Take care of your basic mobility
Pressing overhead is one of the fundamental human body movements. A lot of people have problem with it, due tothe lack of proper mobility. Fortunately, working with weights with a shifted centre of gravity makes the movement safer and easier to learn, but you need to do some extra work to prepare properly for this effort.
Take the time to stretch the chest muscles and the upper part of trapezius. Your lats and inter-scapular muscles should be prepared to build a strong starting position for the press.
A great warm-up exercise is the KB Arm-bar (link to article) or KB Halo. Looking further, the Turkish Get-up is
a great accessory exercise to activate your shoulder girdle, improve mobility and stability in the overhead position.
Learn proper movement at the right pace
Learning the mechanics of movement plays a key role in encoding a pattern by our nervous system. Training at
a given pace (e.g., 2-3 seconds of the lowering/lifting phase) or adding pauses to the movement (e.g., in the middle of the press) makes us build more tension, which engages more motor units necessary to perform an exercise.
Remember though, when working on your technique at a pace, don’t mess up the correct pattern by having too much weight. Try for example: 4 sets of 4-6 reps with tempo 3 sec down, 3 up.
Loaded clean as a great tool for pressing
Strong kettlebell clean is the first step to solid press, no doubt. Loaded means clean with the maximum body tension, as if we wanted to press the weight.
Reason for that is to build a solid starting position. Loaded clean is usually performed at the weight of our current record or higher! This gets our nervous system used to heavier weights, which is a key to progress.
Remember to work on fewer repetitions here (due to the higher intensity) but the number of sets can be increased. Just like before, if you feel that your technique is getting worse, it’s better to reduce the weight or move on to the next exercise.
Remember about low intensity pressing and accessory work
If you want to press more, get your volume work done (higher reps sets with lower weight). It is crucial not just for the technique, but to prepare your muscles for higher intensity press at lower repetitions. Working with kettlebells is something different, so we have to give our bodies different stimulus.
Don’t forget about the assistance exercises in your training and strengthening your key muscles. In accessory work focus on triceps, shoulders, the entire back muscles and even the core!
Assistance exercises for press:
• Turkish Get-up
• See-saw press (standing or seated)
• Seated „Z” Press
• KB Bottom-up Press
• Floor Press (both arms, single arm)
Accessory exercises:
• KB Gorilla Row
• KB Halo
• KB Triceps Extension
• KB Single Arm Row / Both hands row
• Loaded Carries, (for example: rack carry, overhead carry, bottom-up carry)
• All kinds of plank variations
Press well for better health
Working on overhead press pattern should be a priority for anyone who wants to be healthy and teach their body to move in every plane. Implementing the above tips into your training will lead you to build a strong foundation for all kinds of pressing. Learn it and never forget, as this technique is the king, also on the way to bigger weights.
Trust the process and you’ll get stronger faster than you think!
