Upper back in the press

[elVarouza]

Coach,

I've noticed that the upper back is responsible for keeping the forearms perpendicular to the ground during the press. I just found this out recently; until then, I had been neglecting upper back tightness, and I noticed my forearms were not remaining perpendicular to the ground. I figured this was hurting the strength of my press, and taking some of the load off the shoulders and putting it on the triceps.

However, when maintaining a tight upper back, I've found it somewhat harder to press the same amount of weight, and it also feels as if my upper back is a limiting factor in the press, and not so much my shoulders.

My question is: is what I described above possible? Could I be lacking some upper back strength for the press, which results in less than optimal results because my forearm angle can't be anchored properly during the press? Or am I just over analyzing?

I.e. is it necessary to maintain a very tight upper back during the press to anchor the forearm angle? I would expect that this puts more load on the shoulders, which are stronger than the triceps, resulting in a stronger press.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Well, el, I can have a tight upper back and elbows behind the bar, and I can let my upper back loosen and still get my elbows where they need to be for a vertical forearm. I think the two things are related in that they are both desirable, but they don't really seem to be interdependent to me.

[elVarouza]

Hmm I guess I'm just overanalyzing. My press feels weak and I know I have some technical issues, so I'm just trying to cover all bases.

Thanks a lot for the clarification.