Snatch: Yes, That’s Really What It’s Called

Decoding CrossFit #10 — One movement, one unfortunate name and 35 kg over my head.

Welcome back to Decoding CrossFit, the series where I translate the workout board and occasionally discover that my body understands the movements better than my brain understands their names!

Today’s word is snatch.

Yes, that is really what it is called...The first time you see it written on a CrossFit board, it is perfectly reasonable to have two questions: What does that mean? And are we all just going to pretend that name is completely normal?

So, what is a snatch?

A snatch is an Olympic weightlifting movement in which the bar travels from the floor to overhead in one continuous motion.

There is no stop at the shoulders. The bar starts on the ground and, if everything goes according to plan, finishes above your head with your arms locked out.

That is what makes it different from a clean:

• in a clean, the bar travels from the floor to the shoulders;
• in a snatch, the bar travels from the floor directly overhead.

Same bar. Very different destination. And considerably less time to wonder what you are doing...

Power, squat and hang… because one version wasn’t enough

Just when the word snatch starts making sense, CrossFit adds more words to it. A power snatch is caught overhead with the knees bent, but without dropping into a full squat. A squat snatch is caught in a deep overhead squat before standing up with the bar. A hang snatch starts with the bar already off the floor, usually around the thighs or knees, instead of beginning from the ground.

The video I had saved appears to show a power snatch. I knew I was lifting a bar. I was fairly sure it was a snatch. The exact variation required further investigation lol Apparently, my body is learning CrossFit faster than my vocabulary.

Thirty reps at 30 kg

The board from 16 September was very clear about the theme of the day. We started with snatch technique using a PVC pipe, followed by more work with the barbell. Then came the WOD: 30 barbell snatches as fast as possible, with a ten-minute time cap.

For those 30 repetitions, I used 30 kg.

Once the WOD was finished, the sensible thing would probably have been to put the bar away, feel pleased with my work and go home. Naturally, that is when I decided to add another 5 kg!

The 35 kg experiment

I shared the video as a snap on that day:

https://snapie.io/@elianaicgomes/20260916t224952873z

After completing the WOD with 30 kg, this video was a test to see whether I could lift 35 kg. There is always a very specific moment before trying a heavier bar when confidence and questionable decision-making become almost impossible to distinguish. I set up, started pulling and hoped that all the instructions my body had received during training would appear at the correct time. And somehow, the bar ended up over my head.

Looking back at the video, I don’t think I did too badly.

I am not presenting it as a perfect technical demonstration, and I am not suddenly pretending to be an Olympic weightlifter. But there were 35 kg on the bar; I moved them from the floor to overhead, and I stayed standing.

I am allowing myself to be pleased with that!

Fast enough that there is no time to overthink

The snatch is one of those movements that asks for several things at once: strength, speed, coordination, confidence and commitment. You can't slowly negotiate with the bar halfway through... Once it starts moving, you have to follow the movement and trust yourself enough to get underneath it!

For someone who is very capable of overthinking, that may be part of the appeal...There is no time for a committee meeting in my head lol

Pull. Move. Catch. Breathe.

Then watch the video afterwards and ask, “Was that actually a snatch?” 😂

Sometimes the body knows first

When I started CrossFit, so much of the board looked like a different language. Now I can find a video of myself moving 35 kg overhead before I can confidently name the exact variation I was doing.

That feels strangely appropriate for this series...

Progress does not always arrive as expertise. Sometimes it arrives as a video that makes you stop and think: “Wait… I actually did that!”

The terminology can catch up afterwards :)