why do i jump forward in the snatch?

If you consistently see your feet land way forward of where they started, there’s a good chance something happened earlier in the lift that put you there.

Jumping forward is usually a symptom—not the actual problem.

Telling yourself “don’t jump forward” might occasionally work, but I’d rather figure out why the bar and your body are moving forward in the first place.

Here are a few to preasons of why you could be jumping forward.

Start With Your Balance

If the bar pulls you forward immediately as you come off the floor, the barbell-body system has already shifted towards the front of the platform. In other words, you're moving forward from the start and it's no wonder why you have to jump forward to make the lift.

Alternatively, if your weight shifts significantly backwards as you come off the floor, there is likely going to be an equal or greater shift forward later in the pull in order to keep your barbell-body system balanced. This shift forward later in the pull usually comes as the bar is making contact at the hip crease thus sending the bar way out in front of you.

Try to think about keeping the balance right in the middle of your foot throughout the entire pull.

Hips rise too fast

When your hips rise too quickly off the floor and the knees straighten out more than they should, there isn't enough bend in the knees to finish vertically at the finish. The only thing for your body to do is finish with the hips moving horizontally at the bar rather than finish vertically in conjuction with an extension of the knees. Typically this knocks the bar forward forcing you to jump forward to catch it.

Keep it close after contact

The bar doesn’t need to travel perfectly vertically.

But it definitely shouldn’t be swinging so far away from you that your arms are almost parallel to the floor when you pause the video when the bar is around chest height.

Make sure after the bar leaves your hip you are using your lats and upper back to keep the bar coming up your shirt.

Don’t Confuse Extension With Throwing Your Hips Forward

This is another common issue where the athlete drives their hips horizontally toward the bar instead of finishing their legs and extending vertically.

Now the bar gets pushed forward and the athlete follows it.

I’d rather think about driving through the floor and finishing with the hips moving up towards the ceiling.

Let the contact happen as a result of great positions and keeping lots of tension in the lats instead of actively trying to smash your hips into the bar.

The Fix Depends on the Cause

This is why technique coaching matters.

Two athletes can both jump forward and need completely different corrections.

One might be shifting onto their toes off the floor.

Another might be letting the bar drift away after the knee.

Another might be smashing the bar forward during contact.

The symptom looks the same.

The cause isn’t.

Film your lifts from the side. Slow them down. Look at your balance, the relationship between your body and the bar, and what happens at contact.

Fix the thing that’s sending the bar forward and there’s a good chance you’ll stop chasing it.

At STS, that’s how we approach weightlifting technique.

Don’t just correct what the miss looks like. Figure out what caused it.

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