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Kettlebell C&P Critique

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@Abdul Rasheed

Looks good but there is room for improvement.

To ME your left side looks better overall. Smoother clean and it leads to a better press. Hard to see since you have loose pants on but try pulling the knees up and crushing your glutes a bit more as you finish the cleans.
Press Groove looks pretty good on both sides.

Right side clean could go back further on the hike and also keep the bell closer to you as you rack it. You are casting out a bit.

Keep at it!

Look at @Jeff Sokol 's video here.

 
Thank you @MikeMoran @Steve W. @Mark Limbaga Its apparent the difference between left and right side; Steve Friedes had made the same observations too; clearly I failed in implementing it. No I am not left handed, I am right handed :) I will practice the tips, and video record, when I think I got better, I will post again. Thans.
 
I never felt clean/crisper about my cleans. A lot missing in my cleans, a lot of extra movements and what not when I compare mine with others like Jeff Sokol. I will try to keep it close to my body Mark Limbaga. I know some of you will say it will come with time. I have been doing it for several months now.
 
Abdul Rasheed said:
I never felt clean/crisper about my cleans. A lot missing in my cleans, a lot of extra movements and what not when I compare mine with others like Jeff Sokol. I will try to keep it close to my body Mark Limbaga. I know some of you will say it will come with time. I have been doing it for several months now.
Click to expand...

one great resource for quick tips is SFTL Martine Kerr's instagram and facebook page: Kult Fitness
 
Hi Abdul, you appear to be a little "loose" to me. beginning with your set up, make sure you are tensing your body in the right spots. When you bend down for the set up, brace your abs, flex your spine a bit and tighten your lats, then really hike the bell back, keeping your arm high in the crotch and your upper arm tight to the ribs. then squeeze the glutes hard as the hips drive forward. Pause for a second at the top, not to relax, but to reset and make sure your entire body, from feet to hands, gets tight before the press. then crush crush crush the handle as you press the bell overhead. stay tight and lean into the bell for a second at the top before dropping into the next rep. the C&P will allow you to move heavy weights from the floor overhead, but only if you attack it and in order to attack it you need to tighten up.
 
@Keep Lifting thank you, you are right, I am loose. I know the cues but not crisp enough in executing them I think. I will work on it, thanks for you tips. I liked the way you described: "attack". Thanks again.
 
I agree with @Keep Lifting's description of being a little "loose". If there's one thing that helped me press heavy (44k at 175bw) it was creating a TON of tension prior to the press. I've also seen it work wonders for my students on a daily basis. All of his cues are spot on. I would also suggest you narrow your stance a bit before pressing and make sure your forearm alignment is as close to vertical as you can get it. Keep at it!
 
Planks are a good choice, as long as they're done with maximum tension. It's a position people can do in a "relaxed-ish" way. Work on your hollow position and apply appropriate degrees of that tension to your other exercises. Have a great day!
 
Mr. @Abdul Rasheed ,
+1 to all pre-posters!

I have a few tips, none of them original as I got them all from the SF Community (aciampa , Anna C, Steve Freides, Steve W., Brett Jones, MikeMoran, Keep Lifting , and probably more than a few others.)

- Your clean looks powered by mostly arm. I had the same problem. KeepLifting made a great point about squeezing the glutes and driving the hips forward. A heavier bell might help to highlight this, as it would be harder to do with just your arm.
- Al Ciampa made a great comment about "compressing the spring" during your hike, which helps power your hip drive. Maybe a bit more flexion at the hips and tiny bit of sit will help this.

