Press from the Lat

Using your lats to improve your press

One technique for improving the press is the concept of pre-tensing the lat before the press and holding the contraction throughout the pressing movement. Think of your lat as the foundation that your shoulder sits on during the press. While you press the kettlebell overhead contract your lat and push the shoulder down into the socket and onto the shelf created by your tensed lat. Instead of the lat performing the press, the tensed lat serves as a solid base from which to your shoulder can brace against resulting in stronger press. Additionally, using the lat throughout both the eccentric and concentric phase of the press will develop greater pulling power. Many RKCs have improved their pullups by only training the press in this manner. In fact several RKCs have built up to a strict one arm chin-up by learning to use the lat during the press.

If you're a fan of Bruce Lee movies you'll remember seeing Bruce flexing his lats and what looks like a cobra's hood will just out from his sides. For most people, flexing their lats is a very foreign concept that is easier said than done, but it is a skill that can be learned.

To fire the lat:

Drill 1

Shut your armpit tightly as if you are holding a magazine under your arm
Push your armpit down toward your hip.
Keep pushing the armpit downward and maintain a high level of muscular tension.

Imagine you are trying to crush the magazine to pulp. You should feel like the muscles surrounding your armpit are getting thick. If you maintain this effort, in a few moments you should begin to notice a cramping sensation behind the armpit, the muscle that is cramping up right now is your lat. Now use your other arm to reach across the front of your stomach and feel the muscles on the back of your ribs on the working side. As you compress you armpit and press down you should feel the lat harden and thicken... congratulations you are now compressing your lat.

Drill 2

If you are still having difficulty try a loaded clean with a kettlebell that is too heavy for you to press. Clean a heavy kettlebell, feel the weight and let it push your shoulder, elbow and armpit downward. Push the armpit downward and pinch it shut. Now slowly build up tension as if you are trying to initiate a press. Hold this tension for 5-10 seconds. After performing this exercise students in my class commonly set the kettlebell down and point to their lat and ask me if it's supposed to hurt there. Their lat was firing so intensely it started to cramp.

Drill 3

Walking with a kettlebell in the overhead lockout.

Grab a heavy kettlebell, press it overhead and lockout.

Compress your elbow joint, compress the shoulder down & back into the socket.

Keep pulling the shoulder down while maintaining the overhead lockout. Walk. Keep walking. Walk some more. Just keep on walking until you feel you lat cramp.

Applying the Drills

Once you've performed a drill and experienced what it feels like to have your lat contract, you need to immediately perform a one arm press and duplicate the sensation of the lat contracting before and throughout the press. To incorporate this technique into your press: clean the kettlebell, clamp the armpit shut and push the elbow down toward the hip. Throughout the press continue to push the shoulder and armpit downward (contracting your lat). Maintain this downward effort during the negative portion of the press as well pulling the kettlebell downward in low-gear with high tension. The sensation is almost identical to performing a one arm chin-up.

Even with these various drills, firing the lat can still be a frustrating experience, I know it was for me. For nearly a year I diligently worked on my one arm presses telling myself to press from the lat. I thought I was using my lat, I really did. Then one day when I finally started performing press ladders with the 36kg kettlebell (79lbs.) my lat turned on all by itself. It was a revelation. I concluded that the reason my lat had not been firing until now was for two reasons: 1) I didn't know how to contract my lat during the press

2) My lat was not needed to perform presses with light kettlebells. Until the 36kg, I was able to cheat or complete the press without recruiting help from my lats.

So, my last tip is press heavy and press often.

Strength is a skill.