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Old Forum 1/2 body weight press

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John Spezzano

John Spezzano

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Hi all,

I've loved pressing the bell since the first time Doc Cheng taught me the exercise.

For the last 5 weeks I've been working through a challenging press program from the Chief. Suffice it to say, the program has been awesome! Of late, pressing on my left side has been better than the right. I have some issue in the right that have weakened that side a bit.

In any event, this is week 5 of the program and part of today's work called for doubles with the 36k and singles with the 40k. At 175, the 40k is 1/2 body weight for me. With the right side being a bit weaker right now I've had to push press the 2nd 36k rep on the right side on all days thus far in the program that called for doubles. Today I didn't. Two reps with the 36k went up really well. I'd say that means the program is working just fine.

As this is the first time I've pressed this heavy since the Level 2 ( nearly 2 years ago) I decided to video the 40k reps. I had a small subconscious dip/drive in the first rep, but the second rep looks legit to me; a struggle on the right, no doubt, but a solid rep. The left went up much easier on both sets. (Thanks, in part, to the grunts, I'm sure!)

Any feedback to make these heavy presses better would be much appreciated.

Rep 1: https://vimeo.com/95920629

Rep 2: https://vimeo.com/95920630

Thanks in advance!

jvs
 
John,

This is not a technical critique, but a philosophical note spurred on by your videos ...

This is a community or strength ... and trust - there is no need to close up on a KB to confirm it's weight.  Those who take advantage of that trust will find themselves naturally weeded out of the mix.

For me, you are mustering up too much adrenaline and energy to make these lifts.  This is not a competition or "test out", but week 5 of a training program.  If one can't demonstrate their strength with minimal arousal, then they're not there yet.  There is nothing "wrong" here, it's just my opinion on mastery, and strength training.

That said, a half-BW press is an awesome accomplishment - congrats ... and you still probably have a few weeks to go on the program.
 
Strong pressing, John!

You do two things to make your life more difficult.  First, changing the stance after the clean.  If you prefer pressing from a narrower stance, step DURING the clean.  Second, inhaling with the bell on your chest.  Take a little more air in before the clean and do not breathe when you rack (except for the small amount of air that might bleed out from the impact).

 
 
Hi Al,

Thanks for the input. Having sent in numerous clips over the years, I've always found it better to leave no doubt as to the load. Plus yesterday was press day for my clients so I wanted to get them fired up to train by showing them what I'd done earlier in the day. I like your concept of minimal arousal but have always found I can press more or dead lift more or squat more when I psych myself up for the lift. I know a lot of lifters who do the opposite, but I've never been one of them.
Chief,

Thank you for the feedback, I'll implement those points tomorrow!

Take care all!
jvs
 
You do realize arousal and adrenaline  are part of the human makeup, so to gone to the conclusion that calling upon demonstrated a lack if mastery is full of shortcoming. Do you know any great plays in sports history or he'll weightlifting where the athlete didn't dig in to win. mastery is not doing an easy lift, it's making a difficult feat seem easy. To the original poster, great press and you got more in you.

Here is exactly why I never continued in the RKC community as an instructor. It's this appeal to authority without looking at what this lift means to said person. The first sentence should have said what you ended with. Save irrelevant criticism for nothing, or know your words carry empty weight and consideration.
 
Eric,

I have to assume that you're responding to me here ...

You took much literary license in extrapolating from my ideas and opinions ... so, let's just agree to disagree.
 
John,

Arousal ... yes, we can all lift more when arousal level is high (but not too high).  But I believe that we should train at a lower arousal level - obviously not asleep - and save the focused increases for competition / testing.

Again, this is not wrong - I competed and trained with a lot of lifters back in the 80s and 90s ... some of whom were always "on" in training.  These lifters tended to be unable to hit their numbers in the later part of their programs, and, in competition ... it was just my observation.  There is only so much nervous energy.

Have you ever tried to train without the psyche-up?  It may be worth investigating.
 
If I may, I think the answer here is, "It depends."

I agree that it's great if your 1/2 bw press isn't something that you have to get psyched up for.  But everyone will, at some weight, hit the point where they're pressing a true max effort, and if that happens to be at 1/2 bw for John right now, that's fine, too.    Being able to do a 1/2 bw press without a lot of adrenaline means your true 1RM is higher than 1/2 bw, and that is a good goal - and one I have no doubt that John can achieve if it's important to him.

I don't know enough about John's training to know how "on" he is on a day-to-day basis and therefore I don't assume he trains regularly with the kind of effort he demonstrated in the video.

John, strong stuff, and stronger still to come if you want it and if you feel it makes sense in the context of your martials art, which I know has been your focus.

JMO, YMMV.

-S-
 
Great discussion all around, IMO.

It reminded of something Jim Afremow said in Scott Iardella's podcast a few weeks ago (<a title="Jim Afremow said in Scott Iardella's podcast a few weeks ago" href="http://rdellatraining.com/dr-jim-afremow-the-champions-mind">http://rdellatraining.com/dr-jim-afremow-the-champions-mind</a>):  Get your butterflies to fly in formation.  His point was that we get butterflies because they help us perform.  The trick is getting them to for us.  A few years ago I was working with a nationally ranked weightlifter who'd silvered in a a lot of national events.  She wrote a blog asking everyone about the rituals we used to get ready for a lift, suggesting that we start developing them.  I always gave the bar a tap with my right instep.  I'm on the reserved side, so I've never been a dancer or shouter.  A small kick helped me focus for whatever reason.

Al's points remind me of what Dan John blogs about every now and then about training like a professional, without a lot of brag and show.  That approach resonates with me.  At the same time, I get why dancer's dance.  That's not me, though.
 
Hi gang,

I didn't mention this before but just to be clear I don't psych myself up for every set like I did on the sets in the video. I typically only do that when I'm near my max or maybe a bit tired and needing some extra juice. Steve, I think you hit it on the head. the 40k is still obviously still my 1RM so it requires more arousal for me. I did doubles with the 36k on Monday and this morning and it was not as hard as singles with the 40k. So, Al, I think that as my 1RM increases, the amount of psych necessary to press the 40k should decrease. We shall see...

Chief,

I worked your fixes into today's presses. Timing the step with the clean helped a lot in terms of shortening the overall process and synching it all together. I think holding my breath helped but a couple of them made me pretty light headed as I got to the heavier sets. I'll have to mess around with it a bit more so I time it better.

Thank you all.

jvs
 
John,

Just read through the thread you started and wanted to simply wish you the best on your "8 weeks"!  Sounds like we are on identical paths though you are a week ahead.  We met at the RKC II in Minn.  Your presses were inspiring...esp since I am heavier than you but just a bit older! :)

Since my 1rm was between 40-48K...I've been able to complete each program with little more than a bracing breath and focus on proper technique.  I will be very curios to see our relative results.

Regards!

Jon Schultheis (NJ)

 

 
 
Hi Jon,

Nice to hear from you. Glad you're well. I'll be posting future progress.

Take care!
jvs
 
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