Move Your Feet

Nothing angers Sho Nuff more than not moving your feet.... 

Two of the biggest problems I have seen with CrossFit / weightlifter hybrids is lack of speed and instability in the bottom position.  While each individual is different, I have seen a common reoccurring mistake among these lifters that if corrected could immediately help fix a lot of these types of problems. 

You have to move your feet. 

Moving your feet will allow you to move your hips and receive the bar – either in the clean or snatch – in the absolute lowest position possible.  Moving your feet will also prevent something that my mentor Jon North always referred to as “rocking chair feet”.  This unstable position is when you don’t move your feet and you rock from your heels (during the the second pull) to your toes (after hips come through the bar and hips are fully extended) and then back onto the toes (in the catch).  You may be able to survive this at lighter weights but certainly not at maximum efforts. 

Spend time utilizing drills that reinforce moving your feet.  Remember that moving your feet does not mean jumping way up in the air and performing a “donkey kick”.  This is extreme and will result in the exact opposite of our desired effect by forcing you to be slower getting under the bar. 

Need some examples?  I gotcha.

Here is Evgeny Chigishev.  That is OVER 460 lbs.  Crowd being disrespectful and still he smokes the lift.  Listen to those feet.  

Here is Andrei Aramnau hitting 190 kg for a double.  A FRIGGIN DOUBLE.  The quality is poor but watch those feet