Starting Strength

done in the context of the entire body staying in balance under the bar. If the forward shift is sufficient to actually alter the center of gravity of the lifter/barbell system, you will have to compensate by moving a foot or both feet forward to avoid losing balance. Getting under the bar comes from a shift in torso position, not from a shift affecting the body all the way to the ground. Excessive movement disrupts the kinetic chain and the lift. For some people, the initial forward hips position can be cued by thinking about shifting the weight to the toes and squeezing the glutes, but as soon as the drive upward starts the system must return to balance over the mid-foot. Thinking about the mid-foot and its relationship to the bar as a vertical slot in which to drive the bar upward is the best cue for correcting a balance problem.
    The third bar path problem is the tendency to push yourself away from the bar. Leaning back during the drive off the shoulders is a problem that gets worse as the weight gets heavier. Hips are a vital part of the press, with a little hip extension established to “cock” the drive off the shoulders. Timing gets off, and you drive the bar up and then lean back from the hips, instead of leaning back first and then driving the bar up. The distance between the bar and the shoulders increases, not much at first but enough to kill the press when the weight gets heavy. The bar path itself may start out vertical, but as the leverage decays, the bar will drift forward.

    Figure 3-24. Problem 3: Excessive layback is not the same as pushing the bar forward. Note the position of the bar over the mid-foot, except that the torso is too far behind the bar, contributing to moment arm length and an excessive horizontal distance to make up during lockout.

    This problem usually occurs due to a loss of control over the lower back position, when the lean deteriorates into a lumbar overextension instead of being a hip movement. Since extreme loaded hyperextension of the lumbar spine is dangerous, it’s best to never lose control of the back at all. The problem here will be abdominal muscle control, and may simply be weak abs. The rectus abdominis acts directly against lumbar hyperextension by providing tension between the rib cage and the pubis, counteracting lumbar hyperextension and increasing intra-abdominal pressure to reinforce correct lumbar curvature from the anterior side of the trunk ( Figure 3-25 ). Weighted sit-ups can be helpful to develop a strong set of abs.

    Figure 3-25. Weak abdominal musculature can account for excessive layback. Very strong pressers have very thick sections of rectus abdominis.

    Heavy weights tend to blur awareness of the fine points of technique and position, as anyone who has trained heavy knows. We depend on our training, which has embedded the correct motor pathways, and coaching – when we can get it – to keep our form correct and efficient. Most often, when you miss a heavy press in front, you won’t know why: a position error of a couple of inches is hard to feel under a heavy weight. Most often you didn’t get under the bar. You must drill this movement pattern during the warm-up sets, both in the drive up and when lowering the bar, so that you can do it without a lot of thought and conscious direction during the work sets.
    There are two breathing patterns that can be used during the set. The first pattern, which seems to be more useful for novices using lighter weights, is to breathe at the top of the press, at lockout. It has to be a quick breath, taken without relaxing anything that is supposed to be tight. It has the advantage of allowing you to rebound the bar quickly off of your shoulders after the first rep, making the press analogous to the bench press with the stretch reflex at the bottom. This use of a stretch reflex is fine at first, but most lifters tend to outgrow this and adopt the pattern of breathing at the shoulders between reps. This second method requires that the lifter stay very tight, with chest up during the breath, a thing learned with experience. Breathing at the top allows a novice to handle heavier weights while learning the skills necessary to maintain control during the press, and it will work better for flexible people who can get in a good forward lockout position to catch a breath. Breathing at the shoulders allows the more experienced lifter the luxury of a second or two of rest between heavy reps and maintains the