How the Kettlebell Snatch makes your Pull Ups Stronger WITHOUT Doing Pull Ups

https://cart.chasingstrength.com/ksk2
I get it.
It doesn’t make sense.
How can the Kettlebell Snatch make your Pull Ups STRONGER?
ESPECIALLY if you’re NOT doing Pull Ups?
It can be hard to swallow.
Maybe even smells like a big ol’ heaping pile of cow pie.
The two don’t seem to be even remotely related.
I’ve never heard or read anyone try to explain it, so I thought it’d be “fun” to do that here in this email.
Let’s use a pic first, ok?
The primary muscle group that pulls your melon over the bar in a Chin Up (palms facing you) or a Pull Up (palms facing away from you) is your lats - your left and right latissimus dorsi.
(That’s Latin for “V-taper.”
… Just kidding.)
The sloppy big green circle is its origin - from T7 to T12, the top of your pelvis (iliac crest), throughout your sacrum, the 9th-12th ribs, and even on part of the shoulder blades (scapula).
And the sloppy little green circle on the right arm is its insertion - which is on the front of the upper arm (humerus) in the bicipital groove.
When you’re doing Pull Ups, your arms are over your head (shoulder flexion) and your lats are on stretch. They contract (shorten) as you flex your elbows and your upper arms bend moving into shoulder flexion.
At this point, your chin is over the bar.
As you lower yourself, your lats stretch back out moving from contracted (shortened) to lengthened.
So, your lats are pulling your body through space to a fixed object - the bar.
The Snatch is the OPPOSITE.
Now stay with me here, cause this is where we kinda geek out on movement and anatomy, ok?
Recall that with a Pull Up the shoulders start from flexion, move into extension, and then back to flexion.
Flexion → Extension → Flexion
With the Snatch, the shoulder starts in mild flexion, moves into extension (hike pass under the legs) then moves explosively into full flexion where the kettlebell is fixed over your head. Then it moves , then moves quickly into extension.
This is done on a cycle and essentially looks like this:
Extension → Flexion → Extension
Now, here’s where and how the lats work on the Snatch:
1- They contract as a spinal stabilizer on both the backswing and the Snatch itself during its upward trajectory to fixation over your head.
And equally if not more importantly -
2- They act as a “brake” (yes, like the ones in your car) and decelerate the arm and kettlebell as they hurtle through shoulder flexion toward fixation over your head.
The heavier the kettlebell, the more those brakes (lats) have to work.
The faster that kettlebell moves, the harder and faster those brakes (lats) have to work.
This is called “eccentric loading.”
And if you ever lowered a heavier-than-normal barbell to your chest as part of you bench press training only to have your buddy help pull it off you -
It’s the same thing - eccentric loading.
PLUS…
Snatches, like Pull Ups and Chins, also train your biceps, forearms, and hands.
But essentially, they do so eccentrically.
If you’ve ever done a high volume Snatch session, you’ll know what I mean -
Your hands are tired, and your biceps are sore.
(“Look Ma - No biceps curls!”)
Furthermore, Snatches work your abs - anti-rotation and anti-extension.
Again, more eccentric work (along with a healthy dose of isometric work thrown in there to boot.)
Pull Ups and Chins also work your abs - eccentrically as you lower yourself. And concentrically if you choose to use a hollow position while pulling your noggin over the bar.
So, at the end of the day, Snatches work the same muscles as Pull Ups, they just work them differently.
(Snatches also work the lower body - Pull Ups do not. Kinda obvious, but thought I might need to point that out…)
And that’s why you can Snatch and get stronger Pull Ups, without doing Pull Ups.
In fact, I just got this comment on one of my YouTube videos -
Of course, it goes without saying that you
A - Should have great Snatch technique
And -
B - Should use intelligent Snatch programming.
You can get both inside my program “The King-Sized Killer”.
I’ll leave a link to check it out in the video description below.
Not only will it most likely increase your Pull Ups, but if you’re like most of the users, you’ll also see -
[+] Increased muscularity in your shoulders and arms
[+] Decreased body fat - leaner waist and more muscle definition
[+] Improved power output and conditioning when on the mats or with the heavy bag
… To name but a few.
Hope this made sense and you now have a clearer understanding of how the Snatch can make your Pull Ups stronger.
But as usual, don’t take my word for it.
Test it out and see for yourself.
Stay Strong,
Geoff