A common mistake trainees make is thinking the first and second pulls should have completely vertical barbell movement. I guess they thinking this because this is usually the line of reasoning for the squat. But that is not the case.
The simple reason is because if you are keeping the bar as close to you as possible WHILE you move your knees backwards in the first pull, then the barbell will move slightly BACKWARDS. Observe the following diagram for the clean, though the same logic applies for the snatch:
1. The thighs start just above parallel, so the shins are angle forward from the vertical. Shoulders over the bar.
2. The knees begin to move out of the way as the back angle remains constant.
3. The most crucial point: the shin angle is completely vertical (or close to). Hence, the barbell is right in front of the knees and has moved BACKWARDS from its starting position.
4. The double knee bend: The knees rebend as the shin angle becomes less vertical. The athlete should still try keeping the shoulder over the bar by engaging the lats
5. The moment before triple extension (aka. the power position). The barbell is as high as possible on the upper thighs. The shoulders are still slightly over or in line with the barbell. The ankles stay planted for as long as possible. The athlete tries to bring the bar as close to the hips as possible.
If you have trouble working on the bar path in the first or second pulls, the best variations to help would be snatch pull + snatch, low hang snatch and pause snatch. For cleans, I would recommend pause cleans and low hang cleans.
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