Bar “nibble” position
Jul 28
There are generally three contact heights for the second pull.
Each has its own users and for different reasons.
Some athletes, have a slower upward extension. Their hips move forward, “nibble” on the bar and then pop a little more slowly than other athletes. These athletes generally have weaker lower backs and stronger legs. So if they were to hit at the blue spot, they’d end up having the bar too horizontal. So because they’re slower, they’ll contact the red dot so when they finish the pull, the hip is aimed UPWARDS.
Athletes with stronger backs however, can pull themselves into the “nibble spot” a little more quickly and have a quicker vertical finisher. These athletes can contact the bar into the blue spot.
The black spot, is the happy medium for some individuals. Even strength in the legs and the back, they nibble on the black spot and can immediately create an upward thrust without actually hitting the bar and creating a horizontal force.
The yellow line however, is where I call the “Beginners line”. That line is extremely useful, for some athletes can be used as a START marker to intiate the second pull. There are some athletes who cannot accurately position the bar and have enough time to pop the bar up once the bar touches the red, black or blue dot. We use the yellow line as a cue to start “shrugging” the barbell up. By the time the bar nibbles the hips, they’re in a good position to extend and generate force to position the bar in line with their shoulders, hips and ankles in the receiving position.
Newbies are usually taught to start the second pull from the yellow line, so they’ll go slightly higher and be right in position for the hip pop.
All these spots however are useless if one doesn’t have proper hip and shoulder position, so the first pull still has to be trained consistently.
Isn’t there any influence by the limbs length?
yes but then grip width should be adjusted accordingly
Huge influence. You’d have to adjust your gripping position, based on your flexibility and size of your hands. Hands which are smaller, can’t grip too wide, but if the torso’s long, they may have to hyperextend a little to contact at the right position.
Ok so the lifter has to adapt his technique, not his contact point. Thanks!
Ok, so the “hit the bar right above the penis” From the Cal Strength guys are wrong?
Right and wrong, is determined by the owner of these thoughts John Doe. I’m not the owner of their thoughts, neither are they mine. So end of the day, my question to you is, does it matter who’s right and wrong if the job gets done in the best possible way?
im new to weightlifting and when i make contact with the bar, it hurts and sometimes i bruise the area. I did some research and some lifters actually have the area swollen which they then have to stop snatching for quite some time. Is there a sweet spot for this? i was told to make contact where my belt buckle would be which is around the no.7 area.