I was reading on Rif’s blog about his snatching goals and on Aaron’s blog about his progress with the 5:00 snatch test for the Tactical Strength Challenge and made a few comments regarding the SSST and snatching in general.

I thought I’d expand on it here.

Most important: Establish a baseline of acceptable performance that I impose upon myself. For me this is 220 with 24kg and 120 with 32kg. Even if a workout calls for less thatn that, I know that I can grab a kb ANYTIME and get these numbers.

Some facts and observations on timed sets/tests:
10:00 is NOT twice as hard as 5:00.

8:00 is twice as hard as 5:00 and 10:00 is twice as hard as 8:00, especially if you keep your pace above 22-23 reps per minute (24kg).

There are many strategies for upping numbers. Here is one that has proven itself:

Set your gymboss to 1:00 and decide on your number per set, but pace it so that you get from 15-30 sec rest. Let’s use 5/5 as an example.

Start snatching and set the bell down after each set. When Gymboss beeps, do the next set. Complete 10 sets. Do this 3-5 workouts and then 1 rep per set. Sometimes you’ll need to step back a rep or 3 and ramp up again.