.

The GS style snatch is not. Hand someone a moderate weight and challenge them to do more than 20 reps; they will end up bruised, callouses torn and cardiovascularly unchallenged and frustrated. It’s true that the barbell snatch is difficult, that thrusters are tough, that kipping pull ups take time to learn. It’s also true that there’s a shortage of qualified coaches in weightlifting and gymnastics. The problems of coaching, equipment and access to information are essentially the same. So what’s the difference?

Ignorance; most people consider the barbell snatch essential to the development of speed and power in hip extension. They often see the kettelbell snatch in the same way. Why use a kettlebell, which is typically restricted to 53, perhaps 70lbs? A barbell can be easily loaded with 95lbs and already the general benefits are exceeding the KB experience. Add to that the difference between “Ow my hook grip hurts” and “Fuck. I tore another callous”. Why even bother?

The kettlebell snatch is not a barbell snatch. Let me repeat this:

The Kettlebell Snatch is not the Barbell Snatch. Nor is it a substitute for it. They are not interchangeable and they do not address the same training needs.

snatch from AW on Vimeo.

(PS: I have no idea who this guy is, I just searched Vimeo and his was the nicest looking snatch that came up first. And really, it's pretty good. So kudos to you, AW. If you don't like your video here, I will take it down)

I hope the differences are obvious. Even though this imagery is immediately obvious to most, very few who are exposed to the Kettlebell ever attempt to time a continuous set, to do more than 20 reps on one hand or other aspects of Girevoy Sport that would be considered ‘introductory’ at most.

I believe that the quick answer is ‘because it’s hard to do/coach’. I believe that the harder/longer answer is that most people, including most Crossfit trainers who are not RKC/AKC/Jeff Martone certified don’t realize the differences between the barbell and the kettlebell. Anyone that asks you “Why not use dumbbell” is not experienced in Kettlebell training. Coach once said “I don’t know anyone that is GOOD at the Olympic Lifts that would argue that they are dangerous or don’t apply to athletes” (roughly). The same is very true. I don’t know anyone that can do a continuous set of 100 snatches that would say “This doesn’t help me develop the same power that heavy power cleans do”. Finally, Crossfit HQ has stepped away from WODs that are too coaching/equipment intensive. If you’ve been around for a while, you remember seeing things like Rx for swimming for instance. They have whittled down the tools to a core group: “the 9”. While they will make room for the Olympic Weightlifting barbell snatch, they are currently not willing to allow for the Long Cycle. That’s their call. Simplifying is a good thing. If you haven’t noticed, the workouts that really use the full lifts are not as frequent as thrusters, or SDLHP.

Take home message; Girevoy Sport is an intermediate cardiovascular sport that tests anaerobic endurance, lactate threshold, VO2 max, grip endurance, hip power, shoulder stability and perseverance. If you’re from the martial arts world, some teacher at some point has most likely made you hold ‘the Horse Stance’ for minutes on end. If you played Football, you ‘ran suicides’. The kind of pain that must be tolerated is very similar. It’s slow paced, and repetitive. It isn’t sexy. If you can do it, you are a better man/woman for it. Not everyone chooses training modalities based on the positive impact to their development as person, but minute nine of a GS set of snatches is spiritual. If you haven’t been there, you don’t know. I don’t blame you. I don’t look down on you. I just don’t think you’re qualified to speak on this particular subject. It’s entirely the same as saying ‘you do Crossfit’ when you’ve never been into an affiliate gym. You don’t know what the hell you are talking about.

So I have pointed out what’s wrong. How about a solution? I don’t know if there’s an easy answer. Do you have access to a qualified coach? Do you want to do it? Do you think that you would benefit from greater grip strength and endurance, repetitive hip power, greater resilience and flexibility in the posterior chain? Well, you can start in some of my earlier posts.

http://rivercitypc.blogspot.com/2009/01/high-rep-snatch-training-overview.html

this may help as a place to start

Not everyone will head towards 100+ reps of 24kg or 32kg snatches, as Valery was doing above. But any Crossfitter(male) can do 50 reps with a 24kg. That means you can do 100 with the 16kg without hurting yourself, and that’s a great way to replace 1000m row if you don’t have a rower, or 800m run if you’re smart enough to hate running. If you don’t know how to run, don’t have shoes and don’t have a good surface to run on, it’s not smart! Sub the KBs!

High Rep Snatch training overview

Below are some articles, in a logical order, to help you understand
the best 'first steps' towards doing high repetition snatching:

http://rivercitypc.blogspot.com/2009/01/kettlebell-snatch-programming.html

http://rivercitypc.blogspot.com/2009/01/high-rep-snatch-first-steps.html

http://rivercitypc.blogspot.com/2009/01/intermediate-training.html

http://rivercitypc.blogspot.com/2009/01/intermediate-advanced.html

While these posts describe a progression that many have used to prepare for GS competition or the RKC workshop snatch test, they are by no means a replacement for a qualified coach. None of this works without developing excellent technique in the KB snatch.

Good Luck!

Intermediate-Advanced

Once you can hit more than 20 reps on each hand with a legit weight, it's time for the final step!

By this point, you should have your snatch technique pretty down. It's impossible to do workouts like 10 sets of 10 on each hand with poor form. At least not twice.

