At a recent certification, Nadia Shatila and Dave Lipson had an opportunity to work one-on-one with Olympic-lifting coach Mike Burgener.
As an HQ trainer, Shatila regularly teaches new CrossFitters the snatch but doesn’t always get the opportunity to work on her own lift. Lipson (215 lb., 6’0”) can move large loads like no other (think deadlift well over 650 lb. and a 335-lb. overhead squat), but his best snatch is 220 lb.
In Part 2, Burg gets aggressive with Lipson and demands that he get faster under the bar. Once Lipson dials up the speed, he’s wobbly in the bottom of an 80-kilo snatch balance—which is not acceptable for a guy with a massive overhead squat. Coach B’s analysis: poor footwork resulting in a narrow landing position.
Shatila has great speed but needs to work on more stability at the bottom. After she nails that and gets junkyard-dog aggressive, Burg promises her snatch will go up.
Part 2: 9min 8sec
Additional reading: Snatch Assistance Exercises by Mike Burgener and Tony Budding, published Feb. 1, 2007.