Spinal Press

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Kettlebell Spinal Press

Kettlebell Exercise Information

The Spinal Press is a Loaded Exercise upon which the following exercises build:

Individual exercise information is available by clicking the links above, and more detailed information specified for the Spinal Press can be found below.

Press

The press is an exercise where a weight is pressed away from the body. It is not the same as a push-up, as in a push-up the body is pushed away from the ground or another object.

A press can be performed while standing or laying down. While laying down, the angle of the body can also vary, i.e. incline or decline.

The main movers for the press are the delts, pecs, and triceps. How much the pecs are involved will depend on whether it's performed from a supine position or not and the angle of the arm.

Even within the shoulder or chest press exercise, there are many different variations created by the angle at which the arm is positioned. The angle and body position has an impact on what muscles or part of the muscles do most of the work.

Kettlebell Shoulder Press

The shoulder press is an exercise where a weight is pressed away from the body. The starting position is at the chest in racking, and the ending position is overhead with the arm straight. The exercise has two phases that can be used, concentric (up), and eccentric (down).

To use only the eccentric phase, one has to jerk, snatch, or push press the weight overhead. This is beneficial to work with heavier loads and load only the eccentric phase of the exercise.

To use only the concentric phase, one presses the weight overhead and then drops it back into the racking position. The up phase is powered, and the drop only requires deceleration when the weight is nearing the racking position.

Lighter weight and faster reps will work more on cardio, and heavier weight and slower reps will work more on strength. Working super slow and taking advantage of both phases is showing that you have full control over the weight. Our recommendation is to work on that at every stage of your load increase.

The name might sound weird and raise some eyebrows, but once you understand what's going on, it's really not that odd and starts making a lot of sense.

Our objective at Cavemantraining has always been to break things down, analyze, question, test, and rebuild. This strategy was designed to explore, learn, and do things differently so that we can explain and categorize things (exercises) better.

When we looked at the press many years ago, we discovered that there is a big topic that no one seems to talk about, and that's using the muscles that move the spine (core muscles) to move the weight.

When performing a strict press, the core muscles are isometrically working to provide a stable base and not lose any power during the press from racking position to overhead. The muscles that create the movement are the deltoids and triceps.

Someone can move a whole lot more weight when they involve more muscles for a movement, a good example of this is the squat versus the hip hinge. In the squat, you are adding a third joint, the ankles. The more joints involved the more muscles create a force to move an object. When you perform a stiff-legged hip hinge, the prime movers are the hip extensors. When you perform a conventional hip hinge, the prime movers are the hip and knee extensors. That's one versus two joints. With the squat, you have three joints involved.

Range in the thoracic spine can create range in the shoulder, this can be seen when you lift the arm in front of you and then you bend the back by leaning back. It raises the arm higher. Just like the legs in the push-press powers part of the movement, so does the spine as it moves back into a neutral position.

This only covered the action of thoracic flexion and extension, there is, however, also thoracic lateral flexion, and even thoracic rotation, all of which can contribute to helping power the movement of the spinal press. These movements can even be combined.

This topic can become quite interesting, especially when dealing with competitions in which there are no specific rules of how the weight is moved for the press.

Bilateral Load

Only the variation using thoracic extension and flexion will be marked as bilateral load, this is because the torso moves in the direction that the weight is pressed. With the other variations, one side is not moving in the direction the weight should be pressed and therefore making it impossible to use a bilateral load for the movement. One can use a bilateral load for these other variations when keeping that second weight racked. This would add more overall weight, but not to the prime movers.


RPM

Slow tempo:

4RPM for the Kettlebell Shoulder Press which is a parent of this exercise.
Fast tempo:

32RPM for the Kettlebell Shoulder Press which is a parent of this exercise.

Alternatives

Alternatives for this exercise are:

  1. Arm Raise
  2. Kettlebell Push Press

Common Mistake(s):

This information flows through from Press

  1. Not straightening the arm when overhead

    The elbow is still bent and the arm is not straightened once the weight is overhead. 

This information flows through from Kettlebell Shoulder Press

  1. Doing too many reps and transferring work to other joints

    Performing more reps than the body is conditioned to handle and the work is then shared by adding other joints like those in the legs or spine.

