Deadlifts are a highly beneficial, efficient, and effective weightlifting movement. Most would say they are an essential part of every successful muscle building, body-enhancing, or fitness-boosting workout program.
Like many other popular lifts, such as the mighty bench press, we have found several ways to vary and alternate parts of the deadlift to target goals more specifically. One of these varied methods is the snatch grip deadlift.
Before we can get into any variation of the movement, we must first establish a strong understanding of the core components of the traditional deadlift. Knowledge of the mechanics and form will help you develop a strong foundation in the lift, giving you a leg up when you start experimenting with deadlift variations.
If you’ve ever stepped foot in a gym, you’re probably familiar with the deadlift. However, since we all start at different places, let’s take a moment for a brief explanation. Deadlifts typically, but not always, involve an Olympic barbell. This barbell is placed on the ground and picked up using a myriad of important muscles.
While deadlifts may sound simple enough, the form can be just as hard to get down as the weight it to lift up! Next to the bench press and squats, deadlifts are one of the most important lifts. Although commonly thought of as a lower body exercise, deadlifts are also a great tool when looking to gain core and back strength.
In total, this compound lift works these muscle groups:
If you’re brand new to deadlifting, it may be best to practice your form with conventional deadlifts before moving onto any variations.
If you are new to working out altogether, use an unweighted barbell or light dumbbells to practice the following steps:
Now, on to the star of the show: the snatch grip deadlift. This is just one of the many variations of the deadlift and is particularly popular with powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters. This variation directly alters the placement of the grip during the deadlift and just some of the form.
Keeping in mind the conventional deadlift form, take these steps to perform a snatch grip deadlift:
And there you have it! Just four easy steps to do a snatch grip deadlift. Now that you’re acquainted with the form, you’re probably wondering why anyone would want to do a snatch grip deadlift in the first place. What are the differences or perks?
Here are just some of the many benefits to snatch grip deadlifting:
Like many exercises, there are, of course, potential risks and cons you should be aware of to better decide if a snatch grip is for you. While some of these risks may seem like nonissues, for some they can make or break the addition of this variation to their routine.
Getting the most from your snatch grip deadlifts isn’t always completely in the form. Sometimes there are alternative factors that make all the difference in the effectiveness of a particular movement, exercise, or even your training program as a whole.
Despite its unwavering importance, nutrition often falls to the back of our minds. Or, perhaps, we believe that working out alone is enough to make up for any poor diet choices.
We have to work almost as hard on our nutrition as we do in the gym in order to make all our hard work worth it. If you’re looking to achieve hypertrophy, this means having a calorie surplus as well as an adequate protein intake.
Sleep is incredibly important to cell regeneration and overall health. So, it’s no surprise that sleep has direct effects on our gains and fitness-related goals. You may be doing your snatch grip deadlifts perfectly, but a tired body cannot adequately recover. Furthermore, being tired during your training sessions can make it harder to work at your max effort levels.
For enhanced sleep, try Steel Supplements Rested-AF Deep Sleep and Recovery Supplement!
Ego lifting is sort of an umbrella term for exercise that fails to take into account anything but lifting as heavy as possible. Lifting too much weight, especially with a movement you’re completely new to, is likely to result in bad form and even injury. So, while loading a bunch of plates on that barbell might look cool, you’re actually doing more harm to your body than good and your gains aren’t likely to last long. Sacrificing heavy weights for form is very counterintuitive.
While the snatch grip deadlift may seem to have straightforward instructions, there may be some parts of your form that could use more detailed attention. One such issue is hip placement prior to the lift. When we’re squatting, we are used to striving for a deep depth.
This can sometimes translate into our deadlifts, resulting in too deep of a squatting position when we go down to grab the bar. Deadlifts really require a much more shallow squat so that your hips don’t become the primary movers of the weight.
Another form issue that may be more meticulous is a wobbly bar. This is the nature of free weights. While there are so many benefits to training with free weights, there are also many downfalls. One of them is that they are, well, free. This gives way to a lot of unsteadiness and wobbling, especially when you’re unacquainted with the form or are attempting to lift too much weight.
If you notice the bar straying from a straight path a lot during your lift, try working on stabilizing yourself in the lift.
Feeling lost in the gym? Snatch grip deadlifts may be your next hero. Harnessing all the power of a conventional deadlift while capitalizing on some of the commonly weaker areas of the body, snatch grip deadlifts are efficient and effective when it comes to reaching your fitness goals.
Whether it’s regular deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, or snatch grip deadlifts, deadlifts are a valuable part of any training program, especially if you’re training for bodybuilding, powerlifting, or even your next CrossFit challenge.
While standard deadlifts are great, a snatch grip deadlift may better suit your specific needs or can be implemented to work your body in new and different ways. Snatch grip deadlifts are a great way to get a swole upper back and work on getting insane grip strength.
