How to Pass the 100 Rep Snatch Test – 3 Simple Tips for Success
The secret to passing the 100 rep snatch test is to practice snatching. If this sounds like a trusim, that would be because it is true. But we can go little further than this. I’ll give you three tips.
Tip #1) Own the Technique
The snatch is a kettlebell swing that ends overhead. The key, however, is in the taming the arc, or not letting that little cast iron potato too far out in front of you. Here’s a video.
To summarize:
- Power comes from the hips. (If you haven’t already gotten the swing and one arm swing down, you really have no business snatching).
- The movement is a hinge, not a squat. Hips go back, not down.
- Keep the elbow “quiet”.
- Punch/spear through the kettlebell as it becomes “weightless” (typically around eyebrow height).
- Actively throw the kettlebell down, aiming toward your stomach, and moving your hips out of the way, last second.
Tip #2) Vary the Intensity
People fail the snatch test for a variety of reasons. Some run out of wind. Others run out of grip. The majority of the time, however, it seems to me that people just aren’t strong enough. This problem can be solved by focusing enough time on heavy, low rep snatching and even heavier one arm swings (see below).
A sufficient program for snatching practice would be something involving a heavy day, a medium day, and a light day. (If it can be tolerated, two heavy days would be even better.) The heavy day could involve ladder work or just some lower, rep sets done accumulation style (set so many minutes on the clock, and then just see what you can get), employing a bell that is AT LEAST one size up from whatever your snatch test weight is.
A medium day–at least to me–should probably work right around the parameters of the snatch test; when I used to train for this, I would run the snatch test, as is, once per week, putting five minutes on the clock and going all in. (This, too, will likely take some working up to. Be judicious, please.)
A light day should be done for time or speed, using either cadence snatching (so many reps, for however many seconds, on repeat) or density snatching (as many as you can get in X number of minutes, without setting the bell down).
Tip #3) Use Specialized Variety
Specialized variety is there to fill in the gaps by bringing in tools/exercises/programming techniques to speed certain things along that snatching alone is sometimes too slow to develop.
For example, if you need more power, do heavy double cleans or one arm swings or what have you, which allows you to overload. This makes quite a difference, believe me. Or, say you need a boost in conditioning. Very well. Run a few of my more devastating kettlebell complexes.
Just don’t, whatever you do, lose the more specific practice, for the more general. If you want to make it through the snatch test, you need to snatch. Make no mistake about it. But small infuses of assistance from other exercises or modalities can really lend the boost that you need.
See my 101 kettlebell workouts eBook (it’s free) for ideas on this.
OK, well, that should be enough to get you started. Bye friend.
Strong ON!
– Pat
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PS – Here’s a video of me doing the 10 Minute Snatch Test (200 reps in 10 minutes; 24kg) when I was approximately twelve years old. I cannot tell you how much easier this has gotten since puberty.
PPS – Kettlebell Super, one of the featured challenges within Strong ON!, is rock solid snatch program for anybody who’s seriously interested in getting their numbers up: