Training Tip Tuesday Episode 7: How to Get a Heavier Military Press

 

In our last episode, we talked about having a loose grip on the kettlebell handle during the quick lifts, such as cleans, swings, and snatches to avoid calluses.  This episode, we are going to talk about having a tight grip on the slow lifts, such as presses, in order to move more weight.

There is a theory called irradiation that states “Muscles contract harder when they contract together.” This means that if you try to make a lift a full body lift, you can move more weight than if trying to isolate a single muscle group. When you set up for a military press, for example, you want to make your body one solid column. You grab the ground with your toes, corkscrew your feet into the ground, pull up your kneecaps to tighten the quads, contract your hamstrings and glutes, fire your abs, and squeeze both the fist of your free hand and the hand gripping the bell.  Then you power breathe to maximize tension and lift a great deal of weight.

In Power to the People, Pavel said, “You can’t shoot a cannon from a canoe.” This statement means that if your body is loose and void of tension, you won’t move much weight.  And because (as we mentioned earlier) muscles work harder when they work together, a solid platform will get a large load overhead.

We jokingly call this the almond butter jar theory because if you are opening a jar of almond butter and the lid is not on very tightly, you can just use a few muscles to open the jar. If, on the other hand, the lid is stuck, you pull it in and squeeze your glutes, abs, biceps, and more until the lid pops off. We use our body as a unit in every day life, so we might as well train it that way in the gym!

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.