3 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Push Press

The Push Press is a fantastic whole body exercise. Your legs, core and upper body are all key contributors and it's brilliant for developing strength and explosive power.

Here's some top tips to master the movement:

Don't dip too deep at the start

The Push Press essentially has 3 phases - the dip, the drive and the lockout. The dip phase had a big bearing on the force you are able to generate during the drive phase and contrary to what many people believe, you don't actually want to dip too deep.

It's not uncommon to hear the dip phase described as a quarter squat type position. However, to get the best out of it you don't actually want to be dipping as deep as that.

The best way to think about it is as a short sharp dip, descending only around 4-6 inches and exploding violently out of this position, punching the bar in the air as you quickly transition to the drive phase!

Dipping too deep actually reduces how much force you can generate, so be mindful of this to get the most out of the movement.

Keep your torso upright on the dip

It's important to keep your torso in a upright position through the dip phase. Any backwards or forwards lean during this part of the movement will prove costly as you transition into the drive (punching the bar in the air phase).

There is a valid technique and an argument to be made for leaning your torso back slightly during the drive phase but to develop the most force and transfer it up into the bar during the dip, an upright torso is key!

Get the correct lockout position

When we lockout the bar overhead in a Push Press we want to be in the strongest and most stable position to allow us to support the weight overhead.

At some point you may well have seen people lockout Push Presses with the bar towards the front of their head/over their face area. You may well also have observed that they struggle to hold the weight over head for longer than a split second, if at all in this position. It doesn't create a good alignment through the body to support the weight and as a result isn't very stable.

The key to a strong and stable lockout is having the bar sitting over the back of the head (or slightly behind it) with your arms fully extended. This creates a good alignment through your body and allows you to use the muscles of your traps and upper back to support the load.

Get coaching on this and more

If you found these tips helpful and would like expert coaching on the Push Press and other key movements, take a look at our Bootcamp Glasgow and Personal Training Glasgow pages and send us a message!