BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SNATCH DURING WEIGHTLIFTING COMPETITION

Safrushahar Yusoff¹, Norhaslinda Hasan¹, and Barry Wilson².

¹Biomechanics Unit, National Sports Institute of Malaysia. ²School of Physical Education, University of Otago, New Zealand.

This study was performed on five elite Malaysian weightlifters during competition. Three digital video cameras were used to determine the motion in three dimensions of the CG of the weights and the CG of the lifter plus weights. For the pull phases, lifters showed consistent patterns of the greatest peak Weight acceleration in the First Pull and greatest system power in the Second Pull. Individual subject differences were greater than differences between successful and unsuccessful lifts. All the unsuccessful lifts were those that failed in the squat, the subject could not even begin to stand upright. System velocity may be a better indicator of why a lift is failing than are Pull Heights or Weight velocities.