7/28/2019 How to Improve Your Secret Service Snatch Test Score

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How To Improve Your Secret Service Snatch Test Score

David Whitley, Sr. RKC

Few things will let you know what you are made of like the Secret Service Snatch Test(SSST). Developed by United States Secret Service Counter Assault Team with thephilosophy of keeping things simple in theory while making them incredible demandingin execution. The test is the perfect combination of strength, conditioning, and the abilityto concentrate under stress, exhaustion and plain old guts.

The SSST rules are simple: it consists of doing as many snatches as possible in tenminutes. That's it. Unlike the rules for girevoy sport (GS), you may switch hands as oftenas you like, and you may set the kettlebell down whenever you want to. Men use a 24kgkettlebell and women use 12kg

If you are ready for the challenge, I am going to give you some tips and strategies tohelp you improve your numbers considerably in a short period of time. We will assume

that your technique is dialed in and that you aren't going to shred your palms with thevolume of snatches. If you find that to be the case, it is back to the Enter the KettlebellRight of Passage workout and practicing snatch technique for you.

Establish baseline.

What is your current SSST score? This is important information in developing the planthat often gets overlooked for some reason. Imagine this conversation between a well-meaning KB enthusiast (known as WMKBE) and me:

WMKBE: "Hey Dave, I want to get 220 in the SST. Can you give me any tips?"

Me: "Sure. How many can you do now?"

WMKBE: "Huh?"

Me: "How many reps can you do now in the SSST?"

WMKBE: "I dunno, I never tried..."

It's kind of like saying "How do you get to New York?" The answer is different if you arein Nashville or Miami.

Identify the target.

I have to say that is vitally important to your success to set realistic goal. You probablywill not go from 102 to 245 in 6 weeks. You can adjust numbers in the example here tomeet your needs.

Let's say for our example that you give it a go and your best is 155. Can we get you to200 in 6 weeks? I believe so, if you are willing to do the work.

7/28/2019 How to Improve Your Secret Service Snatch Test Score

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Divide and Conquer.

You will do the snatch workout twice per week on non-consecutive days. For exampleMonday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday. On your other days you can practice yourget-ups, presses, cleans, pull-ups, etc. You may also do other less demanding training

on your snatch days, after snatching of course.

Divide your rep goal into tenths. Since our goal is 200, the sets will be 10 with each hand(10/10) for a total of 20 reps per set. You will stick with this rep scheme for the entireprogram. I highly recommend that you invest in a Gymboss interval timer fromwww.gymboss.com. It keeps track of the intervals for you, can be programmed down tothe second and like a kettlebell, it doesn't apologize or accept excuses.

Start with 1 minute rest between sets. If you snatch at a moderate pace, you should get10/10 in less than one minute, and it should take you less than 20 minutes to complete200 reps. Over the next six weeks, you will reduce the rest between sets by 10 secondseach week.

The weekly progression look like this:Week two- :50 rest between setsWeek three- :40 rest between setsWeek four- :30 rest between setsWeek five- :20 rest between setsWeek six- :10 rest between sets

By the time you get to week six, with 10 seconds rest between 10 sets of 10/10, you willbe very close to your goal of 200 reps. On the second scheduled workout of week six,test again. Stick to switching hands every 10 reps and keeping the pace even. 200should fall with some effort, but it will be doable.

Conclusion

Seems pretty simple, right? That's because it is. Train hard, smart and consistently andyou'll get the results.

David Whitley is an RKC Team Leader based in Nashville, TN. Visit his websitewww.irontamer.com