You're Not Tense Enough

One of the several tests for becoming an RKC Level 2 instructor is for men to press a kettlebell that is closest in size to 1/2 bodyweight. Now, just pressing it isn't enough... you have to be able to press it a certain way, the RKC way, which almost always mean, the hard way. After cleaning the kettlebell to the chest I must lock my knees, pause until motionless, tighten up, and press the kettlebell over head without any backward lean, jerking, bending my knees or lifting my heels. All in attendance must be in agreement that the technique I performed was indeed a one arm press and not side press.

For me my 1/2 bodyweight one arm press is with the 88lb or 40kg kettlebell known as the "Bulldog". Personally, I think pressing an actual bulldog would be a heck of a lot easier.

Currently I can press the 88lb kettlebell strictly, but only on a really good day and it takes me about a 5-10 seconds of all out battle to sloooowly grind that thing to a lock-out.

One of the things I've learned through the RKC and the work of Pavel Tsatsouline is that tension IS strength. In othewords to have a better press I need to generate as much tension in my body as possible before pressing the kettlebell then maintain this tension throughout the movement.

One of the RKC techniques for practicing tension is the bottoms-up clean and press. In the bottoms-up clean you clean the kettlebell to your chest but you crush the handle and lock the kettlebell in the bottoms-up position so the handle is on the bottom and the ball is balanced on top. The bottoms-up clean requires more than just a strong grip, it requires total body tension from your toes to your quads to your glutes, abs, lats and foreams. Similarly these are the same muscles that must tense for a sucessful heavy one arm press.

So to work on my ability to build and maintain tension I've been practicing the bottoms-up clean and press one day a week. During yesterday's practice I experimented with something a little more fun. I practiced high volume (100 rep) presses with the 24kg/53lb kettlebell and to make it more interesting I held another in the bottoms-up rack position with my non-pressing hand. This forced me to build and maintain even more tension throughout my body as I pressed the 24kg kettlebell. I really liked the way it felt. I did not perform all of my presses in this fashion, instead I compared and contrasted with and without the bottoms-up clean. The difference was noticeable. When performing the last few reps of a 2,3,5 rung ladder the added tension from the bottoms-up clean allowed my press to move up smooth with steady effort. The feeling was much more effortless than normal. The added tension creates a more stable based to press from.