Had my first paid session with the coaches today and feeling kind of lukewarm now, after all the excellent high level feedback from last week's (free) session. Today they had me work from a low hang snatch pull (below knees) for a 3-second count into high hang and then to completion of second pull with empty bar up to nipples. During this motion, they kept correcting me to start with hips higher, shoulders more pulled back and directly above feet. They also tweaked my toe position more and had me turn my right toe even more outward as shown in this pic:
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Coach said this is to compensate for my hips being asymmetrical and my right toe needs to be turned out more than my left. This feels awkward as shit and not what I'm used to, but it does make it easier to drop down into a deep squat. But I have reservations about ingraining a movement pattern from an asymmetrical stance. Further, coach said this should be my ideal foot position for all standing barbell lifts including back squats, DL, etc.
So mixed feelings about my toes being this flared out but I'll try it out. Apparently my low hang snatch pull sucks badly enough that I need to just work on that and OH squats with empty bar until next week, without getting into third pull or drop snatches yet.
What teed me off a little was the (female) coach telling me I would be best served in grappling by focusing on SBD vs. oly lifting. Also that at my age, I need to "work twice as hard on SBD" to be as strong as younger guys. I told her I don't care about competing with younger guys, have been lifting for 35 years in conjunction with combat sports and am already stronger than most guys my size on the mats, regardless of age. Then the zinger was telling me that benchpress is the most underrated lift and possibly the most applicable to sports. Also "having a stronger bench will allow you shrimp away in bottom mount and bench guys off of you." My bullshit alarm was going off like crazy.
So I'll do my empty bar drills, try out squats and snatch pulls with my right toe flared out fucking 900 degrees and see what happens over the next 3 sessions that I've already paid for.