Why Your Press is WEAK: Fix Your Unrack and Grip with this Simple Mnemonic Device
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(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 09/22/23)
A common problem in the press is a terrible unracking process, and we've covered this before in both videos and articles, but here’s a different take - a simple mnemonic device - that just might help you out.
The Problem
You know you want a neutral wrist when pressing. It shouldn’t be completely straight (although we might use the overcue “straight wrists” at times), but it certainly should not be bent backward in full extension, either.
The problem of full extension is the more common of the two errors and is the situation we’re addressing here. For a video demonstration and explanation of this problem as well as how to solve it, be sure to watch one of the included videos.
When It Happens
You’re setting up to take your grip for the press - your grip is relatively narrow, you’ve pronated your hands slightly, and although you know you’re supposed to maintain a rigid, neutral wrist position as you approach and unrack the barbell, it’s at this point that everything goes in the crapper. Somehow, as you approached the bar, you allowed your wrists to bend backward into full extension - which is a very weak and inefficient position from which to press - and now your coach wants to gouge his eyes out. Let’s prevent this.
The Culprit
You simply didn’t get low enough to allow yourself to maintain a neutral wrist. Remember that the legs are responsible for unracking the bar correctly - in a manner of speaking, you pick it up with your legs, not your arms. You need to dip down low enough so that you can keep your wrists neutral when approaching and unracking the bar. A decent pair of wrist wraps can help maintain neutral wrists, but they won’t cover up the root problem of not dipping down low enough with your legs.
A Simple Mnemonic Device
“Chest to bar, chin to bar.”
When taking your pronated grip, be sure to squeeze the bar tightly - crush the bar, if you will - then walk your chest up to the bar with your feet directly under the bar. This “chest to bar” aspect ensures you are close enough to the bar. Next, squat down - you’re actually just bending your knees - until the underside of your chin touches the bar.
By doing this, you’ve dipped down far enough that you’ve given yourself sufficient room to maintain a neutral wrist. If you don’t dip down far enough to create that space, your wrists will have to bend backward into extension to allow you to pick up the bar (because bending your wrists backward makes your forearms artificially shorter), and this is what you’re trying to avoid.
That’s all there is to it - simply walk your chest up to the bar, dip down until your chin touches the bar as you rotate your elbows slightly in front of the bar, and then stand the bar up while maintaining that nice, neutral wrist.
As a side note, some people won’t need to dip that far down; “chin to bar” will be overkill in these cases, but it will still work for pretty much everyone.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better!
-Phil
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