One of my favourite exercises for a combination of grip and shoulder strength is the bottom up kettlebell press.

The conventional over head military press with a barbell or a single arm dumbbell press are truly great functional strength based exercises for anyone wishing to master overhead pressing.

So why the bottoms up kettlebell press I perform here?

Well for a start, due to the weight distribution being above the hand and unstable due to holding a single straight bar, the muscles of the forearm and hand like the brachioradialis and abductor pollicis are challenged at the same time as the nervous system having to cope with balance and coordination.

Which makes it a great exercise for some of my clients like close protection officers, police and those in grappling sports. 

But not only them, breaking through plateaus often means having to do things out of the ordinary and this is a great tool regarding overhead pressing.

My top tips for performing correctly:

• Look at the kettlebell at all times.

Looking at the bell focuses your attention on the bell and in this age of distraction, people need all the focus they can get.

• Use a dumbbell first.

Be able to press at least double the weight of the kettlebell with a dumbbell first in order to handle the difficulty of the exercise.

• Core strength.

Your core conditioning needs to be at a high enough level to cope with an axial loaded movement like this.

Your coach,

Rupert Hambly