(I took a break and went to do my C&P Ladders so these would be fresh in my mind for you, sir.)
Mr. Spezzano and Keep Lifting both spoke about tension, and LOTS of it, so I wanted to share with you some great cues I've been clued into by the SF Commuity.
Mental Checklist of Tension
- Pull your kneecaps to your belly button. Pretend there is a hook sticking out of your navel and there is a super strong elastic band attached to your knee caps. When you drive your hips forward from your hike, hook the elastic and keep it there, pulling your kneecaps up to your chin if need be. =] Hold that until you drop the bell from the rack to re clean.
- Cramp your glutes. CRAMP your Glutes. Like you have on short shorts and you want to show off. Cramp the glutes from the instant you initiate forward hip drive. TighT. For the entire movement. Hold that until you drop the bell from the rack to re clean.
- "Muscular corset" (From ETK) Braced abs, tight low back, a cummerbund of tension which stays on for the whole dance.
- ETK talks about "force pool" and stored tension. Getting things TIGHT Everywhere before the bells lands softly in the rack will "store" tension that can be applied quickly to the Press. It is not a "bounce" so much as a redirect of the bell.
-Now that you are TIGHT in the rack, Crush Everything Everywhere. I believe Steve W. (or maybe Ms Renata Music) gave me the cue to make a Tight fist with the non-working hand, which you can see that you already want to do, in one of the videos from the front, right hand out to the side, almost curling into a fist. Do it. The irradiation and sympathetic muscular contraction will help keep things Tight. Crush "both" handles.
-Fire the bicep! Fire the lat! Fire the palm! (Attack! Fire at will! FIRE!!) From ETK, firing the grip, CaaaRUSHING the handle will make the bicep tense from tension spilling over. Up goes the bell, fire the lat. Making the lat tight will spill tension into the obliques which bounces off the tension from your quads (kneecaps pulled up to your ears at this point) and your glutes. Its tension bouncing off tension and multiplying! And all this tension will help the bell go up smoothly to lock out.
- Stay tight! DRIVE the bell down, keeping that lat engaged, keep the forearm vertical and execute a downward elbow strike of crushing proportions! (Mike Moran) This brings you back to rack.
- Breathe where you need to. HsssssT. "Behind the shield", breathe into your belly. Just make sure you breathe. All this tension can be taxing.

Some things that folks here say help with tension
- Bottoms Up Presses: You Have to stay Tight in order to keep the bell stable. You press groove is already great, but these might help cue and key in the tension you are looking for.
- Attempting One Arm Pushups: Tension is a must for this (Aleks Salkin). Just keeping your body tight for a One Arm Plank is a war with gravity and your body.

Mr. Rasheed, I hope you find some of this useful or helpful. This is all stuff that I have come across in my ROP journey. Good luck and Pressing Power to You! I(ETK)
 
Great stuff, Miguel, your words come alive! Where's my kettlebell -- you made me want to go PRESS!!!!!!!! Nice job on your credits, too.
 
let me piggyback off @Miguel's wonderful post.

the firing position in the turkish getup, the lockout to float in the one arm swing, the one arm pushup (one arm one leg pushup too) and the press all have a similar linkage.. credit to Joey Yang SFG SFL for giving me this idea
 
Wow..excellent post @Miguel !!! Yea, more tension and holding it that way is the takeaway for me. I am bookmarking this for constant reference! KeepLifting's and your post reminds of this quote on the back of ETK book "Kettlebell Training...the closest thing you can get to fighting, without throwing a punch".
 
Mr. Rasheed,

I almost forgot something that has helped me a lot in understanding full body tension for the press. I recently started doing military presses instead of a clean before each press. This really highlighted the tension necessary in order to get the bell back up from the rack. It has been a fun and interesting experience in the application of tension and breathing deep without loosening anything.

And oddly enough, lots (Lots) of snatches executed in violent fashion have helped me get in tune with my body, how it moves, how I move the bell, and how it all ties together. Someone mentioned that you cast a little bit on the clean, again a problem of mine as well. There is a great article on the SF blog by Mr. Brett Jones about snatching and the different degrees of "space", personal and intimate, etc. Reading that article and doing lots of snatches helped me learn how to keep the bell close for cleans as well as snatches.

Personal Space Rules When Snatching the Kettlebell - StrongFirst

Thanks all for the kind words, but the credit lies with those mentioned and the SF community at large.

Mr. Rasheed, again, good luck and have fun with the pressing.
 
Thanks again @Miguel ! I tried MPs a bit. For reps I had to do cleans; MPs was harder. I guess that points to being 'loose' and not 'tense' enough. More and more, I realize I am lacking the foundation of a strong plank. More and more I realize the importance of it. I have read that article, will read it again. Snatch is something I never done before; not there yet.
 
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