How to Miss, Part II

 How to Miss Snatches, Overhead Squats, Jerks and Push Presses

As I said in Part I, it’s not a matter of if you will miss a lift, but a matter of when you will miss. The same principles we discussed for missing cleans and front squats apply to the overhead lifts but there are a couple of additional factors that need to be  considered.

Because an overhead lift can be misplaced either in front of or behind the lifter (and occasionally, but less commonly, directly overhead) your first action is to simply move away from the path of the bar. Just allow the bar to drop in front or behind while pushing yourself away from the bar in the opposite direction. Think of your arms as analogous to the roll cage on a racing car. As long as your arms are straight the bar cannot hit you.

The first picture shows the athlete pushing herself away from a lift that was misplaced towards the front. Simply keep the arms straight or straighten them if they have bent, push away from the bar, and hop back using the bar’s downward force to assist pushing you away.

In the second picture the athlete has pushed herself away from a lift misplaced towards the rear. Keep the arms as straight as possible and hop forward. Again, use the bar’s downward force to push you away. For the split jerk the same rules apply for missing with the additional instruction to quickly move the back leg forwards if a lift is missed behind and continue moving forward as the bar drops behind you.

Eventually with practice all this will become second nature.You will soon learn the difference between a lift that can be saved with a minor adjustment versus a lift that needs to be missed entirely.Remember, never try to save a badly mispositioned lift. Just let it go.

Comments

[Jesse]

I prefer to let the bar just crash down and crumble me, builds character.