Snatch

Muscles worked: Quads, Glutes, Traps (assisted by front delts, back).

How to do it

1. Place your feet at a shoulder width stance with the barbell resting right above the connection between the toes and the rest of the foot.
2. With a palms facing down grip, bend at the knees and keeping the back flat grab the bar using a wider than shoulder width grip.
3. Start pushing the floor as if it were a moving platform with your feet and simultaneously start lifting the barbell keeping it close to your legs.
4. As the bar reaches the middle of your thighs, push the floor with your legs and lift your body to a complete extension in an explosive motion.
5. Lift your shoulders back in a shrugging movement as you bring the bar up while lifting your elbows out to the side and keeping them above the bar for as long as possible.

Coaching cues

The two cues IronPack shows on this exercise's card mid-workout:

• Wide grip, one motion floor to overhead
• Fast under the bar, punch the lockout

Logging it

IronPack suggests working in the 1 to 3 rep range, progressing in 2.5 kg jumps when you own the top of the range. Records are tracked automatically at every rep count from 1 to 12. Check your estimated 1RM from any hard set.

Related exercises

• Deadlift - back, glutes
• Barbell Shrug - traps
• Sumo Deadlift - glutes, quads
• Trap Bar Deadlift - quads, glutes

Photos and steps: free-exercise-db (public domain). Cues, muscle weighting and logging guidance are IronPack's own app data. Last generated 2026-07-17.