For today's tip I'm going to start off by giving you all an assignement. I want you all to check out the bodies of male gymnasts. I know, for you ladies and some of you guys out there this is going to be a tough assignment. How dare I mae you look at hot bodies. I should be ashamed of myself. Now, I want you to check out the you tub video were Cara Heads is recovering from an injury so she's doing some active recovery work in the pool. Then, I want you too check out people like John Grimeck, Marvin Eder and Steve Reeves. From there, check out people like Dmitri Klokov and all the top crossfit chicks (Yes I just said chicks. No, it's not offensive, I used it as a term of endearment). Now, that you've done all that I want you to think about what all these physiques have in common.
Yes, they're all awesome. Every one of these people looks incredible. That's not what I'm talking about. Yes they're all strong, fit and ripped and train and eat the way we talk about in these tips. Awesome too, but not what I'm talking about. What I'm looking for is the fact that every single one of these people spends a ton of time on overhead work and it has paid off hugely. All the Olympic lifters and crossfitters spend a ton of time on pressing, push pressing, jerking and snatching weight overhead, as well as doing overhead squats. The crossfitters and the gymnasts all spend a ton of time doing handstands on various apparati (like th floor, parallettes, parallel bars, pommel horses and rings), as well as working on various types of handstand press ups, straddle ups, lever ups, push ups and more.
Yes, great bodies, ones that are ripped, lean, athletic, healthy, strong and fit are more often than not built by people that spend a lot of time on overhead work. Why, because overhead work fucking rocks! Nothing hits the body in quite the same way as overhead work does, especially when it's done either standing or while standing on one's hands.
So, where am I going with this? I'm going to give you all a lift that you should be doing that is one of the all time best overhead lifts. Yes, military presses, overhead presses, jerks (whether they're push jerks, split jerks, power jerks, or; for the people that are more flexible than a gumby doll after being nuked in a micro wave; squat jerks), snatch balances, snatch grip presses, thrusters, back thrusters and more; are all great exercises and they all should be done at various times. But, one exercise should be a staple in everyone's program. That lift is the Behind The Neck Push Press.
What does this lift work? Let's see, you'll work your hands, forearms, triceps, shoulders, traps, upper back, upper chest, mid back, lower back, sides, midsection (no, it's not your core, it's your midsection. Only useless trainers that no nothing about training call it your core), butt, thighs, calves, ankles and feet. As well as you heart and lungs. So, yes, in a sense it's truly an all out, full body movement. (This is also why body parts splits are fucking stupid. Where would you put a movement like this in?)
Now that we've established what the lift works, let's look at it's benefits. It'll increase your strength, power, explosiveness, speed, agility, coordination, athleticism, balance, body awareness, and full body unity while building muscle, bones, tendons and ligaments and burning fat. Sounds great, doesn't it? And it beats the hell out of any type of shoulder machine, or any other type of machine as well.
How do we do it. First off, whenever you're pressing in front of the neck you should think about having your hands closer to shoulder's width apart. This will keep them safe. Yes, wide grip presses can be good, but close grip gives you better results, more safety and allows you a stronger pressing position. That being said, it's kind of the opposite when you press behind the neck. You don't want to go snatch width (although the snatch grip behind the neck press is a great movement for another time), but you should be wider then you'd be if the bar was in front of your neck. I like to have my pinkies or rig fingers on the outside rings of the bar, that works for me.
So, load up a bar on a pair of squat stands or in the power rack and start off like your going to do squats. Bar is placed on your traps and upper back, your hands are somewhere by the outside rings, your tight and stable. Unrack the bar and take a small step backwards. Tighten your entire back, your midsection, your butt, your thighs and your shoulders. Pull yourself into a quarter squat position and then violently reverse directions like you're trying to jump. Drive all the way through the toes. This violent upwards drive will start moving the bar upwards off your back. Press up hard and strong against the bar, pushing it up in a straight line until your arms are locked out straight. Your legs should be locked, feet flat on the ground, your arms locked out behind the ears, barbell overhead. Pause and hold for a second then lower the bar back to the starting position.
Simple, right? Awesome!
The key is to follow what the band Disturbed said in the first album, "Bring the violence, it's significant." This is 100 percent true with this lift. It's not a quarter squat followed by a press. It a violent and angry explosion that's more akin to jumping and throwing the weight off of you to the lockout position.
When you're returning the bar to the starting position, be careful. It should be a heavy enough weight that you won't be able to control the negative action completely. Lower it under control until the bar is around middle of the head to top of the head height, then do a somewhat controlled drop to the upper back while cushioning the impact with your legs. Don't drop it to far forward or it'll land on your head or neck, which will leave you with a headache for a few days (trust me on that one). But, don't drop it to far back either or it will slide down you back and take your shoulders with it (even worse than dropping it on your head, in my opinion, however I was born with a hard skull.) Unless you have the shoulder flexibility of Royler Gracie on a bunch of muscle relaxers this will lay you up with some shoulder problems for a while. So, take some time to use a light weight and find you're proper groove in how to drop the weight to the right spot on your back. It'll take some time, but it's worth it.
I personally prefer doing these for singles and doubles; but I've also used them with triples and 5's. I like hitting 6, 8, 10, or 12 sets of 1-2 reps with really heavy weights. However, you can also use these for some Metabolic conditioning with a light weight for either timed sets of for sprints. I'd say to try both methods.
Make sure that your shoulders are healthy before trying these, however. In our society most people have a forward shoulder hunch from too much time spent sitting in front of the computer and that can easily make any type of behind the neck movement much harder. Also, with the huge amount of time that the typical gym rat spends benching, most of them have even more problems with forward hunched shoulders. (It's amazing, only in our day and age would the most popular weight training exercise be one that you perform while lying down.) Come and see me and I'll show you how to clear up those issues, and get your shoulders nice and healthy.
After that, add this one into your routine and you'll love the results. Now, go train hard and heavy and create your greatness.
Yours in strength and health,
Brett
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