Fix Your Press - Part 3: TWO Ways to Fix Your Stance

This is the third article in our series on helping you improve your press. Today’s topic - the correct stance. In this article, you’ll also find a couple of videos related to this issue.

Since the press is performed while standing, the stance is rather important, so let’s quickly fix two aspects of your stance.

First, when you unrack the bar to start pressing, take two small steps back from the rack. There is no need to back up a long way from the rack, and indeed, it’s a waste of energy to do so. “Two half steps” is a solid way to think of the situation - a half step with the right foot, then a half step with the left foot - and you’re good to go. Stay close to the rack, and watch the included video (“Fix Your Stance…”) for a quick demonstration.

Second, take a relatively wide stance when pressing, and in fact, your squat stance serves pretty well for a pressing stance. If you’d like to go a bit wider than your squat stance, that’s fine too, but don’t take a narrow stance - again, watch the video above for a demonstration of what to do as well as what not to do. Remember, the press already starts a long way from your balance point (i.e., the middle of your foot), and it finishes even further from the balance point (i.e., up over your head), and as a result, the press is very susceptible to deviations in the bar path. It behaves almost like an Olympic lift (i.e., the snatch or clean-and-jerk) in this respect, and indeed, the press actually used to be part of Olympic weightlifting.

Because it’s so sensitive to bar path deviations, taking a wider stance (as compared to a narrower one) gives you a more stable base from which to press. Full disclosure - the wider stance doesn’t do a lot to help with front-to-back balance, but it at least helps eliminate any side-to-side balance issues, and every little bit helps in the press.

The toe angle of the stance is not as big of a deal as the width of the stance - again, your squat stance will serve pretty well. Some lifters will point their toes out a bit more than that as this can help reduce the likelihood of knee bend in the press, and this is fine. However, it’s a game of trade-offs here - remember that if you point your toes much further out than you do in your squat stance, you’ve started to effectively shorten the length of your feet from front-to-back, and this can negatively affect your balance.

In summary, stay close to the rack, and take a relatively wide stance. As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.


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