Hard-wired for maximum tension with the one arm push up.

During my struggle to press out the 48 kg. I am learning many lessons by force. Over the past month I have found myself having days where I couldn't press out the 32 kg. I knew this was not a factor of strength, as I was stronger in everything else. It was a factor of technique. Knowing this I went back to GTG with one arm push ups. If you've done many oapu's you know that you have to be tight. There is no being loose in a oapu.

I did the below a little over a year ago...



Looking back on it now I see a lot of room for improvement. Part of my current quest is to balance out my right and left as well as perform my one arm push ups with feet together. Really, I don't consider one arm push ups to be that difficult if you know how to get tight. If your tension techniques are not locked in, then yes they will be damn near impossible.
This applies to heavy presses as well. I am taking the remedial lessons I am learning from my one arm push ups and now applying them to my presses. I cannot allow myself to get lazy with my technique or my shoulders will pay the price. Nothing is given, it must be taken.
So today during my presses it wasn't just about sucking my shoulder into the socket, but sucking my whole body into it. This worked. The 32 kg. went up easily. I pressed out the 28 kg. for 3 reps each side with authority, and probably could have gone 5 reps.
When you first start using the hard-style method you have to think about everything. You have to keep a mental index of what is tight, what is loose, etc. Over time it becomes more intuitive and you don't have to think about it as much. Instead of indexing what is tight, you just look for what is loose, or half-loose. Then you realize you can tighten up 5 times as hard as you used to be able to. The process is never ending, so don't rest on your laurels just because you figured out how to squeeze your glutes.
By the time you get a ways down the road, hitting your glutes, abs, legs, etc. during a press should be like hitting a rock.
I recall during RKC someone telling me that he couldn't properly clean a 16 kg. because it was too light. That's a no go. Whether it be a clean, a swing, or a press, you should be able to apply maximum tension and proper technique with any weight or no weight. The point that I really grasped the basic elements of high tension was during the UCLA RKC when Rif was called out to perform a deadlift with no weight. You would have thought he was pulling six-hundred pounds. Your press with an empty hand should look the same.
So, to wrap it all up I leave you with this.