The Benefits of the Kettlebell Snatch

Have you ever tried doing the kettlebell snatch? Have you tried many repetitions per arm, like 15, 20, or even 30 or more? If you haven’t tried the kettlebell snatch, or you haven’t worked it hard enough to feel your heart pounding and chest heaving, then you haven’t reaped all the benefits this exercise can bestow.

The alternating double kettlebell snatch--a feat of coordination and strength.
The alternating double kettlebell snatch–a feat of coordination and strength.

The snatch takes some skill to learn. It’s a tough exercise and an athletic movement. If you have athletic capacity, you’ll learn the exercise pretty easily. If you aren’t athletic, the snatch will teach how to become athletic and generate power. Incorporating this type of athletic movement into your training, and adding some weight (even 36 pounds will put you in a class above the majority of other men) can make you feel like a super man.

Benefits of the Kettlebell Snatch

The main benefit is learning how to use your body. The kettlebell snatch requires you to dynamically lift the kettlebell from the floor to overhead. In the process, you have to generate power from your hips, pull with your hand, arm, and back, and stabilize with your core. And within this process, you have to turn on and off particular muscles rapidly. This teaches you how to generate power and how to coordinate your muscles. Learning this skill makes your body feel amazingly capable.

Develops athleticism The skill of going from tension to relaxation quickly is highly athletic and can be developed by the general population simply by developing a high level of skill in the kettlebell snatch.

The kettlebell snatch forges an iron grip. A strong grip is important for practically everything you do. It helps you open jars, it helps you start lawnmowers, it helps you garden and helps you grab things and pick them up easily. Moreover, a strong grip is important so that you can provide a firm handshake. There are nefarious people who will try to squeeze your hand unmercifully in a handshake. Imagine their surprise when you laugh off their small-mindedness.

The kettlebell snatch helps you build endurance and pain tolerance. We have a somewhat weak culture. Many have become soft, fat, and weak. The reason for this is we don’t have sufficient physical challenges.The snatch, done correctly, can develop an iron will and intestinal fortitude and strength and endurance that you have never experienced before. This can be done in 10 minutes or less. It’s fun, too, because there is just enough of a skill element to the exercise that it demands sufficient concentration.

The kettlebell snatch develops more skillful use of your arm. High rep kettlebell snatches sufficiently test and strain your arm and develop an increased awareness of it. This increased awareness translates into more effective use, whether it is throwing a punch, throwing a ball, or carrying the groceries.

Kettlebell snatches can give you an incredibly efficient workout. 5 to 10 minutes of snatches done at intensity will give you a super-efficient and highly effective workout. Who among us does not have five or 10 minutes to spare?

*    *    *

Hopefully this motivates you to go out there and learn how to do the kettlebell snatch. You will be rewarded with a strong resilient back, a strong grip, stamina, and well-coordinated and highly muscular arms and shoulders. And you won’t have to spend a bunch of time exercising–the kettlebell snatch gives you great return on investment.

Here’s a video to get you started:

Here are some great benefits of other top notch exercises: