Plague of Strength

Yet Another Exercise You Should Already Be Doing: Back Squat to Press

Jamie Chaos

There appears to be a massive amount of confusion surrounding my recommendations for lifts like the Reverse-Grip Clean and Press, or the exercise I’m highlighting today- the Back Squat to Press. These exercises, as I thought I’d made clear, are hardly intended to be the cornerstone of your program. Unless, of course, you’ve some keen interest in the lift and happen to want to do it fanatically, you’re awesome at it and want to get awesomer, or you simply like scaring the shit out of random passers-by by doing a lift not seen within the confines of a gym since men wore unitards and roman sandals as part of their regular gym attire.

With that caveat in place, allow me to introduce the lift that eventually gave rise to the BTN Push Press in my workout- the Back Squat to Press. This lift is essentially a complex that combines a push press with a back squat, though I prefer to do this as a strength movement rather than the ultra-light cardio sentiment with which it’s generally regarded. The full squat will generally limit the amount of weight you use, as it’s difficult to get the hip pop at the top of the movement that one can generate in the BTNPP. You can, however, cut down your rest periods and go reasonably heavy on this lift as a nice departure from your normal routine that isn’t akin to ambling about the gym with some pink neoprene dumbbells and then hitting the elliptical for a rousing 20 minutes of bullshit steady-state cardio.
As to form, you can see that it’s fairly simple- do a deep full squat, power out of the hole and drive up onto your toes, and press the weight to lockout. I’ll generally do these for 5-10 sets of 3-5 reps, and it’s a nice way to get in a fast full-esque body workout when you’re pressed for time. Additionally, I find these help my hip flexibility, improve my lockouts on BTNPPs, and are like I stated above, a nice departure from the same old, same old.
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Jamie Chaos Avatar
Jamie Chaos
I am a former all-time, all federation world record holder in raw powerlifting at 181lbs, a record I broke just to say fuck you to the internet’s “lifting” community and the powerlifting community at large. Over the last ten years I’ve written over 500 articles on strength training, nutrition, and supplementation, and continue to do so simply to fight the tide of weakness and sadness that currently pervades the scene I’ve called home for the better part of three decades. I’ve got personal trainin certs, BodyPump and BodyCombat certs, a BA in History and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, and MBAs from the Vienna University and University of South Carolina on my side, in addition to some sick lifts and a hell of a lot of rage. What the fuck have you got?

28 responses to “Yet Another Exercise You Should Already Be Doing: Back Squat to Press”

  1. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Oh my god…you squatted below parallel!

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Jamie, post some shit we should be doing to C&P calves, do it.

  3. Dray Avatar
    Dray

    Jamie mentioned jumping rope with a weighted vest once, and any cleaning movement, high pull or snatch you should be using your calves some.

  4. Rant Avatar
    Rant

    Anonymous, do some donkey calf raises with your mom on your back.

  5. nomad Avatar
    nomad

    I've been doing these a lot recently as any pressing in front of my head hurts my left shoulder but from the back is no problem, any got any ideas why this is?
    Jamie, I saw you wrote you read the strain when you did the pl meet, have you started the fall yet?

  6. Jamie Lewis Avatar
    Jamie Lewis

    Nomad- To be honest, I wasn't much of a fan. I doubt I'll read the rest. Reading a biography on Caligula next.

    … and what dray said.

  7. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Jamie, not to turn this into Oprah's Book Club, but you turned me onto "Gates of Fire", you may like "World War Z", if you haven't read it already.

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    In your video you bash front squats- what gives?
    I thought you enjoyed them.
    I found them to be okay every once in a while.
    I like back squats way better, though.
    And "World War Z" is good.

  9. nomad Avatar
    nomad

    World war z is awesome and its being made into a movie by plan b, brad pitts company. I've got doug hepburns biography and do androids dream of electric sheep lined up next to read. Where do you find out about the old school lifts jamie?

  10. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I found an actual canvas of that old Louis Cyr poster. Fucking $3,600 …shit would go great in living room

  11. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    What, no more front squats for you?

  12. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    No front squats?!

  13. Jamie Lewis Avatar
    Jamie Lewis

    I was talking about on the Squat to Press- no thrusters.

  14. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    This is totally unrelated, but I think you might like this guy's remixes of deathcore.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-6bDQDIZAQ&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUabSwbPfx4&feature=related

  15. Jamie Lewis Avatar
    Jamie Lewis

    Oh, and WWZ was awesome. It's been optioned as a movie.

  16. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    petition for blog post on some decent fiction!

  17. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I second the motion..

  18. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Get round that shit RIGHT NOW!

  19. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Is it better than the road cos that book was a waste of my time.

  20. charles mcglen Avatar
    charles mcglen

    cormac mccarthy is solid.

  21. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    If you didn't like/understand The Road you won't like/understand any of Cormac McCarthy's other work.

  22. Glen McCunt Avatar
    Glen McCunt

    You shall all bow down to my forearms.

  23. Glen MacCharles Avatar
    Glen MacCharles

    Can't resist making the comments section about me again, eh? It doesn't even matter what Jamie writes about anymore since all you want to talk about is me.

    World War Z was a good book.
    The Beast that was Max and Road To Hell by Gerard Houarner are both really good too.
    Narrowback was good. I can't remember the author but it's probably not hard to figure out.
    I'm in the middle of Everville by Clive Barker right now. Not his best work but decent nonetheless.

    I'm amazed any of you can even read anything more advanced than Dr Seuss. Although I doubt even one of you is capable of reading Fox in Socks out loud.

  24. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    (yawn)

  25. Glen MacCharles Avatar
    Glen MacCharles

    You're tired because you're a loser. Life is wasted on somebody like you. Your skin should be made into a coat

  26. Glen MacCharles Avatar
    Glen MacCharles

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z1HSHjeJ4w

  27. Dray Avatar
    Dray

    Clive Barker is one of my favorite authors. I actually think his directed work is pretty decent as well.

  28. Jamie Lewis Avatar
    Jamie Lewis

    I read Blood Meridian when I was an undergrad. That was definitely a badass book. I'll definitely get a blog up about fiction sometime soon.

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