Common Kettlebell Pressing Mistakes

Common Kettlebell Pressing Mistakes After I posted a picture on my personal account (@kev_in_carr) of my overhead press earlier this week I received a lot of questions about training the KB press. Below I outline some of the form mistakes I see a lot of trainees make while learning how to press KB’s overhead. On the left side I demonstrate the mistake and on the right I demonstrate the correct form. 1). Wrist Positioning Kettlebells can be awkward for beginners and many people will fail to stabilize their wrist and grip correctly when they first start out. On the left you can see that my wrist is extended and my grip is weak. On the right you can see my wrist is straight and my grip is firm. It’s important to keep the wrist straight and the grip tight so that you can translate as much force as possible into the bell. You should grip the bell as tight as possible and maintain a straight line from the forearm to knuckles throughout the exercise. 2). Lat Bracing Often the hardest part of the overhead press is the initial push out of the rack position. Without a strong foundation this can be a major sticking point for clients. On the left you can see I fail to lock in the lat and keep the elbow tight. On the right I demonstrate a strong rack position with the lat braced and the elbow tucked by my side. 3). Core Bracing/Lumbar Positioning Often while struggling to finish off a heavy overhead press trainees will destabilize their anterior core and hips to gain leverage under the bell and compensate for a lack of shoulder strength. On the left you can see my exaggerated lordosis and forward hip positioning, notice how compensating this way pitches the bell out in front of me. On the right note how by bracing my anterior core and glutes I can keep my ribs down, hips under me and maintain position of the bell directly overhead. What other exercises would you like us to provide form tips for? Leave your suggestions in the comments below! – @kev_in_carr @collectmomentsnotthingz @sanchise387 @bodybyboyle

A photo posted by Movement As Medicine (@movementasmedicine) on Sep 25, 2015 at 1:49pm PDT