Rack Modifications For The Press

[Bradley Gish]

Ok, let’s say you have a hypothetical lifter who is pressing better than ever after being stalled out for quite a while. The lifter has a goal of putting up 200+ over head relatively soon. Thing is, he has really long forearms, and when he sets up with the “model” to rack the bar( that is with bar right over the forearm, straight wrists, and elbows slightly in front of the bar) the bar floats all the way up to about mid chin level. This is fine for 1.0 style presses because it actually reduces the ROM. But the lifter can put a little more overhead using the 2.0 style press. But when he sets up with this ridiculous floating rack at chin level, it gets fatiguing to the arms, and the lift seems less productive. So the trainee messed around with his rack and discovered that if he takes a slightly wider grip, somewhere between 18-19 inches, and sets the bar as close to the chest as possible ( around throat level), this rack seems way more efficient. It has the elbows set to 30-45 degrees, with them slightly in front of the bar, and pretty vertical forearms. The trainee claims to really feel the stretch reflex with this rack, and the spring like tightness of it is ideal for the “throw”. Thing is, it leaves the wrists in slight overextension in order to get the bar this low. Should the trainee be worried about this, since it technically deviates from the ideal “model”?

[Adam Franklin]

Has this hypothetical lifter seen this:

[stef]

The ideal is having the bar on the chest/shoulders since you don't lose hip power that way. The closer the hand to the shoulder the better. Some people are built better for the ideal, others have to make compromises (eg floating). If your rack isn't getting closer to the ideal as you add weight, reassess.

[Bradley Gish]

Thanks for the responses SSC Franklin and Dr. Bradford. Much appreciated.