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a lot of power. If a push press is the intended exercise, then at least do it correctly, with the bar resting firmly on the deltoids for a firm transfer of power to the bar, and a sharp dip and drive using a knee and hip bounce, not a slow push out of the knees. The push press can be done with more weight than the press can, much more with practice. But if you are trying to do a press, you must do it with correct press technique, which uses the quads to squeeze the knees into lockout and uses the hip thrust to start the bar up. If the weight is too heavy to do with correct press technique, take some off.

Some people are reluctant to admit they have too much weight on the bar, in the same way that they are likely to take too big an increase in weight each workout. The ego interferes with thinking, causing an attempt to handle weights that cannot be lifted with correct form. As with all exercises, correct form is necessary for real progress and for safety. The push press enables heavier weight to be handled, true, but the shoulders are doing less of the work while the triceps are getting better at locking out the bar. This is fine if kept in proper perspective: push presses make a good assistance movement for the press, but they are no substitute for it. Strict work with good form causes strength to be developed in the target muscle groups. More important, you need to learn how to bear down on a hard rep and finish it without cheating so that you develop the mental discipline to stay with a hard task and finish it correctly. This is one of those indirect benefits that can be obtained from physical education. If you learn nothing else from training, it is very important to learn that your limits are seldom where you think they are.

Figure 3-26. The press.

Chapter 4: The Deadlift

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Lower-back strength is an important component of sports conditioning. The ability to maintain a rigid lumbar spine under a load is critical for both power transfer and safety. The deadlift builds back strength better than any other exercise, bar none. And back strength built with the deadlift is useful: while the bar is the most ergonomically friendly tool for lifting heavy weights, a 405-pound barbell deadlift makes an awkward 85-pound box more manageable.

The basic function of the lumbar muscles is to hold the low back in position so that power can be transferred through the trunk. They are aided in this task by all the muscles of the trunk: the abs, the obliques, the intercostals, and all of the many posterior muscles of the upper and lower back. These muscles function in isometric contraction – their main task is to prevent skeletal movement in the structures they are supporting. When the trunk is held rigid, it can function as a solid segment along which the force generated by the hips and legs can be transferred to the load, which will lie on the shoulders, as in the squat or the press, or go across the shoulder blades and down the arms to the hands, as in the deadlift. There is no easy way to do a deadlift − one which doesn’t involve actually picking up the bar − which explains their lack of popularity in most gyms around the world.

The deadlift is a simple movement. The bar is pulled, with straight arms, off the floor and up the legs until the knees, hips, and shoulders are locked out. Immense weights have been moved in this way by very strong men. In powerlifting, the deadlift is the last lift in the meet, and the expression “The meet don’t start till the bar gets on the floor!” is very telling. Many big subtotals have been overcome by strong deadlifts, especially in the days before squat suits and bench shirts. The meet was often won by a lifter with a bigger deadlift than his squat. It is hard to overstate the strength of a man with an 800+ lb deadlift, a feat accomplished by only elite lifters. Nine-hundred-pound contest deadlifts are more common than they used to be, although many more lifters have done them with straps (which eliminate the grip-strength aspect of the lift).

Figure 4-1. The deadlift, as