Coaches Notes
PUSH PRESS POINTS OF PERFORMANCE (aka PR Juice)
- Get the bar on the shelf (front rack) with big full lungs underneath & a braced core
- Dip with control (not too fast & not too slow). Think about loading up a spring.
- Knees out, stay tall & keep fleet flat
- Big vertical drive. Push the floor away hard!
- Aggressive drive through the hands ONCE the bar comes off the shoulders.
- Finish with the bar overhead (and over the heels) with your ribs down and core braced
COMMON PUSH PRESS FAULTS from TrainHeroic
Leaning to Extension
One of the biggest things you’ll see from athletes faulting on their push press is leaning back into extension. By leaning back, athletes are trying to McGuyver their way into a pseudo-bench press of sorts and recruit the strength of their pecs to finish the press. What ends up happening, though, is poor overhead mechanical development and a whole lot of lower back pain as the bar’s base of support now rests above your lower lumbar. Stack ‘em up and stay tight!
Losing Bar - Body Contact
Another big fault is losing bar body contact. Or, more likely, never having bar body contact in the first place. Many novice athletes will “hold” the bar in their palms and suspend it using the strength of their shoulders. This immediately cuts out our engine by sacrificing the powerful output of our legs in favor of our weaker shoulders.
Dip and Drift
Another common fault is dipping at the hip rather than knee and letting the bar drift down our sternum.
This is bad for two reasons:
-
The bar drifts of our midline and leaves the point of mechanical advantage
-
With the bar being forward it sets up another inefficiency known as the loopy bar path…
Loopy Bar Path
Why make things more difficult on ourselves by taking a Tour De Bar around the world?
And since we mentioned it above, we’ll discuss it in a little more detail here. Simply put, the fastest, most efficient way to get between two points is in a straight line. Thus, why make things more difficult on ourselves by taking a Tour De Bar around the world? No need. Avoid this by retreating your chin, driving straight up, and forcing chest forward at the top.
Lack of Swagger
This is the last one and it’s a fault in nearly every athletic activity. You gotta have swagger if you want to lift a lot. Believe you’re going to hit the weight. Move the bar aggressively. Hit the successful lift. Drop the bar. Throw high fives. Taste greatness (or something vaguely and temporarily similar to greatness).
