JM presses

[OGROK]

What's the deal with these? I watched JM's original video, and there it looks like a skullcrusher. However, if I watch videos of people using them as a ME or heavy exercise, it's a bench press with a slight rollback in the elbows. It seems everybody does this differently. When I do them I try to emulate JM's form, but it feels like a skullcrusher and when I do them I use pretty much the same weight I would use in a skullcrusher. I feel like if I do less than 10 reps my form falls apart.

Here are some videos that illustrate my confusion:

JM blakely's video about them. Looks like skullcrusher with a little extra pop. Notice the elbows don't fall at all in this one.

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Looks like a bench press with a slight rollback. Notice there is a lot of shoulder rotation, elbows just drop.

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Travis doing them. Seems like the bar comes down to the chest w/ shoulder rotation and then is rolled back over the neck.

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This last one is me doing them with 185 for a triple. I was trying to do them like how Travis was.

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What am I missing here?

[n.die_beast]

He says in the video that as long as you feel it in the tricep muscle right near your elbow you are doing fine.

[Travis Bell]

Man that video I made back then really wasn't that good lol. You can't see a whole heck of a lot from that angle.

But yes, I like to try and keep my elbows a little tucked and roll it back towards my neck and then press straight up.

[OGROK]

Does it look like I am doing them right in my video? I know the angle is ****ty, but still wondering...

[Brian Hopper]

I do JM presses just how JM shows them in the video, that's how I was showed. But I had to stop doing them because they hurt my elbow pretty bad.

[OGROK]

I do JM presses just how JM shows them in the video, that's how I was showed. But I had to stop doing them because they hurt my elbow pretty bad.

What kind of weights were you able to handle doing them like that?

[NickAus]

I do JM presses just how JM shows them in the video, that's how I was showed. But I had to stop doing them because they hurt my elbow pretty bad.

Same here, pretty hard on my elbows too but my training partner does them with no problem.

[AJ Roberts]

I never did any heavy extensions until I moved to Westside. I always said they hurt me and then I was told by Louie - "If it hurts, it means it's weak". Since adding them to my training (which is really all that has changed from before i moved) my bench has gone from 715-805 wearing the exact same shirt. They still destroy me but the results speak for themselves. Just some food for thought.

[Brian Hopper]

What kind of weights were you able to handle doing them like that?

I think I have done up to 215 with a fat bar for 6-8 reps before, I really can't remember.

[SELK]

I never did any heavy extensions until I moved to Westside. I always said they hurt me and then I was told by Louie - "If it hurts, it means it's weak". Since adding them to my training (which is really all that has changed from before i moved) my bench has gone from 715-805 wearing the exact same shirt. They still destroy me but the results speak for themselves. Just some food for thought.

are you talking about max effort extensions, or just added heavy extensions in as accessory? Extensions have always killed me, but this makes me want to do them haha.

[mastermonster]

I did them for about 2 years before my last shoulder surgery. Haven't tried to put them back in since. My shirted bench went up well over 150 lbs. during that time. This was also the time I committed to training almost exclusively in my shirt for benches, so it wasn't all from the JMs; but I feel a lot of it was. I did them like JMs video (which I learned them from). I had to start at 95, and taking JMs advice; take it slow and patient going up to let the tendons of the elbow adapt. Within a year I was doing them with 365 for 6 reps. About the time I hit my 1st 600 bench. I haven't felt my shoulder would handle them since the surgery 3+ years ago.

[OGROK]

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Do these look better?

[gmen5681]

according to JM you should be keeping your elbows up high thru the whole lift. and it looked like you started to drop the elbows a bit about half-way thru the lift.

[OGROK]

according to JM you should be keeping your elbows up high thru the whole lift. and it looked like you started to drop the elbows a bit about half-way thru the lift.

Do you mean when at the start when I go down or after I tuck the weight back? I am not sure how you could move big weights on this without the elbow dropping to some extent. I saw some vids with Dave Tate doing them and I think his form was about the same.

[vdizenzo]

There aren't too many JM competitions going on so I would not worry too much. As long as you are feeling them in the triceps near the elbows you are all good. I have done a number of variations of the lift over the years and they have all seemed to work. Whatever form you are using, just make sure to up the weight and or reps as you move along and you'll be fine.

[OGROK]

Thanks Vince