I’m a fan of Olympic style lifts. I love how technical they are and the challenge of learning them. The payoff is an awesome workout, a lot of core strength and increased coordination and overall power. One of the easiest to learn that will give you those big benefits is The Push Press.
The push press is the explosive cousin to a standing shoulder press or Military Press. At first glance you may think that someone is just using too much weight but this exercise is quite technical and needs to be done safely and correctly to avoid injury. This exercise is an integral part of some of the grueling Crossfit workouts and once you learn them, I think you’ll love them as much as I do.
How to do a Push Press
You start in a standing position with the bar at collar bone height supported in your hands (some will have the bar cradled on the front of their shoulders). You do a 1/4 squat that dips fast and then explodes to full hip extension (almost a jump), as you begin to finish the leg drive you are focusing on pressing the bar up (like a shoulder press).
Once the bar gets past your forehead you bring your chin slightly forward so your body is completely underneath the bar and lock the bar out completly overhead. Notice that all joints from the floor to the wrists are completely in line, with the weight locked out overhead.
The biggest mistake you can make at this point is to look up, or keep your head back. This happens if you are used to doing a barbell shoulder press or military press.
Benefits of the Push Press
This exercise would be considered a full body exercise. You’ll burn a ton of calories. Once you’ve done them a few times, you’ll understand what I mean. Your legs are essential in getting the bar up overhead. Its not a strict upper body press, its an explosive leg drive with your upper body continuing the momentum up to a locked overhead position. You’ll find your legs get a great workout, your upper body too, but more importantly your core gets an awesome workout as you need your core to be strong to hold the bar overhead.
Start light on these. Practice your form first. Be sure you are dipping, reversing and exploding with your legs. Not slowly either. Check your form in the mirror or have someone watch you from the side to make sure you are locking out fully and everything is in line.
To take your workout to the next level, use the Push Press. It’s a challenge to learn but once you get good at it, you’ll burn calories, have a stronger core and build some explosive full body power…all while having fun in the gym! Who could ask for much more?
(5 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)
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