Press Behind the Neck | Olympic Weightlifting Exercise Library

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The press behind the neck is a simple overhead strength exercise that emphasizes mobility and upper back strength while reinforcing the proper overhead position.

Hold the bar behind your neck like a back squat in your jerk-width grip unless you jerk with an unusually wide grip—in that case, hold the bar about half a fist to a fist-width outside the shoulders. Squeeze the upper inside edges of the shoulders blades together tightly and keep the elbows down.

Pressurize and brace the trunk. Push the bar aggressively with the arms straight up into the overhead position—the trunk will already be leaning forward very slightly and the bar in line with the proper overhead position, so no further movement of either is necessary. Lock the overhead position forcefully.

Reverse the motion to return the bar to the back under control. Subsequent reps can be performed without resetting the bar completely on the back, but ensure full contact for full range of motion and minimize bouncing.

Notes
Pressing (or jerking) from behind the neck allows the trunk to begin and stay in the same slight forward inclination we want for an optimal overhead position, and the bar begins in the same vertical plane it will need to be in overhead. This means the trunk position shouldn’t change and the bar should move straight up rather than the trunk leaning forward more and the bar moving backward slightly as would be necessary from the front rack. This makes the exercise valuable for teaching and reinforcing the correct overhead position.

Purpose
The press behind the neck is a simple overhead pressing strength exercise that is good for teaching and reinforcing the correct overhead position, improving and preserving mobility and well as emphasizing scapular and upper back strength for the overhead position.

Programming
Sets of 1-10 reps can be used depending on the timing and the specific need. 6-10 reps will help more with hypertrophy, mobility and some strength; 3-5 reps will be generally the most effective for strength work and some hypertrophy and the most common; 1-2 reps will usually be used for testing maximum lifts but will also improve strength.


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