Originally Posted by
spacediver
I often hear the advice to squeeze the glutes and quads during the press, but in my mind, the timing of this is critical.
When you create the bowed configuration (hips coming forward, torso leaning back), a number of things are happening:
1) the tibia tilts forward (dorsiflexion)
2) the hip extends (presumably primarily through tension in glutes)
3) the quads need to exert enough tension to maintain locked knees, but not so much tension that the hips are prevented from extending
4) the abs have to prevent the spinal hyperextension
During the straightening phase, hip flexion brings the torso upright again. This requires a lot of work from the quads, but during this phase, glute contraction would prevent the hips from flexing.
Once the body is straight, then squeezing both the glutes and quads can prevent the torso from tilting forwards or backwards.
So if this analysis is correct, then during the hips-forward phase, glutes should be squeezed, and quads should be moderately engaged. And during the hips back phase, quads should be tightly squeezed, and glutes should be relaxed. During entire rep, abs should be squeezed hard.
Does this sound about right, or am I missing something?