Upper East Side

When preparing to lift, we often spend so much time on mobility and activation that we forget the third important piece of warming up – prepping the movement. Many of us are guilty of grabbing an empty bar, loading 95 lbs, and just going for it. However, before we add load we need to start small and progress through a series of movements to develop good movement patterns and get the body ready to handle heavy loads. 

Your movement prep should be made up of two parts – a general barbell warm up that you use each time regardless of that day’s complex, followed by a more specific warm up tailored to that day’s positions, complex, etc.

Below is the general warm up I utilize every time I snatch. Each movement is demonstrated below. The sequence is as follows:

Tall muscle snatch x 2
Behind neck snatch grip press x 2
Behind neck snatch grip push press x 2
Overhead squat x 3
Drop snatch x 2
Behind neck Sotts press x 3

After this sequence, I’ll go into a more specific warm up tailored toward that day’s complex. For example, for today’s complex, I would go through the following, first with the empty bar, then with a very light weight:

High-hang snatch high pull x 2
High-hang power snatch x 2
High-hang snatch x 2
Overhead squat x 1

Both of these sequences take less than a minute to complete. By simply adding these pieces into your warm up you’ll feel more prepared, more mobile, and more comfortable under the bar as the weight gets heavier.