10 Best Dumbbell One Arm Snatch Alternatives for Explosive Delts
The Dumbbell One Arm Snatch hinges a single weight down between your legs and drives it to a locked overhead position in one explosive motion, using your hips instead of your arm. The Kettlebell One Arm Clean And Jerk keeps that hinge, hip drive and overhead punch, swinging the bell between your legs instead of driving a dumbbell close to your body. With a barbell, the Clean And Jerk loads both hands, cleans the bar to your shoulders, then jerks it overhead in two phases.
Original Exercise: Dumbbell One Arm Snatch
How to Perform Dumbbell One Arm Snatch
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in one hand with an overhand grip.
- Bend your knees slightly and hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back straight and chest up.
- Lower the dumbbell towards the ground, keeping it close to your body.
- Explosively extend your hips, knees, and ankles, driving the dumbbell upwards in a straight line.
- As the dumbbell reaches shoulder height, quickly rotate your hand and punch it overhead, fully extending your arm.
- Catch the dumbbell overhead with a slight bend in your knees and hips.
- Lower the dumbbell back down to the starting position in a controlled manner.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, then switch to the other arm.
Ranked Dumbbell One Arm Snatch Alternatives
1. Kettlebell One Arm Clean And Jerk
99.9% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a kettlebell in one hand with an overhand grip.
- Bend your knees slightly and hinge at the hips, lowering the kettlebell between your legs.
- Explosively extend your hips, knees, and ankles, using the momentum to swing the kettlebell up to shoulder height.
- As the kettlebell reaches shoulder height, rotate your wrist and punch your hand straight up, locking out your arm overhead.
- Lower the kettlebell back down to the starting position and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
2. Kettlebell One Arm Snatch
99.9% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a kettlebell in one hand between your legs.
- Bend your knees slightly and hinge at the hips, lowering the kettlebell towards the ground.
- Explosively extend your hips and knees, using the momentum to swing the kettlebell up towards your shoulder.
- As the kettlebell reaches shoulder height, rotate your hand and punch it straight up overhead, fully extending your arm.
- Lower the kettlebell back down between your legs and repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
3. Kettlebell One Arm Jerk
99.4% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a kettlebell in one hand at shoulder height.
- Bend your knees slightly and engage your core.
- Press the kettlebell overhead in a straight line, fully extending your arm.
- As you press the kettlebell overhead, simultaneously dip your knees and quickly straighten them to generate momentum.
- As the kettlebell reaches its highest point, quickly drop underneath it by bending your knees and hips.
4. One-Arm Kettlebell Split Jerk
99.4% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Hold a kettlebell by the handle. Clean the kettlebell to your shoulder by extending through the legs and hips as you pull the kettlebell towards your shoulder. Rotate your wrist as you do so, so that the palm faces forward. This will be your starting position.
- Dip your body by bending the knees, keeping your torso upright.
- Immediately reverse direction, driving through the heels, in essence jumping to create momentum. As you do so, press the kettlebell overhead to lockout by extending the arms, using your body's momentum to move the weight.
- Receive the weight overhead by returning to a squat position underneath the weight, positioning one leg in front of you and one leg behind you.
- Keeping the weight overhead, return to a standing position and bring your feet together. Lower the weight to perform the next repetition.
5. Double Kettlebell Snatch
92.4% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Place two kettlebells behind your feet. Bend your knees and sit back to pick up the kettlebells.
- Swing the kettlebells between your legs forcefully and reverse the direction.
- Drive through with your hips and lock the ketttlebells overhead in one uninterrupted motion.
6. Double Kettlebell Jerk
90.3% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Hold a kettlebell by the handle in each hand.
- Clean the kettlebells to your shoulders by extending through the legs and hips as you pull the kettlebells towards your shoulders. Rotate your wrists as you do so, so that the palms face forward. This will be your starting position.
- Dip your body by bending the knees, keeping your torso upright.
- Immediately reverse direction, driving through the heels, in essence jumping to create momentum.
- As you do so, press the kettlebells overhead to lockout by extending the arms, using your body's momentum to move the weights.
7. One-Arm Kettlebell Split Snatch
89.2% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Hold a kettlebell in one hand by the handle.
- Squat towards the floor, and then reverse the motion, extending the hips, knees, and finally the ankles, to raise the kettlebell overhead.
- After fully extending the body, descend into a lunge position to receive the weights overhead, one leg forward and one leg back. Ensure you drive through with your hips and lock the ketttlebells overhead in one uninterrupted motion.
- Return to a standing position, holding the weight overhead, and bring the feet together. Lower the weight to return to the starting position.
8. Clean And Jerk
88.4% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- With a barbell on the floor close to the shins, take an overhand or hook grip just outside the legs. Lower your hips with the weight focused on the heels, back straight, head facing forward, chest up, with your shoulders just in front of the bar. This will be your starting position.
