Barbell Snatch High Pull

A step-by-step form guide from the Ægir Iron exercise library: how to do the lift, what to watch for, and the muscles it trains.

This is a technical lift, best learned under a coach’s eye before loading heavy.

HOW TO PERFORM

Set up as you would to snatch: feet hip width under the bar, wide overhand snatch grip. Standing tall the bar should sit in the crease of the hips with the arms straight.
Hinge and bend the knees into a tight start position, flat back and chest proud, bar tight to the shins.
First pull: push the whole foot into the floor, chest up and back angle constant, until the bar clears the knees.
Second pull: from mid-thigh, open the hips, knees and ankles explosively and shrug hard up and back at the top of the extension.
The high pull: roll that momentum into the upper body by pulling the ELBOWS high and out to the sides, bar close to the torso, up to about chest height. High elbows, not hands muscling the bar up.
There is NO catch. Keep the torso vertical at the top rather than leaning back over it, then guide the bar down under control and reset.

This is what separates it from a plain snatch pull, which finishes at extension: here the elbows carry on travelling up and out afterwards.
The elbows lead and stay above the hands the whole way. Once the hands come above the elbows it has become an upright row, which is a different exercise and much harder on the shoulder.
With nothing to receive, it loads well above a full snatch.

Log it in Ægir Iron to track your PRs and estimated 1RM, and to see the sets each muscle gets every week. Free for individual lifters.