Get Stronger and Leaner With The Alternate Press

So I was going through one of our online press plans (801A) and just wasn't feeling it. Ever have one of those days? So, I decided to drop the weight and focused more on practicing my press skills with some specialized variety. Today I'm gonna show you how to add a little spice to your presses with the alternate press.

Specialized Variety (SV)

This isn't variety for varieties sake. SV is essentially doing the same thing only different while, maintaining what we call continuity of the training process.

You cannot improve on things if your keep changing them because you're bored. That's where specialized variety comes into play.

Examples of specialized variety:

• Strict press, push-press, see-saw press, alternate press, tempo presses, etc...
• Pull-up, chin-up, and neutral grip pull-up.
• Deadlift, single leg deadlift, suitcase deadlift, asymmetrical stance deadlift, etc...
• 2H swings, 1H swings, hand-to-hand swings, and towel swings.

Make sense?

You're doing the same exercise... only different. This tactic does several things from: working your weak points, correcting muscle imbalances, improving recovery, keeping you sane (lol),  and still allow you to progress with your strength and fat loss efforts week after week and month after month.

Todays Workout: Alternate Press Ladders

Use a pair of kettlebells you can press 10-12 times.

➣ (2, 3) x 11 total ladders = 55 NL (total number of lifts)

This won't be your typical alternate press workout. You'll be re-cleaning between each press. So instead of one clean, you'll be doing between 2-6 cleans each set. *This* is how you can leverage a little extra conditioning (i.e., cardio) to put you in a greater caloric deficit for fat loss.

BOOM!! Killing two birds with one stone baby. That's the beauty of using kettlebells!

Built In Corrective

A common mistake I see when pressing with one or even two kettlebells is:

➣ Leaning back too much.

➣ Leaning side ways and continuing to increase the side lean.

➣ Creating a downward movement with the bell before initiating the press.

That's where the alternate press comes into play. It serves not only as a great variety exercise, but it also serves as a press corrective. 

Give today's workout a try and let me know how it goes!

-Hec