- Begin the first pull by driving through the heels, extending your knees. Your back angle should stay the same, and your arms should remain straight. Move the weight with control as you continue to above the knees.
- Next comes the second pull, the main source of acceleration for the clean. As the bar approaches the mid-thigh position, begin extending through the hips. In a jumping motion, accelerate by extending the hips, knees, and ankles, using speed to move the bar upward. There should be no need to actively pull through the arms to accelerate the weight; at the end of the second pull, the body should be fully extended, leaning slightly back, with the arms still extended.
- As full extension is achieved, transition into the third pull by aggressively shrugging and flexing the arms with the elbows up and out. At peak extension, aggressively pull yourself down, rotating your elbows under the bar as you do so. Receive the bar in a front squat position, the depth of which is dependent upon the height of the bar at the end of the third pull. The bar should be racked onto the protracted shoulders, lightly touching the throat with the hands relaxed. Continue to descend to the bottom squat position, which will help in the recovery.
- Immediately recover by driving through the heels, keeping the torso upright and elbows up. Continue until you have risen to a standing position.
9. Jerk Balance
88.4% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- This drill helps you learn to drive yourself low enough during the jerk and corrects those who move backward during the movement. Begin with the bar racked in the jerk position, with the shoulders forward, torso upright, and the feet split slightly apart.
- Initiate the movement as you would a normal jerk, dipping at the knees while keeping your torso vertical, and driving back up forcefully, using momentum and not your arms to elevate the weight.
- Keep the rear foot in place, using it to drive your body forward into a full split as you jerk the weight. Recover by standing up with the weight overhead.
10. Barbell One Arm Snatch
80.4% MatchHow to perform this exercise
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing slightly outwards.
- Hold the barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Bend your knees and lower your hips into a squat position, keeping your back straight and chest up.
- Explosively extend your hips, knees, and ankles, driving the barbell upwards.
- As the barbell reaches chest level, pull it upwards with your arm, keeping it close to your body.
Why You Might Need a Dumbbell One Arm Snatch Alternative
Training away from a dumbbell rack pushes lifters toward whatever their gym stocks, favoring kettlebells and barbells over a single dumbbell. The Dumbbell One Arm Snatch asks you to drive one weight from a hinge to a straight overhead lockout using your hips rather than your arm. The kettlebell snatches and the Clean And Jerk keep that pull and change what sits in your hand; the jerks start with the weight already at the shoulder and train only the dip, drive and catch. A kettlebell's handle sits above its bulk, so it swings differently than a dumbbell's fixed grip. A barbell locks both hands to one bar, trading single-arm balance for a symmetrical pull. The Barbell One Arm Snatch keeps one working arm on a bar, pulling it close to your body to lockout.
How to Choose the Right Substitute
If a kettlebell is what your gym stocks, the Kettlebell One Arm Clean And Jerk keeps the same hinge, hip drive and overhead punch, swinging between your legs instead of tracking close to your body. The Kettlebell One Arm Snatch follows the same path, a hang between the legs, a shoulder-height swing, an overhead punch, so it is interchangeable with the Clean And Jerk; the lifts that differ are the jerks, which start at the shoulder and skip the pull. Training with a barbell, the Clean And Jerk loads both hands, pulls from the floor into a front-rack catch, then dips and drives the bar overhead, landing in a split stance. To keep one arm working on a bar, the Barbell One Arm Snatch drives up from a squat and locks the bar out overhead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I do the Dumbbell One Arm Snatch at home?
Yes, if you swap the dumbbell for a kettlebell. The Kettlebell One Arm Clean And Jerk and the Kettlebell One Arm Snatch need one kettlebell and enough ceiling to lock it out; the Double Kettlebell Snatch needs a matched pair. None of them needs a rack or a bench.
Which alternatives use a barbell instead of a dumbbell?
The Clean And Jerk and the Jerk Balance both use a barbell instead of a single dumbbell or kettlebell. The Clean And Jerk pulls the bar from the floor into a front-rack catch with both hands loaded together, then jerks it overhead into a split stance, so it reaches the lockout in two phases where the Snatch takes one. The Jerk Balance drills the overhead catch on its own, without the pull from the floor.
What is the difference between the Kettlebell One Arm Clean And Jerk and the Kettlebell One Arm Snatch?
Going by the steps, very little separates them: both start with the kettlebell hanging between your legs, hinge, swing it to shoulder height off a hip snap, then rotate the hand and punch to lockout. Treat them as the same swap and pick whichever name your gym uses; the Clean And Jerk lands on triceps and core as the helpers, the Snatch on traps and forearms, but the path of the bell is the same.
Can I snatch a barbell with one arm?
Yes, the Barbell One Arm Snatch does exactly that. You grip the bar overhand, squat, then extend your hips, knees and ankles to drive it up, pull it close to your body past chest level and rotate your elbow under to lock out. Lower it under control and repeat on the other arm.
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