Differences between the press, push press, and push jerk ① ～ The Press ～

Hi everyone, this is coach Tatsuro again,

I posted a blog about the S2OH last time, have you read it?
If you haven't read it yet, you must do 100 burpees!!

Let’s do a quick review.

S2OH means moving the barbell from the shoulders (resting on the deltoids) to a locked-out position above the head, using any of the three following techniques: press, push press, and push jerk. These three movements are very similar, so I think there are many people who don't know which is which, don't know the difference, or get confused while doing them.

To clear things up I will explain the differences between the three movements (press, push press, and push jerk) over the course of the next three blog posts.

First up is the Press!

Here is a video of the press

In the press we move the barbell from shoulders to overhead while standing. The knees and hips must not flex at all from the beginning to the end of the movement.

Compared to the push press and push jerk, the main feature of the press is that there is no movement of the knee and hip joints and the lower body does not contribute to the lift except for support and stabilisation.

The press trains the muscles of the shoulders and arms which function to move the barbell, and the muscles of the core such as the abdominal muscles and back which form a stable base for the movement. The press can also help improve balance, because we need stability when lifting heavy objects while standing.

Pressing is the simplest of our three S2OH movements. It's often done in the strength part of the class as it's less likely to be selected in metcons where the muscles tire out quickly and it's difficult to do many reps in quick succession.

There are many movements that have "press" in the name like "bench press", but if it says simply ”press" on the whiteboard, it means this technique for raising the barbell from the shoulders to the overhead position.

Do you understand what we mean by “press” now?

This time I briefly explained the features of the press, but there are various points which we should keep in mind when actually doing it, I am going to summarize them in the future.

Next time we’ll look at the push press !

P.S.
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