Do you have access to boxes? If so, use those instead of pins. If not, I think it's worth pointing out that just doing the normal press is probably the best thing you can do to improve the press, amirite?
Do you have access to boxes? If so, use those instead of pins. If not, I think it's worth pointing out that just doing the normal press is probably the best thing you can do to improve the press, amirite?
Comparison #1. (Kneeling pin press -> Z Pin Press)
Workout Summary:
Press: 45 [10]; 75 [5]; 95 [3]; 125 [2]; 155 [3,3,3,3,3]
Kneeling Pin-Press: 45 [5]; 65 [5]; 85 [5]; 105 [5]; 125 [5]
Z-Pin-Press: 45 [5]; 65 [5]; 85 [5]; 105 [5]
Bench: 45 [10]; 95 [5]; 135 [8,8,8]
Press as normal press day. Nothing odd to report.
Kneeling pin-press was performed with the bar from the tip of the nose. A yoga mat was used to protect the knees. The position was very stable. (no mat = bad knee joo-joo)
The Z-pin-press was performed ass on the floor, feet forward, slight knee bend, and some external rotation of the hips. The pins were slightly higher than with the kneeling press due to the rack. (mid nose)
Some quick volume bench was put in to finish. Triceps were burned out from all the pressing so less weight more reps.
It was easier to 'explode' out of the bottom with the kneeling press. It felt like I could 'push' or 'twist' or whatever from the shoulder girdle a little more with the kneeling press. That upper back couldn't provide any 'oomph' in the Z-pin-press version. The kneeling press felt MUCH closer to the standing press.
I don't know how much of this difference was due to technique (they both felt very natural--this surprised me) and fatigue. Next week I will be performing essentially the same test, but with the Z-Pin-Press preceding the kneeling pin-press.
Seems to stand to reason, if you allow the pun.
In a standard Press, your knees are supposed to be locked, and same goes for your hips.
In a kneeling press, there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to lock your knees, and you'll probably be able to use them (consciously or otherwise) to get some swing at the start and get some momentum.
I suppose that, unless you are really strict with yourself (no pun intended), in the kneeling press your hips could be unlocked too, maybe just a little bit, but enough to coordinate with the knees and get a bit of a push at the start.
As Shug said above, you have none of these options in a Z-Press.
IPB