Tip The Z Press Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness TrainingVideos Tip The Z Press This lift can be used as a tool to train for strength and mobility along with overall health of your muscles and joints by Lee Boyce August 18, 2017April 5, 2021 Tags Exercise Coaching, Shoulders, Tips Proper Form Maintain an upright posture. Don't slouch. Attempt to sit on your hamstrings to make the low back stay tight. Perform the movement like a standard overhead press in terms of bar path. Press the bar over the spine. Keep the heels and backs of the knees glued to the floor. Try not to move them. Improper Form Don't attempt to sit on your butt. It'll translate to a round back and an injurious pressing position. Don't lean back during tough reps. If you can't stay straight as an arrow, your set is done. Don't start with the barbell on the floor. Set up the pins in the squat cage a couple of inches below shoulder level. The Benefits Whereas a standing press allows the legs to stabilize the trunk, especially via a wider base, the Z press is performed sitting flat on the floor. The knees are to be kept straight, and a slouch is strictly prohibited. If you try holding that position without any weight on the floor, you'll get an idea how uncomfortable and just plain hard it is to simply maintain the position. In short, you'll need a whole lot of trunk strength, hip flexor mobility, hamstring flexibility, and lumbar and thoracic spine health to perform these bad boys well. And if you don't have every one of those things in check, the lift will suffer. Remember, you have absolutely nothing to lean back against, and you have nothing to drive into since your feet aren't planted on the ground. That makes it a "no cheating" exercise. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Shattering Your Plateaus in 3 Steps A short, simple, brilliantly logical program for busting through training plateaus. Powerlifting & Strength, Training Jess Banda February 23 Training Hang Clean For Total Body Power How do you train nearly 200 muscles in your body with one, easy to learn lift? You perform the hang clean. Here's the simple way to do it. Powerlifting & Strength, Training Eric Bach June 25 Training Everything Is About to Change Our most fundamental belief concerning weight lifting may be wrong. It could very well be that we have it backwards. Let the controversy begin! Bodybuilding, Training Chad Waterbury June 19 Training The Serratus Crunch You multitaskers out there will love this movement as it allows you to work the rectus abdominis, the obliques, and the serratus at the same time. Too bad the rest of your life isn't as efficient. Training T Nation August 24