Hey guys. Looking for tips on the circus dumbbell press. I’ll try and get a video up later (hit 102.5 with right no problem, miss with left). Form critique welcome. I know my clean is more of a kettlebell swing and my push press is sort of a jerk/press bastard child. A couple questions.
What should a novice be able to circus press? What are you seeing at your comps?
Best way to work on wrist stability? Once I get up to about 115 my wrist feels iffy. More db overhead work is what I’m trying, but thought you guys might have better advice.
That is actually a dumbbell press rather than a CDB press. The CDB is a whole other animal, because the bell diameter prevents you from getting a very stable position in the rack, which makes leg drive difficult to translate.
@brady888 can talk to his experience at his last show with the difference between the two. His write up was spot on.
You could try to replicate it using larger diameter plates, or try the home depot bucket bell idea I posted here
For weight in a show, I have seen everywhere from 100 to 125 for local shows in the 200lb class.
Okay good. At least I’m approaching the right weights for amatuer. Still a long way to go.
I was going to design collars for that bell out of large pipe to keep it plate loadable but make it the same shape as comp ones. It already has 2.25" handle so I just need the diameter at the plates.
Might do all OHP work with DB’s for a few cycles to increase it.
How bad was the form? I try to hold for a sec like I’m waiting on a down command. I imagine the judges frown on launching the equipment down right?
i’m way late to this thread, but i figured you might still want an answer.
As pwnisher said, the circus db is truly entirely differen from what you’re doing here. The mass of the db makes it so much different. your positioning wouldn’t work the same way as what you’re doing here, at all. So it would be a completely different movement.
I’ve also seen heavier i local shows. More like 130+ for pretty much every local show I’ve seen in this class. But different promoters favor heavier weights in some events more than others.
Your hold at the top was fine.
You can’t like drop the weight after each rep, but touching the ground very quickly with it is perfectly acceptable. In a race for reps, they expect it to be moving fast.
If this is all you have available to you, I would certainly train heavier as you’re able to, because I think training heavier with a regular db will translate to a lighter circus db.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve been practicing them lighter using the technique I gleaned from strongmen videos. Where you let the end of the bell tap the ground and almost kettlebell swing it to your shoulder repeatedly to get the reps.
It’s just annoying how unstable the weight is. I know the answer is get stronger. So working on it. They seem allot harder than pressing kegs with water sloshing in them.
