Shakira and the Press: Hips Don't Lie

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 12/09/22)

A common problem in the press is that - instead of reaching forward with the hips and using the rebound this creates - a lifter will accidentally reach backwards with the shoulders. The two movements - reaching forward with the hips and reaching backward with the shoulders - look almost the same, but one makes for a stronger press while the other absolutely hinders the press.

To see this in action as it’s being explained, check out one of the short videos included in this article.

Reaching forward with the hips helps us in two ways - first, that nice rebound out of the hips gives us a nice launch at the beginning of the movement. Second, it helps clear our face back out of the way of the barbell (a natural countermovement).

However, if you reach backward with your shoulders instead, you’ll still clear your head out of the way of the bar, but you won’t get any sort of launch or rebound from the hips, and indeed, it will actually make for a much harder and weaker press.

In the photo at left, Becky correctly reaches forward with her hips. In the photo at right, Becky incorrectly reaches backward with her shoulders. For comparison, check the position of the bar with respect to the squat stand in the background.

To check whether or not you’re making this error, ask yourself, “Where am I feeling my balance?” when you reach forward with your hips. If you feel your weight shift momentarily to the balls of your feet, you’re on the right track.

However, if you feel your weight shift to your heels, then you know that you’re accidentally reaching backwards with your shoulders instead of forward with your hips.

Remind yourself of this the next time you press. Simply make your balance shift briefly to the balls of your feet as you reach with your hips, and you’ll be off to an excellent start.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

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The Press: Make the Bar Go DOWN?!

(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/25/22)

Not sure about the hips movement in the press? Maybe you can “reach and bounce” just fine without the barbell, but when you add the bar to the movement, everything turns to garbage. Perhaps you just don’t know what it’s supposed to look like. Let’s fix it with a simple cue.

Becky in the start position (note the bar’s position relative to the horizontal barbell in the background)

Bar Cue vs Body Cue
Cueing yourself to “reach and bounce” with your hips is a perfectly good approach, but if the timing of your hips and pressing is still off, trying using a bar cue instead of a body cue, i.e., try telling yourself what you want the bar to do, and let your body figure out the rest.

Becky demonstrates the initial downward movement of the bar (again, note the bar’s position relative to the horizontal barbell in the background)

The Bar Goes DOWN First
When the hips reach forward, you get a bit shorter (since you’re no longer standing up straight), and since you are getting shorter - briefly - the bar should go down, so remind yourself of this. Simply tell yourself to make the bar go down before it goes up.

When the hips go forward, the bar goes down, and as the hips bounce back into place (i.e., as you stand up), the bar starts to go up. The cue is: “Make the bar go down.” More simply, you can cue yourself: “Down-then-up.”

Try this out the next time you press and see if it helps. Additionally, watching this motion in action can be very helpful, so I’d recommend watching the video at the end of this article. In the meantime, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

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If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Interested in getting stronger, looking better, and having more energy?

What You Should NEVER Do When Pressing!

If you've trained the press long enough, you've had the experience wherein you push that barbell slightly forward out of that nice bar path you're aiming for, and suddenly, a press that should have been merely challenging instead becomes nearly impossible. Today, we cover three cues to fix this problem.

figure 1: Getting ready to aim for the nose

Solution 1: Target
For starters, give yourself a target at which to aim before starting each rep. Specifically, aim for your nose.

Don’t worry - your nose will be safely out of the way. There’s a natural counterbalancing movement that happens with the hips action of the press - the hips go forward, and your head moves back and out of the way.

Having a target can help significantly, so aim for your nose, or aim for where you nose was if you’re feeling pedantish (in which case “pedantish” bothers you to no end).

Solution 2: Overcue the Bar Path
If aiming for your nose doesn’t help you solve the problem, simply cue yourself to “press it backward” or “throw it back.” This is most certainly an overcue - an exaggeration of the correction needed - but overcues are often useful when trying to fix an error.

Solution 3: Elbows Forward
When you press the bar forward of the correct trajectory, you may accidentally be allowing the elbows to drift backward when you reach forward with your hips.

figure 2: the elbows have correctly dipped down but not backward.

Make no mistake, as you push the hips forward, the bar should dip slightly, which means the elbows should dip slightly as well. However, the elbows start the lift slightly in front of the bar and should stay slightly in front of the bar during this process (Figure 2). In other words, the elbows will dip down, but they should not drift backward as well.

If the elbows drift back (Figure 3), it greatly increases the chance that you will launch the bar forward. To fix this error, cue yourself to “keep the elbows forward” while you reach with your hips. The shorter version of this cue is simply “elbows forward.”

figure 3: the elbows have incorrectly drifted backward.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

(Some links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Testify earns from qualifying purchases.)

If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.

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FIX Your Press | Correct Your TERRIBLE Knees to Press More!

Are your terrible knees ruining your press? In this video - our seventh and final in the series of Saturday Shorts on fixing the press - Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers quickly discusses and demonstrates how to solve this problem.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 07/23/22)

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FIX Your Press in less than TWO MINUTES! | Get Your Focal Point Right

Is your focal point - or lack thereof - DESTROYING your press? In this video - our sixth in the series of Saturday Shorts on fixing the press - Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers quickly discusses and demonstrates how to solve this problem.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 07/16/22)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Click the button below to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach and start getting stronger TODAY.

FIX Your Press | Correct Your AWFUL Grip to Press More!

Is your awful grip ruining your press? In this video - our 5th in the series of Saturday Shorts on fixing the press - Starting Strength Coach Phil Meggers quickly discusses and demonstrates how to solve this problem.

(A Blast from the Past video originally published on 07/09/22)

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At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Click the button below to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach and start getting stronger TODAY.