The hang power snatch is one of my all-time favorite exercises for a reason: it does a lot in a little amount of time.
Athletes and casual lifters alike should program the hang power snatch into their training.
Athletes should do the hang power snatch as it will carryover significantly to their sport of choice — no matter their sport.
Casual lifters should also do this movement as it will develop their posterior chain, forearms, and traps almost like nothing else out there — and it isn’t as taxing on the body as heavy deadlifts, and it might even help improve their deadlift form.
Why You Should Do The Hang Power Snatch
Off the bat, there are a myriad of benefits to doing the hang power snatch.
First, it isn’t as technically demanding as the Snatch or Hang Snatch or other iterations of the Olympic weightlifting exercise.
Second, aside from muscular and athletic development, there is a whole host of other corrective benefits to this exercise as it may help teach you how to “hinge” better for the deadlift or kettlebell swing and it can improve your neuromuscular coordination.
Third, this exercise will significantly improve your acceleration, first step, vertical and broad jumping abilities, and rate of force development throughout the body.
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Fourth, it can help add slabs of mass to your entire posterior chain from calves all the way up to traps while improving your grip strength.
For real, though, you should definitely incorporate the Hang Power Snatch into your training if you’re an athlete.
As we’ve said:
This is probably my favorite movement to forge raw athleticism and a gnarly Flash-like first step.
It’s violent, brusque, brutal, technical — it’s awesome, and everything you need as an athlete, let alone for a powerful first step!
Now, this exercise might be daunting to newcomers — and that’s fine. In the meantime, you can do Banded Kettlebell Swings to build strength and get used to this intense hinge pattern movement.
And although the Hang Power Snatch is a hinge pattern movement, like the Box Squat or Box Jump, it requires:
- a high rate of force development
- a brusque triple-joint extension
- rapid motor unit recruitment
- type IIb fast-twitch muscle fiber contraction
- co-ordination
All of which contribute towards an lightning-fast first step and elite athletic ability.
And like with the weight box jump, it can be dangerous to perform in a state of fatigue, which is why it’s advisable to keep the rep ranges low.
Anywhere between 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps with a weight 70-90% of your one rep max will suffice.
This is a better choice to its less technical cousin the Powerclean because it requires a greater rate of force development and faster motor unit recruitment, making it a better choice of exercise.
It will also hammer your forearms, traps, and posterior chain harder than anything else if done correctly — everything a discerning athlete needs.
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