Snatch Deadlift

🎯 Hamstrings🏋️ BarbellIntermediateCompoundForearms (2°)Glutes (2°)Lower back (2°)Quadriceps (2°)Traps (2°)

How to do the snatch deadlift

  1. The snatch deadlift strengthens the first pull of the snatch. Begin with a wide snatch grip with the barbell placed on the platform. The feet should be directly under the hips, with the feet turned out. Squat down to the bar, keeping the back in absolute extension with the head facing forward.
  2. Initiate the movement by driving through the heels, raising the hips. The back angle should remain the same until the bar passes the knees.
  3. At that point, drive your hips through the bar as you lay back. Return the bar to the platform by reversing the motion.

Muscles worked

The prime movers are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first; the glutes finish hip extension; the lower back keeps the spine from rounding.

The quadriceps and traps take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:HamstringsForearmsGlutesLower backQuadriceps

How this movement works

The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.

It is filed under olympic weightlifting. The bar must move fast enough for you to get underneath it, which makes this a skill rather than a grind: low repetitions, well short of where fatigue starts editing technique.

What you need

A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.

Every exercise using:Barbell

These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:

Difficulty

Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.

Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 35 are listed at intermediate level.

Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →

ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.