Split Snatch

🎯 Hamstrings🏋️ BarbellExpertCompoundCalves (2°)Forearms (2°)Glutes (2°)Lower back (2°)Quadriceps (2°)Shoulders (2°)Traps (2°)Triceps (2°)

How to do the split snatch

  1. Begin with a loaded barbell on the floor. The bar should be close to or touching the shins, and a wide grip should be taken on the bar. The feet should be directly below the hips, with the feet turned out as needed. Lower the hips, with the chest up and the head looking forward. The shoulders should be just in front of the bar. This will be the starting position.
  2. Begin the first pull by driving through the front of the heels, raising the bar from the ground. The back angle should stay the same until the bar passes the knees.
  3. Transition into the second pull by extending through the hips knees and ankles, driving the bar up as quickly as possible. The bar should be close to the body. At peak extension, shrug the shoulders and allow the elbows to flex to the side.
  4. As you move your feet into the receiving position, forcefully pull yourself below the bar as you elevate the bar overhead. The feet should move forcefully to a split position, one foot forward one foot back. Receive the bar with your body as low as possible and the arms fully extended overhead.
  5. Keeping the bar aligned over the front of the heels, your head and chest up, drive through heels of the feet to move to a standing position, bringing your feet together.
  6. Carefully return the weight to floor.

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 calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first; the glutes finish hip extension.

The lower back, quadriceps, shoulders, traps and triceps take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:HamstringsCalvesForearmsGlutesLower back

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 expert level. It asks for range, stability or speed that takes time to build, and it punishes a rushed set-up much harder than an easier movement would.

Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 8 are listed at expert level.

Related exercises

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

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