I’m Donna Moore, three times World’s Strongest Woman and this is my axle press masterclass. In today’s article I’m going to tell you exactly what the axle press is and provide you with the essential tools to become an axle press master.

What is an Axle Press?

It’s called an axle press because of the equipment used. The Axle Bar is similar to a traditional one but with a thicker diameter. The 5cm diameter along with the lack of knurl marks makes it difficult to grip but will improve your forearm strength over time.

The Importance of the Power Clean

To begin with, I like to be able to power clean as many reps as I possibly can. Olympic lifting has so much crossover into Strongman and if you’re not practising any kind of Olympic lifts in your programme then you’re really missing out. The extension, jump and catch in a clean are all relevant to the log clean, sandbag throwing, atlas stones, tyre flips, anything where there is a hip extension involved.

Once you’ve done a few sets of the power clean and press, you will be feeling warm and comfortable with the movement. Your clean should be efficient and snappy. Next, I’d add some more weight and do another three reps at that weight then have a rest. The main problem with axle cleans is the grip, so I’d work up to a comfortable weight without struggling too much otherwise you won’t be able to grip the bar.

Axle Clean and Press Technique

Next, I’m going to tell you how to use a mixed grip and a belt for your clean. During the clean, we are actually aiming to get the bar over the belt and as high as possible. I prefer to do this as a mixed grip. Other people like to do this as an overhand, but again, with grip being a limiting factor, you are probably on a fat axle bar more able to clean with a mixed grip. I find this technique works best for me, it might not work best for everyone

One thing to focus on is using a lot of leg drive. If you practise some Olympics lifts, then you really get a lot of bang for your buck out of your legs. Whether you’re doing a 1 rep max or reps competition with the axle bar, leg drive is important. What’s also important is nailing the technique every single time so that you save time, are more efficient and reduce fatigue.

Axle Bar Accessory Work

Another part of the axle clean and press is the press part of it. It’s great that you can clean up your body, but you also need to be able to press that. Pressing out of the rack, push press, push jerk or split jerk, whichever you prefer are all great ways to be able to stabilise the weight but without having to clean it from the floor, which is obviously more tiring. I also do quite a lot of just pressing out off the rack to be able to build up to lifting heavier weights.

Recently I’ve been working a bit more on shoulder mobility and lat flexibility. So now I’m able to keep the bar lower down and lift up my elbows, I found that has a lot of benefits. Like we talked about incorporating some of the Olympic lifts into your training, it has definitely been a big benefit to me and made me a better athlete at these kinds of events. Having a healthier body rather than being so stiff that you can’t actually rest your arms down on your body.

You must add other variations of pressing into your programme, so there is -

• Strict press

• Push press

• Banded press

• Tricep work

With all of these movements you need to make sure that your lockout is strong. I’m a big advocate of overhead marches. If you’ve seen my Instagram I do them quite a lot with unstable loads. When the loads are both above your head with a straight bar, you are going to be more securely locked in place because you’ve been practising with an unstable load. So, working the smaller muscle groups helps to be able to lift bigger weights.

Thank you for coming to my axle masterclass.

Written by guest author Eryn Barber.

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Tags: Equipment > Bars and Weight Plates ; Exercise Type > Strength ; Misc > Mirafit Ambassadors