As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
Fix Your Press - Part 5: Correct Your AWFUL Grip
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(This is the fifth article in our series on helping you improve your press. Today’s topic - the correct grip width. In this article, you’ll also find a couple of videos related to today’s topic.)
It’s easy to accidentally take a grip on the press that’s far too wide, so let’s fix this quick.
The press utilizes a relatively narrow grip - simply reach out in front of you as if you’re Frankenstein’s monster, and this will give you the shoulder width grip that we’re looking for. Most guys will take their grip right on the edge of the knurl or perhaps a finger width into the knurl, while most gals (and smaller guys) might have an index finger on the smooth part of the bar with the rest of the fingers on the knurling (see the included video for a visual demonstration).
These landmarks are not set in stone, but they will get you started. To check your press grip width, remember that when you’ve unracked the bar and are ready to press, you want to have vertical forearms when viewed from directly in front of you (you’ll need to record yourself if you don’t have a coach or training partner). If your forearms are angled out, you’ll need to narrow the grip a bit, and if the forearms are angled inward (less common), you’ll need to widen the grip a bit.
To be clear - the grip width for pressing is NOT the same width grip you use for benching, and here’s a quick way to remember the different grip widths for each lift. Note that “bench press” is comprised of two words - simply imagine the words “bench press” (in large print) floating in front of you and place your left hand on one side of “bench press” and your right hand on the other side of “bench press.” On the other hand, “press” only has one word, so if you repeat that process with “press,” you’ll have a significantly narrower grip for the press than for the bench press (the video above helps greatly with picturing this).
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?
Fix Your Press - Part 4: Correct Your TERRIBLE Elbows
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This is the fourth article in our series on helping you improve your press. Today’s topic - the correct positioning for the elbows. In this article, you’ll also find a couple of videos related to today’s topic.
It’s rather easy to put your elbows in a rather awful position when pressing, so let’s fix this problem. When pressing, start by taking your grip at roughly arms’ length from the bar. Next, walk up very close to the bar - touching your chest to the bar is a reasonable way to do this - and then dip down with your legs so that your elbows can swing under and forward. Be sure to dip down far enough so that your elbows can move into a position that is slightly in front of the bar when viewed from the side (see the video below for a demonstration).
This “elbows-slightly-in-front-of-the-bar” position should be established before standing the bar up from the rack. Do NOT unrack the bar (i.e., standing up with the bar in your hands) until your elbows are in the correct position. A common mistake is trying to get the elbows in front of the bar after you’ve unracked it and taken your stance, but this makes for a lot of wasted energy and effort since you’re already supporting the weight at this point. Getting the elbows right before you unrack it is far more efficient than doing so after the fact . . . so let’s be efficient.
After the correct elbow position has been established, simply stand up and take two short steps (two “half-steps”) back from the rack. At this point, viewed from the front, you should have vertical forearms, and viewed from the side, you’ll see the tips of your elbows slightly in front of the bar.
It’s also worth noting that if your elbows are incorrectly positioned behind the bar, you’re far more likely to have wrists bent backward in extension - a rather weak position and not the position we’re aiming for when setting up to press. Having the elbows in the right spot will help you with both bar path and wrist positioning - both of which will contribute to a better press.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?
Fix Your Press - Part 3: TWO Ways to Fix Your Stance
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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.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?
Fix Your Press - Part 2: Your Hideous Wrists
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This is the second article in our series on helping you improve your press. Today’s topic - the correct positioning of the wrists. In this article, you’ll also find a couple of videos related to this issue.
You’ve read the book, you’ve watched the videos, and you’re ready to press. You walk up to the bar and take a nice narrow grip - you’ve even pronated your hands slightly to make sure that the bar is being supported on the base of the palms (i.e., over the bones of the forearm). On top of this, you’ve got relatively neutral wrists - roughly 10-15 degrees of extension - which is great.
And then it happens. You rotate your elbows forward and under the bar, and somehow, you end up with your wrists bent backward in extreme extension or, on the opposite end of things, you try unracking the bar with your wrists flexed over the top of the bar (watch the “Fix your Weak Wrists…” video to see examples of each error). Both are inefficient positions from which to press, and the latter position makes it practically impossible to even support the bar.
Let’s fix this.
The first solution is to remember that once you’ve grabbed the bar with neutral wrists, you must make your wrists behave as if they’re in a cast. Don’t let them change shape after this point - treat them as if they don’t exist anymore - that joint has been permanently fused into its current shape, and you’re going to hold that shape as you unrack the bar and while you press.
The second solution is to allow the bar to rotate when you bring your elbows forward and under the bar. You’re rotating your elbows forward, so be sure to let the bar rotate in the rack as well - the bar should rotate with you as you prepare to unrack it. Dip down with your legs as low as you need to so that you’ve got room to rotate your elbows forward and under the bar while maintaining those “frozen” wrists (again, watch the video above to see these solutions in action).
If you notice that you’ve still allowed your wrists to change shape, don’t unrack the bar. Fix the wrist position now - before you’ve unracked it - because fixing it while supporting a heavy bar in your hands is much tougher to accomplish. Once the wrists are correctly positioned, you can then stand the bar up and back out from the rack to begin pressing.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?
Fix Your Press - Part 1: The Awful Timing of Your Hips
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Today’s article is the first in a series of articles designed to help you improve various aspects of your press. Today’s topic - the timing of the hips movement.
The problem of incorrectly timing the hips movement shows up quite a bit with lifters as they’re learning the press. You’ve read the book, you’ve watched the videos, you’ve even done a couple of reps pretty decently, and then something suddenly gets off with the timing of your lift. What gives?
When we initiate the press, the hips should go forward first, and then they simply bounce back into place, i.e., we reach forward with our hips and then stand back up again. As we stand back up again (as the hips come back into place), we want to then use that upward momentum to start driving the barbell upward as well.
In other words, the hips should bounce first, and then we press, but the mistake we often see is that of reaching with the hips and trying to press upward at the same time (watch the video above for an example of this as well as how to do it correctly). When this happens, it will usually feel extremely weird, but it can be difficult to figure out what’s actually happened unless you have a coach watching, so this is where recording yourself on video can be a useful approach.
To solve this timing problem, simply cue yourself, “Hips then press,” or if that doesn’t work, you can remind yourself that the bar needs to go down first (not up) as you start the movement. In other words, we want the bar to dip downward a few inches as the hips reach forward, and the mistake you’ve made is that of trying to press it upward as the hips reach forward, so simply cue yourself “The bar goes down first.”
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
-Phil
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