Starting Strength, 3rd Edition - Mark Rippetoe [59]
Figure 3-22. Problem 1: Pushing the bar away from the face produces pressing inefficiency and a curved bar path. This error often happens if the bar is pushed forward to clear the chin due to insufficient lean-back.
Second, leaving the bar out in front – not “getting under the bar” – is a different problem, and it most definitely will occur with heavy weights. When the bar has been started perfectly straight up but the lifter fails to move forward under the bar after it clears the head, the same position problem occurs at a higher point in the bar path. You have to get in the habit of slamming your body forward under the press just as soon as the bar passes your forehead. This pattern must be embedded early in the process of learning the exercise, and it must be consciously revisited each workout, from the empty bar on up.
Figure 3-23. Problem 2: The failure to get under the bar after it crosses the top of the head leaves the long moment arm between the bar and shoulders intact and unmanageable. With this error, the lifter fails to take advantage of the torso driving forward to help lock out the elbows.
There is another way to make the body get forward under the bar at lockout. As is so often the case in athletics, a thing can be conceived of and understood in many different ways. The lockout of the press can be thought of as the shoulders moving forward under the bar, but it can also be approached from the opposite direction, as the hips moving back as the bar crosses the forehead. These are obviously two different ways to explain the same concept. If the lift starts with a slight hip extension, lockout is facilitated when the hips are straightened fast and the shoulders and elbows are driven up, as previously illustrated. Both the chest and shoulders moving forward or the hips moving back produce the same net effect relative to the bar; use the cue that helps you best. As you become experienced as a lifter, you should get better at understanding the mechanics of what is happening under the bar and be able to visualize more solutions for movement problems you may be experiencing.
An emphasis on getting forward under the bar can result in a balance problem, noticeable as a tendency to be on the ball of the foot during the drive and lockout. A good connection with the ground requires that the weight be evenly distributed over the whole foot even as the bar is centered over the middle of it. Any shifting forward during the press must be done in the context of the entire body staying in balance under the bar. If the forward shift is sufficient to actually alter the center of gravity of the lifter/barbell system, you will have to compensate by moving a foot or both feet forward to avoid losing balance. Getting under the bar comes from a shift in torso position, not from a shift affecting the body all the way to the ground. Excessive movement disrupts the kinetic chain and the lift. For some people, the initial forward hips position can be cued by thinking about shifting the weight to the toes and squeezing the glutes, but as soon as the drive upward starts the system must return to balance over the mid-foot. Thinking about the mid-foot and its relationship to the bar as a vertical slot in which to drive the bar upward is the best cue for correcting a balance problem.
The third bar path problem is the tendency to push yourself away from the bar. Leaning back during the drive off the shoulders is a problem that gets worse as the weight gets heavier. Hips are a vital part of the press, with a little hip extension established to “cock” the drive off the shoulders. Timing gets off, and you drive the bar up and then lean back from the hips, instead of leaning back first and then driving the bar up. The distance between the bar and the shoulders increases, not much at first but enough to kill the press when