Press

[Matt Nieveen]

Below is a set from my last press workout. Are my knees bending too much? All I’m thinking about is hips forward and the rebound, but I see involuntary knee flexion. Is this ok? Or do I need to focus more on straight legs?

155 - YouTube

[heinz83]

Push up immediately once you reach peak hip thrust. You actually want to "bounce" the bar up.

Coaching Tip for the Start of The Press | Nick Delgadillo

[Maybach]

Any amount of knee flexion is wasted energy, so yes, you need to focus more on keeping your knees locked.

You don't have the timing quite right. You're thrusting the hips forward but not letting yourself "rebound", so all that's doing is moving your head out of the way. The hip motion should cause the bar to dip slightly, and then your hips should move back and your head should move forward smoothly as the bar goes up: the closer you can get the bar to your face without hitting it, the better. Think of trying to knock a baseball cap off your head. The bar should get over your head, and therefore over your shoulder joint, as soon as possible.

Your grip could also use some work.. Make sure your wrists are as neutral as you can get them (they are bent all the way back here. The bar should sit directly over your forearm), and your elbows are nearly directly in front of your shoulders.

[asm44]

Your knees are not bad, and if you just queue to contract your quads as hard as you can they'll be better.

Your bent-back wrists are a bigger concern.

You're shooting your hips forward and mostly keeping them there and then pressing. You are not getting much of a stretch reflex. Sure the more forward hip position helps your press, but ideally you'd fully get the initial bounce, and then lean back again (i.e. double layback).

[Matt Nieveen]

I got sick on Monday and missed Wednesdays workout which I did today. I tried to implement the suggestions in the comments and continue along the progression and the result was a disaster by my evaluation. Below are my 3 sets that I did. 3, 1, and 2.

157.5 set 1 - YouTube
157.5 set 2 - YouTube
157.5 set 3 - YouTube

[Maybach]

These do look significantly better. It wasn't there that day: it happens on the press.

Your timing it a bit better but still not quite "throwing" the bar up. Knees can be locked more aggressively. Bring your grip and your elbows in a little: you want them to move out forward, not to the sides. Go into next workout with carbs on board: Gatorade or something.

[Jason Donaldson]

Matt, your 2.5 lb jump - are you using 1.25 lb plates on each side for that?

Looks like you're in a public gym space, so how much control do you have on using the same plates every time?

[Matt Nieveen]

Thanks for the input. This workout was performed 1.5 hours (should be a little longer but that’s how it worked out) after overnight oats, and I put 2 tbsp of sugar in my preworkout.

Yes, there are 1.25 lb plates on each side. This is the weight room at the school I work. I have total control over the plates I use.

[asm44]

...the result was a disaster...

Yeah, well, it's a difficult lift, you're not proficient at it yet, and you look very hesitant.

I don't think I've seen a single good non-strict press on this forum. It takes a long time to get it down. Personally, I found learning the first lay-back to be far more difficult than the second, which I just started doing naturally.

[Matt Nieveen]

I had a baby last Monday so I missed 4 workouts. The gray book says to go back 3 weeks and repeat everything rep for rep. If I had done that the work sets today would have been 147.5. Since I failed at 157.5 last time I pressed, I went to 135 to make sure I got the reps. But I still failed on the third rep, so I went down to 120. I tried recreating the angle in the instruction videos, but the setup I have isn’t quite right.

Set 1 135 - YouTube
Set 2 120 - YouTube
Set 3 120 - YouTube