  2. Using a weight too heavy and transferring work to other joints

    If the intended exercise targets a certain joint or joints but other joints are added because the weight is too heavy. For example, the exercise is intended to be performed strict and the legs are added (ankle, knee, and hip joints), or even the spine.

Spinal Press

No common mistakes are yet created or linked for the Spinal Press. Why not help improve the encyclopedia?


Parent exercise: Kettlebell Shoulder Press

This is a: Loaded Exercise

Is loaded with equipment: Kettlebell

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On-page quicklinks:

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Related Workouts or Warm-ups

Form and Technique

This section explains the form and technique for the Spinal Press exercise.

As a registered member you will be able to evaluate yourself against the technique and record any issues which you can then work on.

Set-Up

  1. Clean Any variation of the kettlebell clean can be used to clean the weight and end in a racking position.…
  2. Rack Obtain a good racking position.…
  3. Tense the base Tense the legs to provide a solid base where the exercise can be performed from. Tense the calves to…
  4. Tense the core Tense the abdominals and obliques like you are expecting an impact in the stomach. Pull the armpits…

Form

  1. Keep the shins vertical Keeping the shins vertical means keeping them where they are when you stand upright. No movement sho…
  2. Joints in line when viewed side on once overhead Once the weight is overhead, all joints should align when looking side on. Wrist, elbow, shoulder, h…
  3. Weight above the shoulder joint once overhead When viewed front on, the weight should be placed above the shoulder joint and the wrist, elbow, and…
  1. Keep the hips from moving (spine work) Whenever the intention is to work the spine, with lateral flexion, rotation, etc. then it’s importan…

Goal

To move the weight(s) from a racking position into an overhead position.

To accelerate the weight using the muscles that move the spine.

Muscles Used:

If no muscles or no prime movers are listed, drill down deeper by selecting an exercise variation..

  1. The heavier the weight, the more work fixators will need to do. For example, with a bodyweight squat, the fixators don't have to do much work but add load to the exercise and they will work a lot.

    1. Latissimus Dorsi

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Back

    2. Pectoralis Major

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Chest

      Muscle group: Pectoralis

    3. Pectoralis Minor

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Chest

      Muscle group: Pectoralis

    4. Serratus Anterior

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Chest

    5. Trapezius Inferior

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Back / Middle / Lower

      Muscle group: Trapezius

  2. Agonists and synergists are combined under the umbrella of prime-movers.

    1. Biceps Brachii Long Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Anterior

      Muscle group: Biceps Brachii

    2. Biceps Brachii Short Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Anterior

      Muscle group: Biceps Brachii

    3. Coracobrachialis

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Anterior

    4. Deltoid Anterior Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Shoulder / Anterior

      Muscle group: Deltoids

    5. Pectoralis Major

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Chest

      Muscle group: Pectoralis

  3. Agonists and synergists are combined under the umbrella of prime-movers.

    1. Anconeus

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Lower Arms

    2. Triceps Brachii Lateral Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Posterior

      Muscle group: Triceps

    3. Triceps Brachii Long Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Posterior

      Muscle group: Triceps

    4. Triceps Brachii Medial Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Posterior

      Muscle group: Triceps

  4. These muscles can be used intentionally as antagonists, only in slow movements on the return phase. Meaning, they don't have to be used and in some cases can't be used. If the exercise allows you to drop to the start position you can choose to use them if you perform it slowly, for example from overhead to racking, and from overhead into backswing is a good example of where it would not be possible to slow down.

    1. Deltoid Posterior Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Shoulder / Posterior

      Muscle group: Deltoids

    2. Latissimus Dorsi

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Back

    3. Teres Major
  5. Agonists and synergists are combined under the umbrella of prime-movers.

    1. Biceps Brachii Long Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Anterior

      Muscle group: Biceps Brachii

    2. Biceps Brachii Short Head

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Anterior

      Muscle group: Biceps Brachii

    3. Brachialis

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Upper Arms / Anterior

    4. Brachioradialis

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Lower Arms / Posterior

    5. Pronator Teres

      Body Part(s): Upper Body / Arms / Lower Arms / Anterior

Exercise Variations

Exercise variation(s) that are based upon this exercise:

  • Kettlebell Spinal Press Extension View
  • Kettlebell Spinal Press Lateral View
  • Kettlebell Spinal Press Rotational View

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