Press form check

[Immortal_k]

Best I've done thus far was 220lb, back on my old TX method program. This was the top set from last Monday:



I felt that the bar moved forward a little bit at the start, but I powered it up.

My last volume set:



I missed the fifth rep, took a bigger breath in and made it.


Thanks in advance.

[Michael Wolf]

Your press form actually highlights one of the (several) reasons we changed the way we teach the press. In the old press, the first rep is done "strict" off the shoulders or wherever the bar racks, and the next 4 could be done either the same way, or with a stretch reflex out of the bottom. Breathing pattern would need to be adjusted to suit which option was chosen. Most people would use the stretch reflex, since it allows more weight to be lifted, but this creates the issue that rep #1 is not exactly the same as reps #2 through 5. Not the biggest issue in the world, but a consideration.

In your press, you (intentionally or not) found a way around this problem. You artificially create a stretch reflex by bouncing the bar at the bottom, and then pressing, even on the first rep. So all 5 reps have a stretch reflex, but are still the same.

The problem I have with this is that in any contested press that I'm aware of, this would be called a no-lift because the bar can't come back down at any point in the lift. We could argue whether or not this is an important convention or just a dumb technicality if you're only training the lift for general strength - there aren't too many meets with a press contested anyway - but since you posted it here on our Q&A, you get our responses. And mine is I don't like it.

The rest of your press itself is fine. You could 'aim for your nose' a bit more, but it overall looks OK. I suggest learning the 3rd edition style press, but if you refuse to do so, I would do the first rep strict and then use the inherent stretch reflex in the movement, rather than stopping and re-starting it to create a small artificial stretch reflex.