Finding Leverage

This is a picture of me pressing a 24 kg bell in 2005, about the time I got my RKC. I tried to copy the picture I saw of Pavel on the front of the classic book the Russian Kettlebell Challenge. Hip out, vertical forearm, looking at the bell as you pressed.

 This position made sense to me, much like the vertical arm I used to use when I bench pressed. I always knew when I was doing it wrong and not pressing from my whole  body  but my shoulders and pecs because my shoulders screamed!  They would not tolerate an isolation press and this is what I've been feeling while searching for my groove on the kb military press

The KB military is NOT a  'shoulder' press but a full body lift. having the hip under the bell is what makes it this whole body lift;otherwise the bell is literally 'hanging off nothing' as you press it. I have been searching for a technique that wouldn't make my delicate left shoulder rattle around as I pressed and then I saw Michael David DPT do this:


and realized what was missing in my press; getting my hip UNDER the weight as I used to. Michale has a pretty pronounced rotation in the transverse plane but he is NOT side pressing. There is NO bending in the frontal plane, which is what makes a side press a side press.

Yet he is clearly rotating almost as if he were starting a bent press or a windmill; his hip is definitely getting under the weight early. I played around with this idea last night with no weight, just the movement and I KNEW it felt right.

Especially because my shoulder subluxed sometime yesterday afternoon and it was forward and achy. I only got about 4 hours sleep because it woke me up at midnight and yelled at me to try to release some of the jacked up tissues, which I did , but I still got very little sleep.

SO today's workout, a press day no less, after yesterdays volume and no sleep was in doubt. But I wanted to try out this technique so I thought I would go in and play a bit and see what happened. What happened was a wonderful epiphany about my press, my shoulder issues and the importance of real leverage.
Here's the video my set with the 20 kg

I was VERY happy with this as I went through the entire workout, short cycle no less with just one minor 'clunk' and that was when I DIDN'T kick my hip out enough!

I experimented with starting with my hips square to the front and then moving into the hip out position, ala Michael, but settled on holding it out as I pressed.

And it was short cycle which is usually much more destabilizing, mainly because I wasn't in a stable rack position! Go figure.

here's the workout:

One arm swing 16 kg x  5/5/5 x 3 ( very good, left shoulder felt stable right away)

KB Press
12 kg x 5/5
16 kg x 5/5 x 3
20 kg x 5/5 x 3
24 kg x 5/5 x 2

these felt amazing and they did for Glenn too; he pressed the 32 kg for doubles effortlessly and felt the same thing I did, increased leverage and decreased shoulder involvement. Actually less FRONT shoulder involvement but MORE lateral delt. Perfect!
 It was easier to keep the forearm vertical, the shoulder packed and the lat engaged. AND the bell always felt like it was in a good leverage position. CRAZY! Good

I wanted to keep going, to keep playing with it, but knew better. It was crazy, actually, do even TRY to press today, after all the pain last night. But I also knew that if I got into the right position, and moved correctly, things would feel better, not worse, as they usually do when I do things right. That my body likes.

It always tells me I just have to listen :))

One KB rows
24 kg  x8/8 x 4 sets


db kickbacks
2 12 lb x 12 x 4 sets


nice!  Now I get two full days to rest( and sleep) mobilize and get ready for a great day of kb instruction in La Jolla!


datsit.
Sisu/NeverQuit