At this point, you're finally in the realm of snatching for cardio. It's time to adopt Valery Fedorenko's way of training the Girevoy sport events:
Long Cycle
Double Jerks
Snatches
All of these events are completed with either a 24kg or 32kg bell, for ten minutes, with only one hand switch allowed. You are not allowed to rest the bell in any position except the rack or locked out overhead. You are not allowed to put the bell down or release it in any other way either. Most people who first try to do this don't even come close. Even an RKC can get pass with 60-100 snatches, meaning typically 30-40 reps on each hand completed in approximately 3-4 minutes. That is nowhere near the performance delivered by Fedorenko in 1992, where in the 80kg weight class he completed 188 snatches with a 32kg bell, a record that stood for well over a decade.

A brief foray into mathematical territory can tell us an awful lot about how he got there.
188/10=18.8
Valery averages about 19 reps a minute. It's about 1 repetition every 3.2 seconds. As you can see in his video, it takes just under a second, perhaps just a little longer to actually complete the snatch itself. The remaining 1.5-2.5 seconds is taken up with a relative rest in the overhead lockout position. This could be true for any pace less than about 45 reps a minute. In reality, I know no one that can maintain a pace above 20 reps a minute for more than a minute or two. That isn't to say that they aren't out there, it's just that those who aren't specifically training for KB snatch based events competitively rarely ever reach this sort of level of performance. So we should more realistically be talking about rates like 10,12 or 16 reps a minute. These correspond to repetitions every 6, 5 and 4 seconds (roughly) each, respectively.

Valery recommends attempting to complete 16 reps a minute for three minutes on each hand straight through, and suggests using a bell light enough to accomplish this. This is 16 RPM for 6 minutes.

I attempted this for the first time with a 16kg bell about 3 years ago, when I could already do about 12-13 reps on my left hand with the 24kg bell. It was exhilirating and excrutiating. I actually completed all 72 repetitions, exceeding my previous longest set by about 40 reps. I did it like this:
Chalked the hell out of my hands and my bell
Set a stop watch
hit the first rep, locking it out overhead
counted in my head: 3, 2, 1 drop
hit the next snatch
repeat Ad Nauseum
I got through about the first 15-20 reps like this pretty good. Then my forearms started to burn. Fuck they really started to burn. I can't tell you how relieved my right hand was to be giving the bell to the left by the time I finally passed it off. But of course my stomach, heart, lungs and legs weren't so excited about the prospect of being only half way done. Hence it truly was a test.

This style of training is not for the faint of heart, those lacking perseverence or those with a short attention span. Iron Kate once said(paraphrasing), "As a computer programmer I excell at mindless repetitive tasks. It was only natural that I be drawn to Girevoy Sport."

The prescription in this school of medecine is first raise the total time. If successfull at one pace for one time, add a minute. Until you reach ten minutes. Then increase the pace a little, starting back at 6 minutes. So next you're going for 18RPM for 6 minutes, then 7 and so on. Finally, once you reach 20 RPM, it's time to increase the weight of the bell and start all over again.

Remember, competition is with a 32kg bell. Few ever snatch this bell much. It's heavy. Enjoy the process beginning with whatever bell you must. You'll be amazed at what happens to your cardio, grip endurance and focus along the way.

This pattern of training is at the heart of Girevoy Sport preparation, and a cycle or two of this work will give you wonderful confidence in your snatching for whatever purpose you may also use it. Athletes who engage in this method of training tend to supplement these pace works with accessory lifts, such as strict press, romanian deadlifts and squats, as well as huge volumes of Swings, and the other GS lifts.

Intermediate training

Once you can handle a few snatches on each,
say about 10 or so, it's time to get a little more sophisticated.

The basic premise of this program is that you have a fixed resistance, ie only one KB or the weight used is dictated by contest or requirements (ie RKC snatch test). Hence you will vary the volume. The goal is to increase the cardiovascular preparation, the technique, the grip endurance but primarily just the 'conditioning' required (particularly in the hands) to do high repetitions of the snatch both in single maximal sets, but also over extended workouts totalling hundreds of reps.

Test your max. Let's say for the sake of example it's 14 reps. The limiting factor is typically the performance on the 'bad hand', typically the left for righties, and it is this performance that you will use to gauge your 'max'. It should be your goal to narrow that gap overtime, until the performance is essentially the same between the two hands.

Once your max is established, a pattern of training three times a week could go something like this:

3 sets at 75% (3x11)
5 sets at 65% (5x9)
8 sets at 50% (8x7)

You can see how the daily volume accumulates while the individual efforts get easier. This is the opposite of most traditional liner periodization, but is logical as our end goal is not intensity but rather duration and volume.

In the second week it might look more like this:
4 sets at 80% (4x12)
6 sets at 70% (6x10)
10 sets at 60% (10x8)

Often this progression is enough to lead to a substantial increase in peformance if you retest your max after a few days rest, particularly with new skills.

Training in this fashion for a continuous 6-10 weeks would surely take a beginner from 14 reps to something approximating 22-30 reps per hand. It would be at this point that they'd likely be ready for training in Girevoy Sport specific methods or to engage in Jay's VO2max protocol and other regemins that rely on a large volume of snatches.

In addition to KB lifts, I have used this pattern in my own training and with clients to increase max reps in any lift where the weight is fixed, such as thrusters with an Rx weight, or pull ups or ring dips etc. It seems to really be best for those things where max reps are somewhere between 8 and 18 to begin with, and is often inappropriate once the PR is over 20 as the sheer volume of the workouts becomes impractical if not impossible. Even if you were forced to work with a fixed weight above 20 reps, I might suggest attempting the next weight up and retesting that lower PR of max reps.