Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Kettlebell Chair Pressing
Back in 2007 BJ and I took the trip to Greece to train with the World Kettlebell Club and Valery's old coach Filikidi. It was in Greece that I first discovered the chair press. After seeing Filikidi perform them I thought it was just another tough lift and one that they did for a bit of show boating. But, since learning more and more about the art of lifting kettlebells and the skill it requires I can now see why the chair press has its place in kettlebell lifting. The chair press comes under the category of an assistant lift, just like the jump squats and one arm swings. They are there to help you develop the competition lifts. I never really understood this concept until actually training properly for the sport and I now see the immense benefits that assistant exercises hold. This short article is only really about the chair press but those other assistant lifts are just as important.
The Chair Press
After seeing it performed in Greece my initial thought was to get involved and do it myself to see what I could lift. I tried all of the variations, to challenge myself and keep it interesting but that was about it. I didn't really see any other reason for doing it. As I mentioned above, training for the sport, I have now seen the purpose for this lift. If you watch the video of me performing this lift, hopefully you'll see the crossovers to the 2 arm jerk instantly. It's these crossovers that make the chair press such a good lift for competitive jerks.
If you look at the position achieved when resting, the elbows are tucked into the body and the thoracic is flexed. This position is very similar to the resting position we achieve in the 2 arm jerk. In fact, it actually helps us achieve a better rack position as it helps to increase our range across our thoracic spine. The ability to flex our thoracic spine in the jerk is very important. Without that flexion we would struggle to find a resting position for our elbows, thus making it much harder on our arms when resting in the rack.
The next point is the movement pattern that we actually perform, in particular across the shoulder and thoracic which is exactly the same as the jerk and therefore another great cross over for jerk development.
The chair press gives us the chance to work on our hand position, rack position and overhead position. On top of all of those benefits, the range of movement we get out of our thoracic spine is fantastic. For those reasons the chair press should be in anyone's kettlebell sport program. It's in mine on a weekly basis along with some of the other assistant lifts and I am enjoying it already!
Happy Lifting!
For more information on kettlebell sport programs go to the forum.
To see the clip of the chair press click here
To read about the Trojans Lifting Club, click here
The Chair Press
After seeing it performed in Greece my initial thought was to get involved and do it myself to see what I could lift. I tried all of the variations, to challenge myself and keep it interesting but that was about it. I didn't really see any other reason for doing it. As I mentioned above, training for the sport, I have now seen the purpose for this lift. If you watch the video of me performing this lift, hopefully you'll see the crossovers to the 2 arm jerk instantly. It's these crossovers that make the chair press such a good lift for competitive jerks.
If you look at the position achieved when resting, the elbows are tucked into the body and the thoracic is flexed. This position is very similar to the resting position we achieve in the 2 arm jerk. In fact, it actually helps us achieve a better rack position as it helps to increase our range across our thoracic spine. The ability to flex our thoracic spine in the jerk is very important. Without that flexion we would struggle to find a resting position for our elbows, thus making it much harder on our arms when resting in the rack.
The next point is the movement pattern that we actually perform, in particular across the shoulder and thoracic which is exactly the same as the jerk and therefore another great cross over for jerk development.The chair press gives us the chance to work on our hand position, rack position and overhead position. On top of all of those benefits, the range of movement we get out of our thoracic spine is fantastic. For those reasons the chair press should be in anyone's kettlebell sport program. It's in mine on a weekly basis along with some of the other assistant lifts and I am enjoying it already!
Happy Lifting!
For more information on kettlebell sport programs go to the forum.
To see the clip of the chair press click here
To read about the Trojans Lifting Club, click here
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 13:16
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