Noob Log Press Form Check

Hi all,

Been log pressing a bit while I’m coming back from back injury and it’s been a lot of fun so I’m thinking I’ll keep it in permanently and keep on working it. There’s more technique to it then I thought there’d be.

The clean is pretty awkward so far. My tendency is not to be in the “spider” arm position at the bottom (feels like I can get tighter and keep the log close with slightly more horizontal arms) and I don’t squat deep very deep.

Also should the back be neutral? I see I’m a bit rounded from the vids

Any tips or fixes?

Thats real crisp technique.
But…I think once it gets really heavy, you’ll need your elbows out during the clean or you will risk a bicep/forearm injury.

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I guess I’ve condition my biceps/ forearms a bit to loading with weighted chins but can’t hurt to be safer.

I’m having a hard time visualising what elbows out would look like. Would it be like flaring elbow Lenin the bench?

Brian (Alpha) Alsruhe

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One thing I’ll be sure to try is starting the clean with the log pulled in a higher on my torso or my chest. This should put elbows in a good place also I think.

Brian Alsruhe (Alpha on here, but unfortunately he’s not really on here much these days) has a good vid on these.

Deja vu lol

Thats what happens when you read from the top first and reply without reading the rest. LMAO

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Overall, looks good. Some thoughts:

Keep your elbows locks when pulling it off the ground. Use your legs to support it as you squat down before bending your elbows.

I like a more upright torso at the bottom of the clean, but that looks like a small log so it’s hard to do that. You’ll need to squat deeper to get the log on your chest.

Your lower back is arched and your upper is not. You need to swap that around.

Your press the log out infront of you, it looked much better when you jerked it.

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This is for like safety yeah?

Is there a cue for this. I have mostly done Barbell pressing before this so would cuing to exaggerate the push backwards or behind my head be successful.

You are trying to do everything with your arms. The clean is actually awful, it should be pulled in tight to your chest before you stand up, I can see daylight between your body and the log as you do the clean. When you squat down, use your upper back to hold the log against your body and then it’s just a bit of a roll onto you delts. Row it onto your lap and stand up with it, you don’t really clean it at all. The press should happen from a resting position on the delts with high elbows. This puts the weight in line with your hips to transfer the force of the “push” in your push press. Don’t strict press the log, there’s zero positive carryover to anything from a log strict press. There’s no danger of arm injury at all on log clean and press if you do it right, where your elbows are for the clean is pretty irrelevant, your arms don’t do the lift unless you screw up.

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I thought the same thing. The only reason it looks good/ ‘crisp’ is because the weight is realllllly light for him.

I don’t really understand this. Maybe I’m misunderstanding. To me, it looks like a big part of the issue here is specifically where his elbows are when he laps the log. I think having his elbows so far back towards his body makes it difficult to build the momentum to roll the log up his body, and that’s why it looks basically like fast curl. To get that roll, your elbows have to travel a good distance, so starting them higher is a good way to do that, in my opinion.

Log cleans are something I do very well, I’ll share a video below of a recent heavy clean. I don’t lap it for very long, but hopefully it’s long enough that you can see my positioning clearly.

Side note: I competed in Texas Strongest Man Saturday. We had a guy log press 430. Beat the national amateur record I believe.

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so, I kind of think about ‘chicken winging’ my elbows as I’m sitting down to lap the log. I’m not keeping them crazy high or anything, but they are out away from my body. I pull them in as I get under the log when I clean it. As you can see, the clean is relatively easy, much easier for me than the press, because I’m able to use the momentum of the log to my advantage. Timing the hip pop is crucial too.

You need to load the log heavier to learn this. You can’t do it with a light log, it’s just not gonna feel right. As long as the log is light enough for you to get away with shitty technique, you’re gonna have a hard time learning to do it right.

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You need the handles pointed at least directly up, preferably over-rotated to point slightly away from you, and you fit the log on top of the ab shelf against the pecs. Your elbows are going to go where they’re going to go, doesn’t really matter. It’s all about that upper back pinch holding it there while you stand up. In your vid the log position is a little low on the clean, and contributes to the slide as you come up - not enough friction combined with back pinch to hold it because it’s heavy. If your abs were pushed out a little and the curve of the log is riding that shelf it just rotates into position naturally with maybe a small adjustment for handle position. My press sucked, 305 was my max, but I could clean anything. I cleaned WAY more than 305, as part of training trying to get used to heavier weight in the rack position, like walk-outs. I didn’t figure out my press problems until I had stopped competing.

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@flipcollar @hardartery thanks guys. I’ll take this away and work on it a bit

I think that’s more to do with the log than anything. When you have a tiny log like @guineapig , you just end up having to compensate for your log in a way that you wouldn’t need to if you had a log as big as everyone else.

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No you

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Im workin on some log too, so this thread has been helpful