• 
• 
• 
• 

In the snatch and jerk, there’s a critical difference between putting the bar over the back of your neck, and putting the back of your neck under the bar.
 
The proper overhead position involves a slight forward lean of the trunk to achieve this relationship of barbell over the back of the neck, but this needs to occur primarily as a result of trying to move the bar back into position.
 
Focusing instead on reaching the head and chest forward will tend to bring them too far forward too soon, causing the bar to stay too far forward and putting your body in an unbalanced and weak position.
 
In the snatch, this means instability overhead and imbalance in the squat. You may miss forward by being too imbalanced and the bar moving even farther forward, or behind because for the sake of balance your arms have to angle too far backward to be stable.
 
In the jerk, this means the hips moving backward out from under the bar, the front foot landing short, and the weight being too far forward to support properly.
 
Remember that as you try to push or pull the bar back into position, you will also be pulled forward to some extent naturally—rely on that natural reaction rather than adding to it and ruining everything.