This Mistake is DESTROYING Your Press | 5 Simple Tips to Fix It FAST
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At every strengthlifting meet, there are always one or two people who get red lights in the press and don’t know why.
It’s the knees.
The dynamic use of the hips in the press gives a nice throw or bounce at the beginning of the movement, and reaching the hips forward also causes your upper body (and thus your head as well) to counterbalance by moving back slightly and clearing a path for the barbell.
Excellent, but in the words of Uncle Ben (of Spiderman fame): “With great power comes great responsibility.”
figure 1: it’s not usually as egregious as this demonstration shows . . . usually. at any rate, this clearly shows the knee flexion you’re trying to avoid.
Reach forward with your hips, but keep your knees straight. If your knees flex (Figure 1) and contribute to the upward movement of the bar, the lift doesn’t count as you’ve now performed a push press and not a press.
Still a solid lift – but not the one you’re trying to do.
If your knees unlock when you press, you’ve got a problem, so here are five cues to help fix your situation.
If you want to see these errors and their solutions in action, check out the short video below.
Cue #1: Flex Your Quads
This is the simple approach and is how we teach the press from the start. We usually cue movements and not muscles, but when we do cue muscles, we do so – as in the case here – to prevent movement. Specifically, you are preventing the bending of your knees.
Before you reach forward with your hips, flex your quads hard. Your quads are responsible for straightening the knees and keeping them straight (Figure 2), so contract them hard and keep them contracted hard throughout the lift.
figure 2: so much better.
Cue #2: Tight Knees
This cue conveys the idea that your knees should remain tight and rigid throughout the lift. Keep your knees immovable.
Cue #3: Lock Your Knees
This cue reminds you to lock your knees (and thus use your quads without thinking about your quads) before your start. Lock them before you start the lift and keep them locked.
Cue #4: Pull Your Kneecaps Up
Look down at your kneecaps and consciously flex your quads. Notice that your kneecaps rise when you do this (Figure 3).
figure 3: Quads relaxed and kneecap down (left) vs quads contracted and kneecap pulled up (right)
Now that you have a picture in your head of what happens when you flex your quads, you cue yourself to pull your kneecaps up before you reach forward with your hips. Pull ‘em up and keep ‘em up.
Cue #5: Keep Your Knees Back
This is a favorite of mine.
As your hips move forward at the start of the press, your knees do too, so it’s an overcue, but your knees should never be as far forward as your hips are. At the most extreme point of reaching your hips, your hips should be farther forward than any other part of your body – including your knees.
Watch this phenomenon in action in the video below.
Cue yourself to keep your knees back when you reach with your hips. It just might be the concept you’ve been missing.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
-Phil
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