Over here, I posted a video of a 185KG snatcher at 94KG (probably 97KG off season weight), that does pulls with his hips raising first. I posed the question;
"While we hear a lot that raising the hips first is wrong, what differentiates his "hip raise" from the average hip raise?
It wasn't a right or wrong question, but rather a "Let's see how many WAYS we can look at this occurrence" question.
I asked the lifter, the head coach, the senior coach, and myself. I got 4 different answers;
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Lifter:
"I have a position that would allow me to second pull the most powerfully using my quads and back. I built my positioning and movement strength with pulls, to get to this position as efficiently and as quickly as possible. "
Head coach:
"This is the position that allows him to move without hitting his knees and slowing down the bar. His femur is also a bit longer, so it's a compromise that we build solutions around."
Senior coach:
"The body moves first and the bar moves as a result of the body's pattern. By moving this way, he's able to get his body into a powerful position, without hitting his knee on the way up, than if he were to pull perfectly straight where he'd end up sitting too much on his butt, and lean backwards too soon."
Me:
"He pushes his knees back so he doesn't scratch his shin and hit his knee. His hamstring and torso is engaged as he is strong enough to stay over the bar. This way his posterior chain, acts like a loaded gun. Added with his ankle and knee extension, he'll be ready to shoot the bar upwards."
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You should checkout the Instagram link for all the awesome answers. I just like that this shows, people have more than 1 way of describing something. Often, the answers aren't really black and white. They're often, grey, yellow, green, pink, etc.
EDIT: This is also a very very personal one for me. For years, I used to pull butt up first and then second pull. For years, I was told this was wrong. Finally when I correct it (sort of), I go to China and I'm shown a different way of seeing things. Talk about merry go round. Now the cue "Use your legs" finally make sense.
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