Press: hips stuck forward instead of bounce

Hi all,

ever since the weight got noticeably heavy, I've been struggling with my press technique.
I've practiced the bounce and had no trouble with lower weights, but when using heavier weight my hips
don't come back after pushing forward into the stretch reflex. They stay stuck in the forward position,
held down by the weight, and I end up "getting under the bar" way forward of the midfoot.

I've tried staying tighter before pushing forward, but it didn't change things. Struggling with this
technique issue is messing with my progress, and I'd really like to find a way to put it behind me and
focus on lifting the weight instead.

Here's some footage from the side (audio muted because of background music copyright claim)
YouTube

... and some from the front:
YouTube

Can you help me figure out what to do about this?

Thanks!

Are you squeezing the hell out of your glutes as part of your set up for each rep? If so, stop. Don't do that. Just the quads and the trunk. The quads squeezed to the point where they feel like they're going to cramp. And the trunk with emphasis on the anterior.

Bring your grip in at least a finger width and "float" the bar in the rack position. Bring your wrists forward so the middle knuckle of the fingers are pointing to the ceiling and get your elbows up. With the correct grip and elbows up, you should be able to support the bar properly without having to start in a slightly leaned back position.

Hi Pete, thanks for the reply!

Am I understanding you correctly when I say you want me to increase wrist flexion into a more neutral position, and increase shoulder flexion into a more horizontal forearm angle?

I doubt I'm squeezing my glutes- at least I don't intend to. I have a workout this morning and will implement the grip and elbow advice and the extra squeezing, then report back.

Just curious - how come my current setup causes this lack of bounce? Does having the bar on my sternum cause me to lean too far back during the push to be able to come up again?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vigilance

Am I understanding you correctly when I say you want me to increase wrist flexion into a more neutral position, and increase shoulder flexion into a more horizontal forearm angle?

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I'm looking for the wrists to be in about 10-15 degrees of extension and the tips of the elbows to be in front of the bar when viewed from the side. You have to fix the wrists firsts to get the elbows into the position I'm talking about

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vigilance

Just curious - how come my current setup causes this lack of bounce? Does having the bar on my sternum cause me to lean too far back during the push to be able to come up again?

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With the bar resting on your sternum it won't "bounce" like it would in the floating rack, because your sternum is in the way, so any opportunity to use some stretch reflex/elastic energy is muted.

I've applied the technique fix in my past two workouts, but unfortunately, this has not helped.
I still get stuck with my hips forward, and the bar still does not "bounce".

What I've noticed is that no matter how tight I make my quads and abs, there is almost no "stretch" from the extended glutes to bounce me back again.
At heavier weights, squeezing my quads and abs extremely hard results in the same lack of bouncing feeling as when I squeeze them just hard.

To make sure, I also tried the empty bar to see if it would bounce at all. As far as I can tell, even with this adjusted grip and elbow position and harder squeezing,
the bar does not move up appreciably when I bounce back. There seems to not be enough force in my stretch reflex to help the lift at all.

I don't know why, but this bounce doesn't seem to work for me no matter what I do.


side angle: YouTube

side angle 2: YouTube

front angle: YouTube

Then something's loose in the system.
Bring grip in another finger width so you can mash the triceps against your rib cage. Like you're trying to hold a pencil in your armpit so that when you do the hip action, it translates up to the arms/hands/bar.
Your abs don't look tight. Standing straight up "crunch" your abs upward as you valsalva and think about pulling your junk toward your chest. Then throw the tops of your quads violently forward. With the hips, distance is good but violence is better.
It also may help if you setup and unrack with some authority. Get right up to the bar with feet parallel and bend both knees to lower the body and get in position. Grab the bar and setup with wrists and elbows in the right place, triceps against the ribs, big deep breath and extend both knees to unrack the bar. Then take a step back, get in the right stance, and go.