Improve Your Upper Body Explosiveness in "Less Than Ideal" Body Positions...

Upper body explosiveness is something we can BOTH agree on that everybody needs more of. Not an issue there.

However, one of the MAJOR holes that I see in fight training is most time is spent doing strength and explosive work in IDEAL body positions. When you're in the middle of a fight, you know you're going to end up in some strange positions. You will RARELY be set up in that perfect body position that you do most of your explosive training in.

You need to train to exert explosive force when your body is NOT in the perfect position to do it.

The Solution: Kneeling One-Arm Dumbbell Snatch

The One-Arm Dumbbell Snatch is a very easy-to-learn explosive exercise. It has a short learning curve compared to a barbell snatch, making it a great exercise for those who want to build power but aren't interested in taking the time to learn Olympic lifting (or who don't have bumper plates so you can just drop the bar after the snatch or who don't have the coaching to learn it properly).

This version of the dumbbell snatch is done from one knee in order to remove the majority of the lower body involvement and just focus on upper body and lower back explosiveness. That's the "less than ideal" position I was talking about before.

You're going to be doing the snatch from the ground to directly overhead while staying in the kneeling position. This will train your muscles to EXPLODE, no matter what position you're in.

Start with a moderate weight dumbbell...I'm using a 65 lb dumbell in the demo here. Drop down to one knee, lean forward and grab the dumbbell with an overhand grip (palm facing backwards) with your other hand on your knee (to brace your upper body and provide a little more explosiveness by also pushing with your arm).

Now explode the dumbbell off the ground using upper back, lower back and arm power. Even though your lower body isn't really involved it should still stay tight.

Power the dumbell up to the overhead lockout position in one explosive movement (if you don't quite get it all the way up, you can finish with a partial press to get it there to full lockout but the goal is one powerful movement).

Set the weight down then switch position so you're using the other arm. The movement is exactly the same.

Remember, this is an EXPLOSVE movement so get that dumbbell off the ground with as much force as you've got!

The Bottom Line:

Building power that can be used in ANY position is critically important for being a complete fighter. You'll rarely, if ever, be in the perfect position to exert maximum power, so use this exercise to train yourself to be explosive no matter what your body position is.