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Kettlebell Snatch Hand Position

John K

John K

Level 8 Valued Member
Certified Instructor
I saw today a video from Audrey about hand position in the snatch. It was something I hadn't seen or done before - slipping the hand front to back on the drop, and back to front on the snatch. I did a snatch test of 25/25-15/15-10/10 today using it, just to try it out, and I liked it. It felt natural, and it kept my hand loose (e.g. not overgripping). I only have access to a couple comp bells currently, so I've only done it with comp bells.

Has anyone else practiced doing this? Is there a difference in using it with comp vs HS bells? I know this was specific for Sport, but what are Hard Style's thoughts on using this hand slip?

I really enjoy learning from folks like Audrey or Joe Daniels (KBOMG). They have a lot of interesting training ideas, and sometimes they put things in ways that really transfer over to my technique.

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Audrey Burgio on Instagram: "**Kettlebell Sport Snatch Hand Placement** @agkettlebell 1️⃣ During the Swing (from the cast, to the backswing, and up until insertion): Grip the bell in the middle but towards the back, so your pinky finger is snug agai

757 likes, 43 comments - audreyburgio on September 19, 2023: "**Kettlebell Sport Snatch Hand Placement** @agkettlebell 1️⃣ During the Swing (from the cast..."
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I’ve been “throwing” the bell for years. I don’t corkscrew the bell around my wrist like she does, instead casting the bell straight over and snatching it straight up over my hand. But my grip is very loose and the bell hops over my calluses as you see it do with hers. If it’s silent you can hear the bell smack my hand when I catch it on the drop. The benefit: I can’t tell you the most recent time I ripped a callous, including this summer when I didn’t snatch for almost two months around a surgery.
 
John K said:
Has anyone else practiced doing this? Is there a difference in using it with comp vs HS bells?
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I often find myself doing this naturally, without thinking about it. I have comp bells at home and cast iron bells in my office at work and I would say that I tend to stay more toward the thumb side horn with the cast iron bells, but that's more an unconscious tendency than a conscious technical choice.
John K said:
I really enjoy learning from folks like Audrey or Joe Daniels (KBOMG). They have a lot of interesting training ideas, and sometimes they put things in ways that really transfer over to my technique.
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I've picked up a lot from GS tutorials that I apply to my (mostly) hard style technique. I've seen a lot of Joe Daniels' videos and I do like his approach, which I find very practical and not doctrinaire.

As I've expressed many times here on this forum, I wish there was more integration, synthesis, and cross-pollination between GS and hard style. Although I come from a hard style background and training specifically for GS competition doesn't interest me, I think StrongFirst has missed out on a lot by being overly doctrinaire about building a wall between hard style and GS. With powerlifting or Olympic lifting, SF is happy to synthesize and assimilate effective competitive techniques that have evolved through ruthless natural selection and adapt them for more generalized training. In commenting on the high tension techniques from PTTP, Louie Simmons once said that Pavel "reverse engineers what strong people do naturally." But when it comes to GS, competitively evolved techniques are dismissed as "not what we do."

WxHerk said:
I’ve been “throwing” the bell for years. I don’t corkscrew the bell around my wrist like she does, instead casting the bell straight over and snatching it straight up over my hand. But my grip is very loose and the bell hops over my calluses as you see it do with hers.
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She is demonstrating jumping her hand from the thumb side horn in the lockout to the pinky side horn on the drop, not just from a deep insertion at the lockout to a hook/finger grip on the drop.
 
John K said:
I really enjoy learning from folks like Audrey or Joe Daniels (KBOMG). They have a lot of interesting training ideas, and sometimes they put things in ways that really transfer over to my technique.
Click to expand...
is there any YouTube channel of Audrey or Joe Daniels, I had like to subscribe them instead of following them on Instagram!
 
If I catch a kettlebell on the back swing with my hand too close to the "thumb horn" too much weight gets lobbed across my ring finger pad ripping callouses. Also, when your index knuckle is in the center of the handle it probably is going to feel more in control and I find the resulting lift(snatch/clean) is solid.

Currently practicing this with 36s in the giant with hopes the skill will transfer to 48s in Maximorum or DFW soon after. It seems almost impossible to bullet-time modify my grip with 48s rn as the handles are so damn thick, I almost have to punch down during the back swing to come close. One day...
 
It's not as pronounced, but yeah, that's what I do, more or less. The position at the top should be such that you can open your hand and the wrist is in a neutral position - if not, you're just going to hammer your wrist and grip over time.
 
Apparently, for her, this style works, but it also looks beautiful. It strikes me that on the way up the arm stays almost straight throughout the movement. It also seems to me that the arc on the way up is larger and the KB moves further away from the body unlike the style taught here. Pavel says that if you have a wall in front of you the KB should not hit it on the way up. I don't remember how far the wall was supposed to be.
I might also be more comfortable with this style with the larger arc. However, I am a newbie in SN and my opinion and what is said on this matter is not authoritative.
 
It matters but not as much as you think. The technique that you're proficient at that doesnt hurt you or rip your palms will take you further than worrying about perfection instead of trying.
 
Dydo said:
It strikes me that on the way up the arm stays almost straight throughout the movement. It also seems to me that the arc on the way up is larger and the KB moves further away from the body unlike the style taught here.
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Yes, but she also leans back on the way up, so even though her arm is straight, the bell doesn't get far in front of her center of gravity. It's like her body is one side of a V and the path of the bell is the other, so they counterbalance (as opposed to standing straight up and the bell swinging out in front). Then at the top, her shoulders come forward to get under the bell and fixate it overhead.

On the drop, she leans back and also bends her arm to keep the bell closer to her center of gravity.

If you don't lean back like this to counterbalance the bell, then you have to keep the bell in closer to your body.
 
WxHerk said:
I’ve been “throwing” the bell for years. I don’t corkscrew the bell around my wrist like she does, instead casting the bell straight over and snatching it straight up over my hand. But my grip is very loose and the bell hops over my calluses as you see it do with hers. If it’s silent you can hear the bell smack my hand when I catch it on the drop. The benefit: I can’t tell you the most recent time I ripped a callous, including this summer when I didn’t snatch for almost two months around a surgery.
Click to expand...

@John K, this.

-S-
 
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