The locked-arm position you receive the snatch in and finish the jerk in: the bar over the base of your neck, arms straight, shoulder blades set, and the bar balanced over your feet. A review of the overhead lifts notes the jerk is the part of the clean and jerk lifters fail most often. The position is built from structure (where the bar sits and how your shoulders hold it), not from arm strength alone.
Position the bar
Hold the bar vertically over the base of your neck, where your neck meets your traps. The same position is used in the snatch and the jerk; only the grip width changes.
the bar sitting over the back of your head, not over your face.
Push your head a little forward through your arms and let your trunk lean slightly forward. Keep it modest: shoving your head far forward or tilting it down pulls your chest forward and weakens the position.
your ears just in front of your arms, eyes forward.
Balance the bar so a vertical line from it would pass through your foot just in front of the heel. Keep that line the same whether you are standing, in a split or at the bottom of a squat.
your weight over your whole foot, a touch toward the heel, not on your toes.
Lock & activate
Squeeze the upper inside edges of your shoulder blades together. This sets them back and slightly rotated up. It can look a little shrugged, but don't shrug your shoulders up to your ears or pull them down.
a firm shelf across your upper back under the bar.
Extend your elbows completely and aggressively, and keep pushing up into the bar. In competition any re-bend of the elbows after the catch is a no-lift, so train to the same standard.
arms straight and hard, the bar pushed to the sky.
Turn your arms to neutral: point the bony tip of each elbow about halfway between straight down and straight back. Turning the elbows fully back pulls the bar back; turning them fully down lets it drift forward.
palms facing out to the sides more than forward.
Let the bar sit in your palm slightly behind the middle of your forearm, wrist bent back partway. Don't keep the wrist dead straight and don't let the bar ride high in your fingers.
the bar resting on the heel of your hand, stacked over your forearm.
Grip only as tight as you need to control the bar. A very tight grip slows your elbow lockout and limits how straight the arms get.
firm hands, not a white-knuckle squeeze.
Own it
Lock the bar in as soon as you arrive under it: aim for locked elbows by the time your feet land. Then stop all movement of the bar, shoulders and elbows before you stand up.
the bar goes still the moment you land.
Brace your trunk and hold the finished position for a moment before you lower the bar. Then bring it down under control, stepping out from under it while keeping your hands on it.
a solid column from the bar down to your feet.
Miss safely
Learn to miss with a PVC pipe or empty bar first, on a clear platform with bumper plates. Dump the bar where it is already going, forward or back, never to the side. Don't hold on to a lost lift to avoid making noise.
you already know which way you'd get out.
If the bar falls forward, keep your arms long, push it out in front and jump back.
bar goes forward, you go back.
If the bar falls behind you, keep your arms straight, loosen your grip, let go at its furthest point back and jump forward as far as you can. This keeps the bar off your lower back.
bar goes back, you go forward.
A correct overhead position should feel comfortable and painless. If your shoulders, elbows or wrists hurt in it, stop loading it and get it checked by a coach or clinician.
secure, not strained.
Feel it
When it's right the bar feels balanced over the back of your head and your heels, held up by a locked frame rather than by your arm muscles. Your shoulder blades feel squeezed together at the top, your elbows feel hard-locked, and your hands are only holding as tight as they need to. If the bar pulls you forward or back, it has left the line over your base: push your head through, squeeze the shoulder blades and drive up into the bar.
Fix-its
- Bar drifts forward Put it back over the base of your neck: push your head modestly through your arms and keep the bar over the foot just in front of the heel. Check the elbow points aren't turned straight down.
- Soft or bending elbows Extend the elbows completely and keep pushing up. Loosen a death grip, since excess grip tension slows and limits lockout. Re-pressing a bent elbow is a no-lift.
- Shoulders sag or the bar sinks Squeeze the upper inside edges of the shoulder blades together and keep that tension until you decide to drop the bar. Lock it in the moment your feet land.
- Bar high in the fingers, wrist straight Roll the bar back into the palm, slightly behind the middle of the forearm, with the wrist bent back partway.
- Head shoved far forward or chin tucked down Bring the head back to just through the arms, eyes forward. Going too far pulls the chest forward and weakens the structure.
Drill
- Position check: with a snatch grip, lower the bar in a straight line to the top of your traps and press it back up using only your arms. If the bar moves forward or back on the way up, adjust your head, shoulder blades and elbow rotation until it goes straight.
- Overhead lockout holds: press or push press a light bar into the position and hold it forcefully for 3-5 seconds, checking bar over the base of the neck, elbows locked, shoulder blades squeezed.
- Overhead squats with a light bar to keep the same overhead position from standing to the bottom.
- Receiving drills to lock in fast: snatch balance or drop snatch for the snatch; jerk balance or a split jerk from behind the neck for the jerk. Light and precise, with the elbows locked as the feet land.
- Film from the side: the bar should sit over the back of your head and line up over the rear of your foot, with straight arms.
Sources
- Greg Everett, Performance Menu — The Snatch Overhead Position (2008)
- Greg Everett, Catalyst Athletics — Better Snatch Overhead Stability (2022)
- Greg Everett, Catalyst Athletics — Maximize The Stability & Security of Your Snatch Overhead Position (2016)
- Greg Everett, Catalyst Athletics — Lock It In... NOW (2016)
- Greg Everett, Performance Menu — The Snatch: Part 2 (2007)
- Soriano, Suchomel & Comfort — Weightlifting Overhead Pressing Derivatives: A Review of the Literature, Sports Medicine (2019)
- Tysz (US Olympic Education Center) — Basic Performance Cues for Teaching the Snatch and Clean to Non-Olympic Weightlifting Athletes, ISBS Proceedings (2010)
Last checked 2026-10-25.