Nailing The Ultimate Sandbag Training Clean and Press Test

By Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner
DVRT Master Chief, Senior RKC, OS Instructor, MFF Kaiju Freak

Welcome back! So you want some more Fury wisdom on how to nail the DVRT Clean and Press Test? It would be my pleasure. Check this out.

The name of the test itself is a little misleading. It’s actually not a Clean and Press Test… wait for it…it’s a Clean to PUSH PRESS Test!

Mind you, all of the information that the DVRT Team has provided coaches it as a Push Press. Yet, at every cert many strong men and women fail the test because they try to strict press every rep. That’s 40-50 winded reps being grinded out in 5 minutes.

That isn’t to say I haven’t seen a few folks leave victorious this way, but I have seen a BUTT LOAD more fail that way.

What’s a push press? Great question. After reading my last article about nailing the clean to fist, you now own it with skill and precision. Now that Ultimate Sandbag is resting soundly on the top of your fists, pull yourself down into a ¼ squat and then drive hard through the floor, propelling the Ultimate Sandbag overhead and saving your shoulders and lats the majority of the work. Think of the push press as an assisted press. The lower half of the body creates enough momentum to assist in getting that Ultimate Sandbag overhead.

This is the crucial “second float” during the test. Float 1: Ultimate Sandbag to Fists.

Float 2: Ultimate Sandbag from Front Load to Overhead Lockout. Be prepared to finish the press.

Push pressing will make your test soooooo much easier!

Think about it this way, would you rather use just your shoulders, triceps and lats to make 80 pounds fly overhead, or would you rather recruit legs, hips, ass, shoulders, triceps and lats to do it? When it comes to a specific number of reps in certain timeframe, I’m using as much of my body’s strong parts to do it.

Now that we have the USB in a beautiful standing plank with the USB overhead, we need to pull the USB back to the front load position. *This is worth repeating: pull the USB back to the front load position. Many, many folks will let the USB drop all the way down from the top. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not only bad form, but it’s also hazardous to many important parts of your body. Don’t worry, we still love you, but let’s clean that up.

From the Front Load position, re-clean the Ultimate Sandbag to Fist and repeat.

What’s a great way to train my push press?

1. Train the test with push press. Simple. Check out my original article on programming the test: CONQUERING THE BEAST

2. Push press with your test weight or heavier. Push pressing will allow you to get a heavier USB to that crucial lockout. Make friends with a heavier Ultimate Sandbag. Fall in love with your test weight.

3. You can work the Thruster (or Long Press). Pull into a full quat with the USB on your fists, then drive out of the hole. This will help proved the momentum to get that USB overhead. It will also help train a really strong drive from the 1.4 squat position.

Take some of these to heart and let me know how they work for you.

Nail the clean to fist. Nail the push press. Nail the Clean and Press Test!

Stay tuned for even more tips!

Find a DVRT certification or workshop near you CLICK HERE 

Yours in strength and fury!

-Fury out

Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner’s superhero headquarters is Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. Fury’s a DVRT Master Chief Instructor, Senior RKC, and an Original Strength. He is available for classes, semi-privates, instructor training and programming at MFF. He also has availability for private training at Catalyst S.P.O.R.T. Check out www.coachfury.com, facebook.com/coachfury IG @furynyc and Twitter @coachfury for more info.