Press 2.0 Check

[beefcake99]

Some possibly relevant information:
Age: 25
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 168
Squat: 250 lb 3x5
Bench: 142.5 3X5
Press 1.0: 105 3x5
Deadlift 300 1x5

Kept stalling on press 1.0/form deteriorated to the point where I was bouncing it consistently off my shoulders so I decided to finally learn press 2.0. How am I doing? This is 85lb.

Press 85 - YouTube

[Tom Campitelli]

That is kind of a lean back and press. The Olympic press starts from a dead stop. If you take the power grip as recommended by Fig Tree and keep your elbows slightly in front of the bar, the bar may not be in contact with your shoulders at the start. You want to reach forward with your hips and then bounce. The bounce encompasses two movements – the bar bounces up and down slightly as an artifact of pushing the hips forward and tightening the arm and shoulder musculature and you bounce back off the anterior musculature that is in tension from pushing the hips forward.

[beefcake99]

Thanks. I'm a little confused because when I watch the video of myself it seems to me like I'm pushing my hips forward rather than leaning back. I've watched the press 2.0 video a few times and still can't quite understand what I'm doing wrong...

You say that the press starts from a dead stop. But then how does one also incorporate a bounce? Is it that the barbell stops dead at its lowest position, then hips move forward, then the barbell bounces up as the hips come back to neutral? Because if so that's what it appears that I'm doing (to my untrained eye).

[Tom Campitelli]

Thanks. I'm a little confused because when I watch the video of myself it seems to me like I'm pushing my hips forward rather than leaning back.

You are doing both, but mostly overextending your lumbar spine.

I've watched the press 2.0 video a few times and still can't quite understand what I'm doing wrong...

Your press is starting from the top and you are missing the "bounce" portion of the timing.

You say that the press starts from a dead stop. But then how does one also incorporate a bounce?

You have to move at some point. However, you never stop and get set. As soon as the bar touches your chest, you start leaning back again.

Is it that the barbell stops dead at its lowest position, then hips move forward, then the barbell bounces up as the hips come back to neutral? Because if so that's what it appears that I'm doing (to my untrained eye).

I think I am going to need to make a video that shows how the press should look because text is difficult here.

[Elephant]

Is it that the barbell stops dead at its lowest position, then hips move forward, then the barbell bounces up as the hips come back to neutral?

I think I am going to need to make a video that shows how the press should look because text is difficult here.

In Learning to Press 2.0 with Mark Rippetoe - YouTube Rip says at about 9:25 "two steps, you're going to reach forward with the hips, you're going to press it up and then you get under the bar". He then clarifies at about 9:50 "driving up and getting under the bar is one movement". At 13:35 it looks like Rip is using the rebound (hips starting back) to start driving the bar up, while saying "the timing is terribly critical". Also see Rip's demonstration at 15:30. However, at 16:10 he says the "hips forward generating the rebound up", which suggests hips forward directly causes upward motion.

When I do the press, I find starting to move the hips back an instant before pushing up produces the best bounce, which seems to me consistent with Rip at 13:35 and 15:30. Starting to bounce the hips back bounces bar up.

All of which is a long way of agreeing with beefcake's description and no doubt demonstrating my total confusion on this point.

What am I missing?

[Tom Campitelli]

When I do the press, I find starting to move the hips back an instant before pushing up produces the best bounce, which seems to me consistent with Rip at 13:35 and 15:30. Starting to bounce the hips back bounces bar up.

All of which is a long way of agreeing with beefcake's description and no doubt demonstrating my total confusion on this point.

What am I missing?

Once again, this is going to be easier to demonstrate with a video than for me to type it out. Also realize that we have refined the teaching method since the time that video was created. Despite what some peeps may claim, we change our minds and make tweaks to things as we lift and teach these lifts to others.

Moving the hips back slightly before starting the press is a sort of wind up. This isn't ideal, but provided you don't do it so much that it messes up your press, I won't tell anyone. The crux of the Olympic press, as we teach it, is to overextend the hip, then bounce*, then drive the bar overhead. Three things need to happen, not just two. The press needs to start every time from a dead stop. Not just the bar, but you, too. For the majority of humans, if you take a narrow grip, keep your elbows in front of the bar and the wrists in about 15 degrees of extension, the bar will not touch your collar bones or shoulders. Reaching forward with the hips is designed to minimize spinal overextension. Your low back will move a little, but provided you do a good job of contracting your abs, it won't be too much. Your hip pointers need to move forward when this happens. The *bonce that occurs happens in two places. One is that the hips bounce back. At the same time, the bar bounces and moves up and down slightly like a piston. This is an artifact of the hip movement combined with a tightening of the arms producing a little elbow flexion. Once both those bounces occur, the bar travels upwards.

[Elephant]

Once again, this is going to be easier to demonstrate with a video than for me to type it out. Also realize that we have refined the teaching method since the time that video was created. Despite what some peeps may claim, we change our minds and make tweaks to things as we lift and teach these lifts to others.

That's a major advantage of SS.

Moving the hips back slightly before starting the press is a sort of wind up. This isn't ideal, but provided you don't do it so much that it messes up your press, I won't tell anyone. The crux of the Olympic press, as we teach it, is to overextend the hip, then bounce*, then drive the bar overhead.

FWIW, that's exactly what I meant. The start of the hip bounce (when the hips start to go back after being shoved forwards) produces an upward bounce in the bar and the lifter continues that upward motion by driving the bar overhead.

Brent Carter has a video that's much more negative on moving the hips back before starting. For those who haven't seen it: The Press with Brent Carter | Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training - YouTube

Three things need to happen, not just two. The press needs to start every time from a dead stop. Not just the bar, but you, too. For the majority of humans, if you take a narrow grip, keep your elbows in front of the bar and the wrists in about 15 degrees of extension, the bar will not touch your collar bones or shoulders. Reaching forward with the hips is designed to minimize spinal overextension. Your low back will move a little, but provided you do a good job of contracting your abs, it won't be too much. Your hip pointers need to move forward when this happens. The *bonce that occurs happens in two places. One is that the hips bounce back. At the same time, the bar bounces and moves up and down slightly like a piston. This is an artifact of the hip movement combined with a tightening of the arms producing a little elbow flexion. Once both those bounces occur, the bar travels upwards.

Nice explanation.

[beefcake99]

Thanks, belatedly, for the clarification, and hoping a video emerges soon!