JM Press
Barbell press that crosses a close-grip bench with a skull crusher to load the triceps at lockout.
How to do it
- Lie back on a flat bench with your eyes under the bar and your shoulder blades pinched down.
- Grip the bar about fifteen to eighteen inches apart with your wrists stacked over your elbows.
- Unrack the bar and hold it over the upper chest with the arms extended.
- Bend the elbows and roll the bar back toward your throat, keeping the elbows forward of the torso.
- Stop when the forearms meet the biceps, then drive the bar back up by extending the elbows hard.
- Finish the set and return the bar to the rack with the elbows locked.
Key technique cue
Keep the elbows in and ahead of the torso — bar travels to the throat, then up.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Loading it like a bench press, which loads the elbow before the triceps are trained.
- ✕ Letting the elbows flare out to the sides, which turns the lift into a regular press and shifts load to the shoulders.
- ✕ Gripping too narrow, which destabilizes the bar and puts the wrists in a compromised position.
- ✕ Going too heavy: the bar path drifts, the elbows and wrists take the strain and the triceps do less.
Benefits
- ✓ Loads the triceps heavily through the lockout range of the bench press.
- ✓ Allows more weight than a skull crusher at a similar elbow-extension emphasis.
- ✓ Trains the triceps when the chest and shoulders are already fatigued.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 3 You are here - JM Press
About the exercise
The JM press, named after powerlifter JM Blakley, lies between a close-grip bench press and a skull crusher. You take a grip around fifteen to eighteen inches apart, keep the elbows forward and roughly forty-five degrees from the torso, and lower the bar toward the throat until the forearms meet the biceps before pressing back. The triceps are the prime mover with the chest and front delts assisting, and it is a technical lift that punishes an overloaded bar.
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