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Kettlebell Bent press - “upper arm must stay in contact with lat”

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Meghan O'Connell

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Certified Instructor
Hi. I’m turning my attention to the bent press. This part of the standard puzzles me: “The upper arm must stay in contact with the lat on the way down.”

Does this basically mean, stay packed and tight throughout?

Also, if anyone has (especially visualization type of) metaphors or cues that they use for this, I would love to know them!

Thank you
 
When I get the bent press right, I can literally feel my lat camming into the back of my upper arm, forcing it straight. Being packed and tight is part, but not all of it. Setting up with the bell far enough behind you to get your upper arm resting on your lat, and moving through a groove that keeps the lat driving into the back of the arm also contribute. I feel like my arm just guides and stabilizes the bell for a good 80% of the extension, with just a little actual pressing at the very end. When I get it right, that is.
 
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When I get the bent press right, I can literally feel my lat camming into the back of my upper arm, forcing it straight.

This^
Your ribcage acts like a cam, when you do it right you can feel it elevating the elbow as you go over. Line the upper arm just past the midline on your ribcage, so the muscle tension can somewhat passively keep the arm stabilized. Once the load is close enough to line up with your shoulder you can come back up or drop into a squat, keeping the support arm more or less straight.

In all phases remember the Bent Press is a skeletal lift, the muscles play a balance and support role throughout but the skeleton supports the load in every phase.

I recommend folks learning to start with a moderate to light weight and slowly rep just about to failure. Once you can no longer fudge it with the muscles you'll start to support more and more with your skeleton as a reflex.
 
Grip the Kettlebell handle as tight as you can as you start to rotate under the bell. This activates the lat and your arm will rise on the it. It will also help to stabilise the shoulder.
As @rwleonard said there is only a small push at then end if you have fully rotated under the bell. Dont rush this, its easy to not fully rotate and push the bell into position which can be tough on the shoulder. It takes a while to get this but once you do it feels very smooth, like you've been lubricated.
Bent pressing on the lat is actually easier with heavier bells because your arm is pushed down on to it by the extra weight, but don't rush to the heavier weight, make sure your rotation under the bell is sound. If not you could injure your shoulder and miss out on the benefits .
I love the bent press, enjoy the journey.
 
Thank you everyone. So I looked up what a cam is with YouTube animations, and I'm not sure if it has helped or made me even more confused. Like, where is the push coming from? And related to that, I think that part of what I'm not getting is, the lat is an internal rotator and an adductor, so how does the lat even turn on when we begin the move? Is it working eccentrically??

Thank you also for the caveat on weight. When gyms were open a few months ago, I tried pressing against a loaded Smith machine, which had helped at the time, and I actually just started it again this morning with my fist only to try and feel the "lines" working.
 
To quote Pavel, "Understanding is a delaying tactic." I got the idea long before I did enough reps with enough weight to actually feel it work. Off to the courage corner with you. ;)
 
Well, my painfully methodical brain needs to know the steps and the "why" of things, or I just don't move forward from where I block. Everyone is different. Thank you for your input, especially on setting up far enough behind :)
 
Thank you everyone. So I looked up what a cam is with YouTube animations, and I'm not sure if it has helped or made me even more confused. Like, where is the push coming from? And related to that, I think that part of what I'm not getting is, the lat is an internal rotator and an adductor, so how does the lat even turn on when we begin the move? Is it working eccentrically??

Thank you also for the caveat on weight. When gyms were open a few months ago, I tried pressing against a loaded Smith machine, which had helped at the time, and I actually just started it again this morning with my fist only to try and feel the "lines" working.


There are a million cues to Bent Press, think in terms of constantly supporting the load with skeleton.

The upper arm rests on the ribcage with elbow lined up more or less over the uphill hip. As you crank over, the upper arm continues to support the load, backed by the ribcage.

The load-bearing arm transitions from support over the hip, to line up across the shoulders vertically in line with the downhill leg, at the knee. The load is supported by the shoulder socket and ribcage.

The load transitions to the shoulder socket and balances there as if on a pole. You can start to come up a la windmill, or drop into a squat, keeping the load over the shoulder. The arm points up the whole time as the body moves beneath it.
 
Push yourself away from the bell. The feeling in the lat is like if you're standing and you push your hand down and slightly back, like you're pushing up from a chair with your hands on the arms of the chair. As you push when doing this, your upper arm is in contact with the lat, right? Push like this when you're in that "start to press" position (rotated and arm is bent) and you're getting to where the arm is straight. Push yourself away from the stationary bell. Your torso and head moves down because the bell is stationary. Then come up. Lots of ways to explain it... maybe that will resonate.

I also didn't "get" it until I went heavier. I tried and tried with 16kg and found it very frustrating for many months. Only when I tried with 20kg, then 24kg did I "get" it. That same day I went up to 28kg. Here's a 32kg bent press but I don't know if this meets the standard of the upper arm being in contact with the lat "on the way down."
 
Oh, that is the other style that they describe in the book. Quite different from Zar's demo on the site. Thanks!
 
Hi. I’m turning my attention to the bent press. This part of the standard puzzles me: “The upper arm must stay in contact with the lat on the way down.”

Does this basically mean, stay packed and tight throughout?

Also, if anyone has (especially visualization type of) metaphors or cues that they use for this, I would love to know them!

Thank you
Iron Tamer explains this in the video which he now shared for free during the covid lockdown:
 
Here's an analogy which I used for a trainee that worked well for him..

Imagine stiff arming the bell towards a corner while you separate yourself from it as quickly as possible

Maybe you can upload a recent vid of your bent press so we can see what needs work and what is already good,?
 
Iron Tamer explains this in the video which he now shared for free during the covid lockdown:
Thanks! I don't usually do the "click here and get something free" bit, but this does look pretty amazing.
 
Thanks! I don't usually do the "click here and get something free" bit, but this does look pretty amazing.

I know what you mean. But it’s the real deal here, from one of the most prominent KB Masters. It’s just his kind gesture to share it for free when the lockdown kicked in.
 
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