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Kettlebell 32kg press critiques

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rickyw

rickyw

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All,

I am doing the Soju and Tuba press program. I am on day 8. Below are videos of me on my last set of the session pressing the 32kg for two reps. Would you be able to offer any critiques in regards to my press? Also, my clean too if you see anything. Thanks!



 
I'm no expert, but your right looked pretty good to me. On your left, though, it seemed like you had a shade too much back bend. Could have been the camera angle, and I could be wrong.
Just remember... Minimal back bend, always.
 
I have been pretty mindful of avoiding lumbar extension, but I'll have to re film the left...I think the oblique angle is misleading but best to be sure.
 
@rickyw Nice grind!

2 tips:

A) After your clean, pick a side and move that foot in a step to narrow your stance. This will allow for a stronger glute / dear Abbie's contraction and minimize the back bend.

B) Make a tight fist with the non pressing hand. Will send a signal to the pressing side and enhance your pressing strength.
 
@rickyw
I'll piggback on both the comments made above.

It does look like you are laying back a lot on the left. It's not just a matter of avoiding lumbar extension. It's more that it doesn't look like you are catching the bell in the rack in a planked up/zipped up/spring loaded position, so you don't have a strong base to press from.

The right side looks much more solid.

Moving your stance in from the clean can help you wedge under the weight more strongly. Get the working side hip under the bell so your have more of a straight line of support under the weight (bell-elbow-hip-foot). Move your non-working side foot, so your working side foot can stay rooted under the weight. You can even move the non-working foot during the float of the clean so you are receiving the bell already in your pressing stance.

Personally, I've never gotten anything out of the "make a fist with the off hand" thing. To me, it's a distraction of attention from the more primary aspects of the lift and siphons off "neural drive" into an area that isn't really necessary. When grinding through a sticking point, I find it more useful to focus on contracting the glutes and bracing the abs, which seems to have a more direct effect on stopping tension leakages (for me).

Finally, own your lockout. Strongly fixate the bell overhead in a stable, squared up position before lowering. You worked hard to put that bell overhead. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Show it off. Savor it. Own it.
 
Hello,

natewhite39 said:
B) Make a tight fist with the non pressing hand. Will send a signal to the pressing side and enhance your pressing strength.
Click to expand...

I did not know that ! :)

Is there also some tips about breathing ? Some studies say ab breating would improve strength.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
@rickyw, a solid effort and would pass at a cert, IMHO. For the left side, review all the pressing cues in whatever materials you have - you need to be tighter in the rack position through your midsection. Trying zipping up your thighs, try driving your heels into the ground, experiment with stance width and also where you look and when during your press.

-S-
 
Looks good!

I'll add to some of the above, the lockout should be with a little more authority. I find this promotes good stability on the eccentric as well.
 
Looks good and its better than me, so I wouldnt presume to critique, but I didn't find the non-press hand fist thing very useful until I practiced with something to squeeze. Someone on the forum suggested a partially full plastic water bottle, and it had just enough give and then solidity to feel like I was doing something and I could immediately feel the irradiation. I've since found several other things laying around that also work well; a dog toy, a short pipe roughly kb handle size etc. Tip, a cell phone is not a good item to crush...
 
The others already pointed out the things you could improve in your clean and rack, but I want to add that your lockout is not where it's supposed to be. If you were to move your arm towards the head in the lockout, your bicep should be touching your ear. Yours is like 1-2 inches out to the front.
Combined with the slight back bend I think you're compensating for missing shoulder mobility.

Also look at your own vids at 0,25x speed. You'll see for yourself when and where unnecessary movement and tension leakage is happening.
 
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Is it required that the bicep touch the ear? I was under the impression that with a heavy bell you have to lean to the side somewhat, which would by necessity take my shoulder away from my ear. I only weigh 164, so i doubt I can avoid kicking the hip out and leaning away
 
No you shouldn't be actually touching the ear, but as I said if you were to move the arm towards the head, the bicep should touch the ear.
Maybe you're right that this changes when things start to get heavy (the KBs start to get bigger and bigger so the center of mass shifts).
Can someone who trains a lot of people in the KB moves comment on that?
 
rickyw said:
Is it required that the bicep touch the ear?
Click to expand...
No, not required at all. We like the bicep behind the ear when viewed from the side if possible, but that's it. Viewed from the front, bicep touching ear is actually _not_ a good idea for most people - keep your shoulder packed and there will be some space in there. If you look at the interview with me that was posted here recently, in one of the pictures you'll see me in the lockout position of a press - lots of space between bicep and ear.

Article link: Powerless To Powerlift: Ridgewood Man Beats Back Injury

I tried to link to the individual picture but I couldn't figure out how to do that.

-S-
 
@Kettlebelephant @rickyw

Regarding shifting weight over your hip, IMO yes you want to do that. It is a subtle thing, but if you have the correct pressing groove it should almost automatically happen.

Try to take advantage of the Kettlebells' design and "push yourself away" from the bell rather than attempting to press it straight up. Dig out your copy of ETK for review as Pavel outlines the pressing groove in detail.
 
I interpreted @Kettlebelephant's description to refer to the front to back position of the lockout, not the side to side position. In other words, he was observing that you are locking out out with the bell in front of your body instead of in line with your head (or behind the ear as @Steve Freides mentions above).

Yes, with a relatively heavy weight, some side lean is allowed, unavoidable, and even desirable DURING the press, but IMO at 164lbs you should be able to square up pretty straight with 32kg overhead. And you should definitely be able to have your arm in line with or behind the ear without leaning back.

That brief touch and go lockout is a mobility red flag to me because it suggests you may be using a lot of muscle power to fight against a mobility restriction in order to lock out your elbow, instead of being able to align your structure under the bell and comfortably support it.
 
Steve W. said:
That brief touch and go lockout is a mobility red flag to me because it suggests you may be using a lot of muscle power to fight against a mobility restriction in order to lock out your elbow, instead of being able to align your structure under the bell and comfortably support it.
Click to expand...

That's a really great observation, and brilliantly worded. Wow. I think I just learned about 5 things from that one sentence.
 
+1 to pausing at lockout - I _always_ do this, no exceptions. Minimum 1-second pause in rack, same in lockout.

-S-
 
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