“90% of all missed lifts performed in competition could be
traced to the feet.” (1)
[Photo credit: “Learning the Olympic Lifts: The Stance” by Mike Burgener
with Tony Budding, reference (1)]
As I start to help coach novice athletes with weightlifting,
I’ve noticed huge improvements with lifting by correcting the starting position
of the lift. As such, I’m drafting a
series of blog posts about the starting position of the snatch in order to
better understand the most efficient set-up for the olympic lifts. I feel the best place to start is to consider
foot positioning, and what follows is a brief write-up regarding foot placement considerations for the beginning weightlifter.
The pictures above show proper foot placement for both the
starting (pull) and ending (catch) of the lift.
The figure on the left focuses on the lifter’s foot width and angle in
the set-up (top left picture) and catch (bottom left picture) of the
snatch. The figure on the right shows
relation of the foot position relative to the entire body position in the
set-up (top right picture) and the catch (bottom right picture) of the snatch.
