Starting Strength

both popularity and familiarity, to the extent that today you are quite likely to hear a seated behind-the-neck press described as a “military press” by the personal trainers in big-box gyms.

    Figure 3-1. Bill Starr, the father of modern strength coaching, presses 350 pounds in the gym.

    So, a terminology lesson is in order. A press refers to a movement performed while standing, whereby a weight is extended to arms’ length overhead with the use of the shoulders and arms only. If a barbell is used, the exercise is properly a two-hands press , although it is understood that the unqualified term “press” refers to a barbell press done with both hands (since lifting a barbell one-handed is not the normal use of the equipment). Any deviation from this description warrants a qualifier. A seated press is a barbell press done in a seated position – an exercise that requires a special bench, unless the lifter is capable of cleaning the weight and sitting down with it on his shoulders, and then lowering it to the floor after the set. This restriction limits the amount of weight that can be lifted, and thus the ultimate usefulness of the exercise. A dumbbell press is a standing simultaneous two-hands movement, unless the alternated or one-hand version is specified. Any press performed supine on a bench is a bench press , the barbell being understood as the equipment unless a dumbbell bench press is specified. If the barbell is used behind the neck, this position is part of the name. “Military press” refers to the strictest form of the exercise. A military press is performed without any bend of the hips or back used to start the weight, sometimes with the heels together. A behind-the-neck press is a harder movement than a press; still harder is a seated behind-the-neck press . The use of the flexed and extended knees as an aid in starting the bar off the shoulders means that a push press has been performed.
    One of the reasons the press was eliminated from Olympic weightlifting was the difficulty most judges had in bringing themselves to red-light an excessively weird press. Referred to by the term “Olympic press,” the form of this movement that developed over the last few years of its presence in the meet was such that the bar was driven up from the shoulders by the use of a combination of a sharp hip flexion from overextension and a shrug of the traps. Some very adept practitioners could lean back to a point almost equivalent to a bench press, rendering the description of the lift as a “press from the shoulders” rather inaccurate. An inexperienced or unconditioned lifter attempting this movement ran the risk of a spinal hyperextension injury, although such injuries were not that common: experienced, conditioned lifters had very strong abs.

    Figure 3-2. Tommy Suggs demonstrates a moderate amount of layback in this 1968 National Championships photo. The press was eliminated from Olympic competition due to “judging difficulties” – a reluctance on the part of the international governing body to establish and enforce adequate criteria about layback. It is likely that the press was actually eliminated due to a desire to shorten the meet and to avoid the political complications that arose from the lack of uniformly applied judging standards.

    The press is the most useful upper-body exercise for sports conditioning, primarily because it is not just an upper-body exercise. Except for powerlifting and swimming, all sports that require the use of upper-body strength transmit that force along a kinetic chain that starts at the ground. Any time an athlete pushes against an opponent, throws an implement, uses a racquet or club on a ball, or transmits force to an object, that force starts at the feet against the ground. In a press, the kinetic chain – the components of the musculoskeletal system involved in the production and transmission of force between the base of support and the load being moved – starts at the ground and ends at the bar in the hands.
    The kinetic chain in a bench press, in contrast, begins at the point on the bench where the upper back contacts it directly under the bar, and ends at the bar in the hands. Proficient bench pressers involve their legs all the way down to the ground, using their lower body as a brace for the kinetic chain. But this does not mean that the kinetic chain extends to the ground, since the bench press can be performed with the feet on the bench or even up in