Jane Asks: How do you fix constantly catching a heavy snatch on the balls of feet instead of on the heels (But not jumping forward)?
 
Greg Says: The first part of fixing the problem is determining the cause. There are three basic possibilities: you’re inactive or incorrectly active with the foot movement, you’re not getting enough power at the top of the pull, or your balance is a bit too far back at the end of the pull.
 
If left to their own devices, the feet will usually land on the toes or the balls of the foot first and roll flat—landing flat-footed requires some intervention. The first thing to try is simply attempting to land on flat feet and not make it any more complicated than that—aim to make a noise on contact, because that will indicate a flat reconnection instead of a roll.
 
If that doesn’t work (and it likely won’t in this case because you’re aware of the problem and likely trying to fix it this way already), focus on how you’re lifting your feet. If you lift the feet directly, i.e. the feet themselves are your focus, typically you’ll bend the knees primarily, which means the feet will just swing back behind the knees, pointing the toes down, and end up connecting toes first. Instead, think about bending at the hips or lifting the knees up—this will help keep the feet under your hips rather than behind, and naturally keep the soles of the feet closer to parallel with the floor. You can watch this video for more details on that.
 
Next, be sure you’re balanced over the whole foot through the entire pull rather than shifting too far back toward the heels. If as your feet separate from the floor your balance is too far back, the body reacts naturally by moving the feet back to prevent you from falling, and that motion places the toes down.
 
Finally, similar to the result of backward imbalance, if you’re lacking that final blast of upward power at the top of the pull, the feet tend to drag briefly back onto the toes rather than your having adequate time to lift and replant them intentionally. This can be an issue of technique in the sense that poor timing can set you up for it, but it can also just be a need to develop more power through training.
 
In either of these cases, snatch/clean from power position or dip snatch/clean can be helpful, along with just about any hang variation, especially from mid-thigh and higher.