Kettlebell Proper Rack Position

[Bauer]

Hi there,

in reading ETK I stumbled upon the "warrior posture". I would say it's like a hollow body position with the hips pushed forward.

Pavel writes (page 91):

A girevik’s posture is the opposite of a strutting bodybuilder’s. The shoulders are stretched
down, the chest is not puffed out, the shoulder blades are spread out like a fighter’s, the elbows
are tightly pressed against the body (no imaginary lats, Comrade!), and the hips are slightly
pushed forward. Ori Hofmekler, Israeli spec ops vet and the author of The Warrior Diet, calls this
alignment “the warrior posture.”

This is pretty surprising to me, because I assumed that flat/neutral back, tall spine position was the way to go.

However, I have noticed that when I do Bottom Up carries or cleans that I end up approximately in the "warrior posture".

What do you think? Is this still SF standard? Does this apply to presses, too?

 

[Shawn90]

Your back should be tall but never flat...

My elbows arent tucked into my sides unless i rack a kettlebell... then again them lats arent imaginary

I find that learning the rack with 2 kettlebells is easier then 1 kettlebell. Take pointers from the book.. or Rotk or any other good source and find your own Strong stance.

 

[Bauer]

Thanks @Shawn90, that's helpful.

From my experiments yesterday evening I would say that it's like the difference between a bodybuilder's pullup and a gymnast's pullup - albeit with a slight lean back (still with posterior pelvic tilt and without an arched back).

Would you say that the line of the elbow and the center of gravity is directly above the hips and in line with the legs?

And are the shoulder blades down, back AND spread? (I have problems with a winged scapula and at the moment I try to recalibrate my positioning).

 

[Shawn90]

Would you say that the line of the elbow and the center of gravity is directly above the hips and in line with the legs?

And are the shoulder blades down, back AND spread? (I have problems with a winged scapula and at the moment I try to recalibrate my positioning).

Yes... and shoulder blades are down and back. Actively pull with your lat to accomplish this. As for spread.... i dont know honestly.

With single bell i definitly keep the elbow and hips aligned. with doubles i pay more attention to my form. the elbows then are really tucked in. tall back shoulders down and back. by lengthening the spine and neck i feel strong in my stance.

ive had instabile left shoulder in the past. be careful with overhead work if you have something similar.

what i forget to think.about is squeezing the glutes and pulling my kneecaps up. Abs automatically tighten hard

 

[Martine Kerr]

"The shoulders are stretched down" - no shoulder blade shrugging, connect the shoulders to the hips using the lats and lower traps;
"The chest is not puffed out, the shoulder blades are spread out like a fighter’s" - protracted shoulder blades rather than retracted...but there's a balance here to achieve (you don't want to round your shoulders or collapse in the Tspine)
"The elbows are tightly pressed against the body" - so the KB becomes one with your body (so your arm's don't fatigue)
"The hips are slightly pushed forward." - I read that as hips extended and glutes engaged vs any posterior tuck (unless you are a low back archer then you may need more tuck than another). I often see more tuck in GS than Hardstyle.