Friday evening class was awesome, Turkish get-ups 15 minutes, windmills 15 minutes. That was movement prep for bent press practice, 30 minutes worth. People loved it, and did very well. We focused on the windmill version, and some people did the squat version as well. The bent press was the standard measure of strength among strongmen from ca 1880 to 1930. The bent press is not simple or fundamental, it is sophisticated movement. It is however natural movement, though the number of people in modern America with the flexibility, strength and body awareness to do the bent press are very few. There is a good video of RKC Neghar Fonooni doing the bent press on the Form is Function Facebook page. She’s doing the squat version.
One of the secrets of the bent press is: it will only work if you go heavy. Light weights will not trigger reflexive stabilizers which are essential to the lift. You may wonder what is the point of the bent press. Perhaps it looks awkward and difficult to the modern eye. This was the best way to lift huge weights overhead. It is still the best slow lift for the purpose. To someone from the year 1900, raised in a culture of ubiquitous, heavy physical labor, the bent press would look more natural and obvious. The key is not trying to lift the weight, but pressing yourself down and away from the weight, locking out your arm, and then just standing up.
Champion strongman Arthur Saxon still holds the bent press record, unbroken since 1906. He bent pressed a barbell weighing 375 pounds. This is a one handed lift remember. It is worth mentioning the fact that Arthur Saxon was not especially large, five foot ten inches tall and a very lean 210 pounds. Mastery of the bent press builds a combination of full body strength, balance, flexibility, extreme power in the torso stabilizers, shoulder stability and flexibility, body awareness and timing. The lift was very popular with wrestlers back in the day. During our class John Bright showed how the bent press relates to martial arts, particularly stance. Alix got really fired up, and executed the drills perfectly, there were sparks of electricity shooting out of her eyes. Now I have to teach the two-hands-anyhow.