Kettlebell Snatches is a compound exercise that trains the whole body: hips, abs, arms and back. It's a great strength and endurance exercise so I highly encourage you to incorporate snatches into your daily kettlebell routines.

Please take great care to learn the proper technique of Kettlebell Snatches. Doing it wrong will get you injured and/or you will not benefit from your training as much as you could if you were doing it properly.

If you're a MMA fighter, or any other martial art practitioner you will find snatches very useful, because they will get you more explosiveness, work your functional muscle strength and stamina. The ballistic kettlebell movement will also improve your endurance and impact resistance, very useful features for any fighter.

Preparation:

1. Start from the regular swing position: feet shoulder width apart, lay the kettlebell in front of you to get it moving when you pick it up from the floor.
2. Bend over, but don't round your back.
3. Knees slightly bent, but they mustn't cross the line of the toes.
4. Grasp the kettlebell handle one-handed with an overhand grip. Get ready for the first repetition.

Execution:

1. Start doing snatches by lifting the kettlebell from the position in front of you. It will swing back by itself saving you the effort.
2. When the kettlebell is in behind your knees, drive the hips forward in an explosive movement and let the kettlebell swing as powerful as possible. Remember, you're blasting the kettlebell using the power of your hips only. No pulling or dragging!
3. When the bell is swinging in front of you, drive it close to the body just as if you were doing a normal clean. Going all the way in the circle, swing-like motion will get your forearms devastated by the landing kettlebell impact when it flips over in the finishing phase of the snatch movement.
4. Just when the bell is about to flip over and land on your forearm, squeeze the handle tight to slow down the flipping. Doing so will de-accelerate the iron and save you from bruises. You can also apply a punch-like movement to the top to soothe the impact even further. Lock your elbow after the bell has landed.
5. Let the kettlebell swing back in a controlled motion. Repeat.

Pawel Recommends:

1. When you're blowing the bell with the hips, squeeze your glutes and abs. It will generate more force and torso stability.
2. If you can't fire the bell high enough with your hips only, then your bell is too heavy. Take a lighter one instead of pulling with your arms.
3. If you're a kettlebell newbie, I beg of you, don't start off with the snatches! Perfect your movement with one-hand swings and cleans first. Progression is very important in kettlebell training and it's also a way of avoiding injury.