How Much Should I Power Snatch For My Weight?
Have you ever asked yourself ‘How much should I Power Snatch for my weight?’ The Power Snatch can be a frustrating exercise and it might seem you are not making progress at all.
The reasons for this can be manifold and will partly be discussed in this article.
This video and article cover the questions:
How much should I Power Snatch for my body weight?
body weight?
The question how much you should be able to Power Snatch for your body weight is a good question to ask with regards to benchmarking and Power Snatch standards.
In very simple words, there is a relation between body weight and strength, people with higher body weights tend to be stronger than people with lower body weights. That is also the reason, why a lot of sports have weight categories in their competition format.
Consequently, putting the weight lifted in relation to the body weight makes more sense than comparing the absolute weight lifted, as the absolute weight lifted doesn’t account for differences in body weight and you might end up comparing apples with oranges.
The Power Snatch technique influences how much weight you can Power Snatch
The Power Snatch is a technically very demanding strength and power exercise, therefore it’s imperative to have a solid Power Snatch technique. I have outlined the necessity of technical mastery as the first step in the articles
The most obvious reason why you need to have a solid Power Snatch technique is, that you want to prevent injuries.
But there is also the aspect of the weight you can ultimately lift is limited by your technique.
I have seen it too often, that athletes don’t progress because technical flaws are holding them back.
What is the lowest hanging fruit, when I want to Power Snatch more weight?
That depends very much on your level, but in my opinion, the lowest hanging fruit is really to start correcting the technical flaws, that will enable you to immediately lift heavier loads.
Sometimes a fairly simple and easy to implement correction can yield big results.
For an overview of the key points in the Power Snatch technique, check out the article How to do a Power Snatch or the video below
Once you are proficient with your Power Snatch technique, you can start to look at some Power Snatch strength standards, not before.
Power Snatch standards: Power Snatch to body weight ratios
I guess you were waiting for the Power Snatch standards, right?
Let’s outline some numbers.
Power Snatch standards for athletes (not Olympic Weightlifters)
Keep in mind, these numbers are based on my experience working with athletes, that are not Olympic Weightlifters and represent benchmarks, that can be used for athletes or ambitiously training people.
There are a couple of other resources out there, that you can use, check out
- Power Snatch Standards from ExRx.net for the Power Snatch
- Snatch Standards from Strength Level and Snatch from Strength Standards for the Snatch
Concluding How Much Should I Power Snatch For My Weight?
If you are struggling to lift a reasonable amount of weight in the Power Snatch and you want to know how much should you Power Snatch for your weight, consider spending some extra time and effort in improving your Power Snatch technique.
Once you have improved your Power Snatch technique you can look at the benchmarks outlined in this article and over time you will be able to lift more weight.
Remember, especially on a technically demanding and challenging lift like the Power Snatch technical work and the consolidation of your Power Snatch technique should be a regular part of your program.
