I have no problem snatching up to the top position but when I lower the bar I get an annoying clicking, bordering on painful, when my shoulders inernally rotate to bring the bar down past my head.
My external rotators are are certainly not weak and I dont get this clicking problem when performing isolated external rotation work where the lower arm is stabilized, it seems to happen only when my whole arm is in the air and atleast at head height.
Not performed snatches for a few years and im not too concerned if I cant have them in my training programme but would like to know what this abnormal condition is anyway.
Not sure what is happening in the shoulder but you should be able to avoid this:
Either:
Use bumper plates and drop from overhead or;
Use straps, drop the bar from overhead or a little lower (squat down/resist the bar for a few inches with your arms) and catch it on your thighs. Shouldn’t take much time to get used to.
Thats right, dropping the bar would be good and catching to resist the bar would be fine for lighter weights; however I it would be useful to know what the problem is, cheers
Sounds to me like it could be a Labrum injury. Labrum injuries are pretty generic but if you’ve had a dislocation or subluxation it’s possible that there is a tear and it never healed. Get it checked out, and if it is, you can decide whether you want to get it repaired. Although beneficial, it’s not really essential to do overhead exercises for sprinters.