Side Push Press? From Alan Calvert's Book The Truth About Weight Lifting [1911]

In this lift the athlete is privileged to stand in any position he chooses, but generally he takes a position with the feet about 15 inches apart. He is not allowed to bend the legs at the knees while making the lift.

Some men will simply push the bell aloft and allow the body to bend to the opposite, while other men will give themselves a start by bending first to one side, then straightening suddenly in order to give momentum to the bell and finishing the lift with a bend to the other side.

To explain more fully, suppose a lifter has a bell in his right hand, as he starts the lift he will drop the right shoulder and bend 3 or 4 inches to the right; then he will heave the bell aloft, using the strength of the side muscles to start the bell upwards, and as the bell goes upward he will bend the body far to the left. The important point in this lift is that the legs are not allowed to bend at the knees.This lift requires enormous strength and is a good test of a man’s ability. It is a lift pure and simple. A good heavy man will put up 200 lbs, and more in this manner.

Alan Calvert, The Truth About Weight Lifting, 1911, p. 45-46.

Calvert calls the lift “the ordinary ‘Press’ or ‘Push Up’, to distinguish it from the super-strict Military Press (heels touching, no bending of the legs or the body at all), and Bent Press.

How should we call the explosive option he describes in detail – Side Push Press? Please let me know in the comments.

Yours in Health & Strength

Pavel Macek