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Off the Floor

Your Hips Rise Before Your Shoulders

The fault

Off the floor the hips shoot up first and the shoulders lag behind.

Why it happens

When the hips beat the shoulders, the back angle changes before the bar has moved anywhere useful. The lifter ends up doing a stiff-legged pull from a bad angle and the bar swings away from the body.

The fix

Off the floor the hips and shoulders should rise at the same rate. Slow the first pull down until you can feel both moving together, then add speed once the rate is right.

About this fix
Originally published as "Hips and Chest = Same Time", part of The Lifting Fix, the free weekly technique series Danny Lehr started filming over a decade ago. He gave every episode away then, and they are still free here. Danny Lehr competed in Olympic weightlifting from 2010 to 2019 and won the 2019 Masters World Cup. More about Danny Lehr.
Transcript

All right. All right. Danny Lehr at The Lifting Fix. We're outside CrossFit Excel.

We're going to talk about a special request today. Someone asked a question. They asked about if their hips shoot up off the ground instead of keeping that good, even body position. All right.

In theory, as you go to snatch kind of your hips and your should rise the same rate at the same time. Future would say at the same damn time. All right, so that's really important So some people have an issue that hips shoot up out of the way. You'll do a deadlift you'll do on a snatch or clean That's we're gonna dress.

Let's see that real quick some bad example Just kind of just you stop like right above the knee if your hips shoot up first Oh hips go up and then to this position what we want to happen is as she sets her back, going to get slightly snatched, is the hips and the chest rise at the same rate. Knees just go back, out. way. All right?

No pull back to chest early. All right. Same time. Let's do one more real quick.

I'm going more good one. Just there you go. Stay, set your hips and then just knees to go back out of the way. Good.

And you'll see your chest and hips rise at the same rate. Very good. So then how to fix this? One way, it's a timing issue.

If you go slower to the knee, a lot of times that helps. All right. So it just goes slow as you possibly can from the floor to the knee. and that helps a lot one time like a timing drill right if you go one two three you think that rhythm in your head one two, three, all right.

One, two, and then three is go. Give you that two second count to the knee, that'll help. Another way is actually have someone kind of hands on help you out. So if you get a buddy, they help you out.

They're gonna put one hand on your upper back and one hand on your lower back and just kind of hold both those hands there as they start. to rise if one shoots up more than the other they can feel that and kind of give you feedback. Alright so we're going to demonstrate that. Okay so if I'm just in here all I'm going to do upper back, lower back, that's it.

As she pushes up, both hands rise the same rate. And that's it right there. If she starts to shoot her hips up, go again real quick. Ariana starts to shoot her hips up by the way and kind of give her a little feedback.

She feels that and then knows that her hips are shooting up first. So one way is on your own timing. Just go as slow as you can. All right, maybe pause the knee another way.

partner, a little feedback, upper back, lower back, make sure you rise at the same rate. Make sure your hips and your chest rise as future would say. same damn time.

More off the floor fixes

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Your Back Lights Up When You Lower the Bar

Pain or a hot, fatigued low back on the way down rather than on the way up.

Off the Floor2:18

Your Upper Back Is Loose at the Setup

No tightness through the upper back before the bar leaves the ground.

Off the Floor1:54
With Alec Smith

Your Stance Is Too Narrow and It Pulls You Forward

Getting dragged forward on heavier lifts because the pulling stance is too narrow.

Off the Floor1:48

Want the rest of this category?

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Plus the snatch pull checklist. One page, nine points, floor to hip.

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