Any coach out there would have some finite goals that they would use to measure the levels of strength of an athlete. For myself, 2 of them would be deadlifting 3 times your own bodyweight and 15 bodyweight overhead squats. These are just 2 of my goals and these may not represent your own goals. I’ll refer back to these two throughout, but just as an example. Now, with both of these I have a few factors in common, one of them is a definite amount of strength required to lift your 3 times your own bodyweight and to hold your bodyweight overhead while you grind out 15 reps, the other being flexibility. Tight muscles are weak muscles. Here we have the solution to each in one movement.
The side press is going to work on flexibility of the shoulders and hamstring while also strengthening the lower back and hips, all of which have some transfer to my goals. I like to tell my athletes that if I want to know how flexible your shoulders are I want to know how much you overhead squat. I had the privilege of meeting 2008 Olympic athlete Natalie Woolfolk Burgerner at an Olympic Weightlifting seminar taught by USAW Senior International Coach Mike Burgener; during the seminar Coach Burgener had Natalie hold a PVC pipe over her head with both hands together and squat down. If I’m not mistaken, she also had her feet together, not sure on the foot position. In the 2008 Olympic games, Natalie snatched 97 kilos (213.4 lbs), so at a minimum she is overhead squatting 213.4 pounds. If your shoulders aren’t flexible and mobile enough, you are not overhead squatting 213.4 pounds. Trust me, this is coming from a guy that could barely overhead squat a PVC when he first learned about the overhead squat.
Next, how many of you can reach down and touch your toes without bending your knees? How about placing your palms on the ground? If you can’t do that, your deadlift will never reach its truest potential. There was a point when I could not pick something up off of the ground without having to squat because my hamstrings were that tight. What was the result of that? My deadlift went from 425 pounds to about 365 pounds with a major struggle to get that up. I realize that in this arena 425 pounds is nothing special, but a 60 pound decrease is significant to any lifter.
So, how does the side press help to correct these issues? One, when bent over the lifter’s legs should be straight leading to a stretch in the hamstrings. As the girevek is standing up they better be ready for a muscle burn in their love handles, and with a weight overhead the arm should be vertical giving the stretch in the shoulder. If the legs can’t stay straight or the arm absolutely vertical, then the lifter SHOULD NOT increase in weight. Start out with no weight at all and then gradually increase the weight as you gain the strength and flexibility to do so. Swallow your ego and be smart with your training.
Start out by cleaning a kettlebell up to your shoulder, it doesn’t matter which arm because you’ll switch when you are done. Now from here your feet should be in a classic squat stance or the proper stance for a kettlebell clean. If the kettlebell is in your right arm you will turn both of your feet 45 degrees to the left keeping your heels in the same spot. Obviously, if the kettlebell is in the left arm your toes will point to the right. This is your starting position. From here, with a straightforward gaze push your hips back at a 45 degree angle towards the kettlebell. So if I have the kettlebell in my right hand I am pushing my hips back to the right. Next turn your head and start looking up as you begin to press the kettlebell STRAIGHT upwards. Never, ever, ever, press in any direction other than completely vertical. Hold 53 pounds out at a 45 degree angle and tell me how long you can hold it before you become fatigued or something tears. Don’t actually do it, I’m just proving a point. While you are pressing vertically your free hand is reaching towards the ground towards the inside of the plantar (sole) of your foot. You will keep pressing and reaching until your arm locks out and your free hand touches the ground with the legs straight and your pressing arm vertical. Your hand should touch the ground at the same time your elbow locks out. Following so far? Good, now it gets really fun. While still looking straight up at the bell and with a fully extended arm stand back up returning to your original position with your arm locked out overhead. As you stand, go in reverse order as your descent. Come up, then once almost fully erect, bring your hips back to where they should be. Only after standing all the way up will you safely lower the kettlebell to your shoulder to repeat for the specified number of reps. This entire movement is to be done with precise control and a focus on technique and execution. Never sacrifice form for weight in this movement and never allow your back to loose its arch.
Mastered that? Great! Let’s improve upon this. Put another kettlebell in your free hand. That will make standing up harder to do, thereby working your core musculature more. Want to throw some balance into it? Grasp a barbell in the center of the bar and press with that. This is best done from a rack. Note that this is an even more advanced movement than using a kettlebell and should only be done after you are very competent with the kettlbell. I’m talking months of practice.
How will this improve my deadlift? When we break this down into its simplest form, this is a straight legged deadlift. The major difference here is that your center of gravity has shifted from your S2 vertebrae to probably somewhere at and slightly behind your pressing elbow. 16 kilos (35 pounds) will never work your lower back more. So, after PR’ing on your 1RM deadlift I think it would be safe to assume that your lower back might be a little stiff, weak, and sore for at a very minimum 3 days. If we look at the Law of Accommodation, we’ll see that after so many repeated efforts at the same movement your bodies will eventually accommodate to the resistance and the gains will dimish. This is just another tool to throw in your tool box to help break up the routine. Dan John, in Pavel’s book “Enter the Kettlebell” has stated “Power to the People! Had all the earmarks of a perfect program: Do This. And, ‘this’ was deadlifts and side presses”. I‘ve also read from Pavel once before of one of his pupils (please forgive me as I cannot find the article anymore and do no know the name of the girevek) that was able to deadlift 405 pounds with just kettlebell training. To paraphrase Pavel “405 pounds is not impressive by Powerlifting standards, but when only kettlebells were being used, that says something.”
Next, for the overhead squats. Shoulder flexibility aside, This movement requires a tremendous degree of hip and lower back strength. If you even attempt 15 reps at the heaviest you can possibly lift you will feel this around rep number 9. Now the side press is helping us in three areas as opposed to two with the deadlift: Shoulder strength/mobility, lower back strength, and hamstring strength/flexibility. All are critical to the OHS, lack in one area and you’ll never hit your full potential.
Side Presses have become a staple in our program and will remain as such.
Posted on October 4, 2010
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