If you can squat X can you snatch Y? Ratios of efficiency in lifting
As a coach of mostly adult lifters who find the sport in there 20’s or 30’s I usually work with people who have some background in strength training. Whether it’s self-taught or previously coached, one of the most common questions in the early days is “My squat is … what should I be able to Snatch/Clean & Jerk”.
Efficient lifting
Noob gains in the classic lifts happen as someone is just getting better at the skill and coordination required. As a coach I have a fairly good idea of when someone’s overall strength has become the barrier to making more progress. Once skill is at a decent level, mistakes are smaller and often due to lack of focus or effort rather than not knowing or being able to perform the task. At this point getting stronger will have the biggest impact on progress in the classic lifts.
As a lifter becomes more ‘efficient’ they will learn to use a larger amount of their existing strength in the classic lifts.
Typically, we know that having a stronger squat and pull will make snatching and cleaning and jerking better but it’s hard to say how much putting 10kg on a strength lift will improve the classic lift for example. Other factors like speed and power, whilst impacted by maximal strength, also play an important role.
If you want to know how close to optimal you are:
There is a great calculator you can use for free from renowned Australian weightlifting coach Miles Wydall*. There are of course others and most coaches over time develop their own ratios based on their experience. Taking the ones I’ve seen as a whole it gives me the rough ratios I use as a start point:
Back squat used as the reference or 100%
Front squat - 85-88%
Clean - 75-78%
Clean and Jerk - 70-75%
Snatch - 60-64%
Power jerk - 68-75%
Clean deadlift - 100-110% (equal to or higher than high bar back squat)
Snatch Deadlift - 90-95%
The further you get from the actual classic lift the less useful these numbers become. For example, a good muscle snatch is around 65% of your snatch but I wouldn’t care what the muscle snatch to back squat ratio was as it’s an extra stage of extrapolation away…
Greg Everett has a great article and table on exactly this subject. Interestingly the numbers he uses come out higher than Miles for the clean and jerk - I prefer to lean towards the latter and not just for my own ego’s sake. Greg has ratios between lifts other than just the back squat but each has quite a varied range which presumably comes from working with a huge variety of lifters. He also importantly points out a couple of things I think are worth repeating:
If you are a beginner you really shouldn’t be worrying about this stuff. Focus on getting as good at the skills and coordination of the lifts as possible. Only when you hit a sticking point in your progress should you be looking for a reason why you’re not getting better beyond simple practice.
Other factors come into play when trying to understand why your own ratios might not match these exactly. How naturally explosive, flexible, coordinated and experience you are will all affect you lift to squat ratio. Even historic injuries can create large individual differences.
What use are the ratios then?
It’s important to note that we don’t live or die by these numbers. In reality we use them as a tool to identify gaps in performance and to make sure someones classic lifts aren’t being held back by a simple lack of strength. Once a lifter ‘hits’ all these optimal ratios the squat and pull strength MUST increase but it’s not like we aren’t trying to do that anyway.
How do you stack up? Should you focus on strength? Technique? Or likely, both?
*https://www.qwamembers.org/PerformanceCalc/PerformanceCalcEstLifts