Starting Strength, 3rd Edition - Mark Rippetoe [56]
Step 2: After this lockout position is correct, it is time to learn how to best drive the bar to this position. This step involves making the bar path correct and establishing the proper movement of your body in relation to the bar. Since the bar is sitting on your deltoids, in front of the neck, and it must move up to a position above the shoulder joints, several inches behind the starting position, there must be a relative lateral movement of several inches on the way up (Figure 3-16). But barbells like to travel in straight vertical lines up and down, especially when they’re heavy. Our vertical bar path must therefore be produced in a way that takes the load from a position in front of the shoulders to the lockout position plumb to the shoulder joints. We do this with motion of the torso.
Figure 3-16. The lateral distance between the initial position of the bar on the shoulders and the final position overhead. This distance is covered by the movement of the torso as it drives forward after the bar crosses the level of the forehead on its way up.
Lean back slightly by pushing your hips forward. This slight movement must not be produced by bending the knees or the lumbar spine. Rather, the movement is a function of only the hips. Without the bar and with your hands on your hips, push your pelvis forward and back a few times, keeping your knees and your low back locked in position. Try to do this rocking motion with just your hip joints. When the weight gets heavy, your abs will lock your low back and your quads will lock your knees, involving both of these muscle masses in the exercise isometrically. It’s easy unweighted, but later it becomes a huge part of this challenging exercise (Figure 3-17).
Figure 3-17. The hip movement used in the press. With hands on the hips, shove your pelvis forward and backward to simulate the torso movement used in the press. Do not unlock your knees or your lower back.
When you understand this motion, take the bar out of the rack, making sure that your grip and elbow position are correct, and then push your hips forward and drive the bar up straight. As soon as it crosses the top of your forehead, get under the bar. Move your body forward under the bar and drive it to lockout. Don’t move the bar back – slam yourself forward under the bar (Figure 3-18). When you do this correctly, you will find that the forward torso movement contributes to lockout at the top: as the shoulder drives forward, the contracting deltoid and tricep bring the upper arm and the forearm into alignment, thus driving up the bar.
Figure 3-18. The torso drives forward as the bar drives up.
Do this for a set of five, and rack the bar. Do as many sets as necessary with the empty bar to clarify the concept of moving yourself forward under the bar, as opposed to moving the bar back to the shoulder joint. Make sure you’re leaning back before you start to press, because it’s very common to start the press with a vertical torso and then lean back as the bar starts up. Hips-forward must occur before the press starts, or the bar will travel forward around your chin, not up in an efficient vertical path.
Figure 3-19. The forward movement of the torso aids in the lockout. As the shoulder and the elbow extend, the forward motion of the shoulder drives the distal end of the humerus up, helping to straighten the elbow.
To further reinforce the vertical bar path, think about keeping the bar close to your face on the way up. Aim for your nose as the bar leaves your shoulders. Then, as you lower the